MarioWiki:Proposals

 http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/9/9/17/f_propcopym_9045f2d.png A proposal section works like a discussion page: comments are brought up and replied to using indents (colons, such as : or ::::) and all edits are signed using the code. Signing with the signature code (~) is not allowed due to technical issues.

How To
 * 1) Actions that users feel are appropriate to have community approval first can be added by anyone, but they must have a strong argument.
 * 2) Users then vote and discuss on the issue during that week. The "deadline" for the proposal is one week from posting at:
 * 3) Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
 * 4) Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
 * 5) Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
 * 6) Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
 * 7) At any time a vote may be rejected if at least three active users believe the vote truly has no merit or was cast in bad faith. However, there must be strong reasons supporting the invalidation.
 * 8) " # " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
 * 9) Any proposal that has three votes or less at deadline will automatically be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
 * 10) All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of a sysop, the proposer can ask for that help.
 * 11) Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.

The times are in EDT, and are set so that the user is more likely to be online at those times (after work/school, weekend nights). If a proposal is added on Saturday night at 11:59 PM EDT, the deadline is the next Saturday night at 8:00 PM. If it is a minute later, the deadline is a day plus 15 hours (Sunday), as opposed to a day minus 4 hours.

CURRENTLY: , 27 2024 (EST)

New Features
None at the moment.

The Partroller Rank.
Should we really restore this rank or get rid of it for good. Sor far this power has return but no user has done a proposal to restore it, Because we had a past proposal to get rid of the rank for certain reasons, and that proposal has won.

Proposer: Deadline: January 20, 2009, 17:00

Get rid

 * 1) I say we remove this rank. And I can think six reasons why. 1 You have to got to special edits then Patroll Edits just to revert something and that just takes to long if a vandal is on the loose. 2 When you are on Patroll edit it show one edit that a random user did which really suck (You can skip it be then it shows another user's edit). 3 You can't block trolls. 4 Patrollers can't even patroll pages. 5 You can't see the red ! like the sysop can. 6. Patrollers can't acess the Block IP special page. That's all I have to say. 7. Oh and they can't block too.

Keep it

 * 1) It's actually really good if you think about it. It shows how a user handles more power. It also helps because it gives a user practice for being a sysop in case they become one. If the Sysops thought it was really useless, then they wouldn't have restored it.
 * 2) - Per my comment below.
 * 3) Per Toadette
 * 4) - Per all. Peachycakes: please sign with   .
 * 5) - Per Toadette and Stooby
 * 6) - Per all, as St00by mentions, this is the perfect stepping stone for users who do not have the potential yet to be a sysop, but they do have the potential to be trusted enough and have some of the abilities as a sysop.
 * 7) - Per Stooben's epic comment below. It's a good idea to have an in-between rank as a test, rather than having a huge division between User and Sysop.
 * 8) - Agree in response for all. The Patroller rank could be needed, cuz, as the Mario Wiki gains popularity through cyberspace, many users want to join here to contribute too. But there are some guys who enter just wanting to corrupt the wiki in various ways. Fortunately, most of the time, the site is protected under the hands of the other good contributors, not only sysops, but other users who want to maintain the wiki against vandalism and thus, they can deserve some attributes (as the patrolling rank) to continue with their duties.
 * 9) - Per all.
 * 10) – Keep it.  It's the only way for new members to understand their place on the Wiki.  Don't want new members to be vandalizing the Wiki by deleting images and articles.
 * 11) - Per Coincollector.
 * 12) - Per all.
 * 13) - Per all.

Comments
This is my first proposal so I'am sorry if it looks bad.

It was removed in the past. But now the sysop and 'Crat are trying to bring it back.


 * I'm having trouble deciding. I think the rank would be useful given the chance to work correctly. However, there are currently too many technical difficulties. Convince me one way, please. PS: You did a fine job, Grapes. ;)

Thanks =3

For the record, there was a proposal a long time ago in which keeping the Patrollers won (see here). I tried to find the archive for the more recent proposal (late March, 2008) that vetoed the rank, but without success. Anyway, I don't even see the point of having Users vote on administrative decisions - like promotions and demotions, I think that should be left to the Administrators. Users have a say in Wiki content and the policies that concern them, but Patrollers will not change the content of the Wiki, nor is reestablishing them a change in Wiki policy. If the higher-ups think it's a good idea to bring back Patrollers, who are we to argue? -

Here's my take on the original Patroller status:
 * Patrollers are considered a step in between users and Sysops. They have the ability to use rollback, they have the ability to mark articles 'as patrolled', and they also have the ability to block vandals that are attacking the wiki. Basically, Patrollers are here to help out the Sysops protect the wiki and keep it clean. They're pretty much an 'assistant' to Sysops, as they have the ability to stop spam, but they have to look up to their superiors – Sysops and Bureaucrats – in order to delete and spam pages created. They also require Sysops to use checkuser to see if someone is a sockpuppet of a vandal or whatever. As such, Patrollers are not useless, and are in fact helpful to the wiki.
 * Patrollers are promoted based on activity and trust. Yes, we promote Sysops for the same reason, but users that are promoted to Patroller instead are promoted to that position for a reason. If we feel that a user has done good work on the wiki, is ready for a promotion, but isn't ready to get the full-blown Sysop package, then we give them Patroller powers. Once promoted to Patroller, they have a shot to get promoted to Sysop if they handle the job exceptionally well. Being a Patroller is the perfect trial period to see how a contributive user handles having more power under their belt. Should they take on the responsibility notably well, keep contributing as always, and manage their powers well, then they may get nominated for Sysop. Once again, this is only if they handle the job well. Wouldn't you rather us promote a user to Patroller, where power is increased but still limited, in order to see how they handle having more power, rather than giving them all of the privileges of a Sysop?

Now, I'm going to talk to Steve about giving Patrollers a more convenient way of using rollback, (through a page's history), and give them the ability to block users, just as they had before, it will be seen that Patrollers are more useful and can conveniently use their powers to help stop a problem.

Next, I'd like to note that the "Patroller Power!" proposal of March 2008 did not propose that we get rid of the Patroller position, but rather that we give them more power. I won't lie: I supported giving Patrollers more power back then; the reason why I did so was that Pokemon DP told me I was a nominee for Patroller. My vote was clearly biased, but I later found out that I was never a nominee for Patroller. The reason why the Patroller ranking was revoked was because it was proposed that Patrollers gain the ability to delete pages. With a discussion between the higher-ups, the Patroller ranking was removed because the proposal that passed &mdash; supporting Patrollers to be able to delete pages &mdash; pretty much stated that Patrollers have all the abilities of Sysops with the exception of checkuser and page protection.

Lastly, I find that decisions pertaining to promotions, demotions, and the insertion/removal of positions should be decided solely by the Administrative Staff &mdash; the Sysops and Bureaucrats, as Walkazo pointed out. Users should be more concerned with the encyclopedic aspect of the MarioWiki, not the Administrative aspect.

To Toadette: The Sysops didn't bring Patrolers back, Steve did, abruptly.

To all: Generally speaking, proposals that are on topics that are considered administrative (usergroups, policies, etc.) are removed, as administrative subjects should be discussed by the administrative team. However, since the community seems to clearly divided on the subject, I'm inclined to leave the proposal as is to see how things play out (if any other sysops disagree with this, please, do what you feel needs to be done). --
 * Steve brought it back abruptly because the sysops were talking about it in the forums (I think). At least that's what I got from Stoobs' message to Steve. So it wasn't all Steve. Just so you know. I might be wrong. -

That sure is one epic comment, Stooben. Oh, but more importantly: I'm confused... so has this rank actually been brought back already, or is this just discussing whether to do that or not?

Its back. M&SG and I are patrollers.
 * Thanks for letting me know (although I actually found out just after posting that comment). Wait a minute... you're a Patroller but you're wanting to remove this rank!? How does that work? Now I'm more confused. Oh, and don't be so hard on yourself Grapes... I'm surprised it's your first Proposal even though you've been here so long, but trust me, I've seen some terrible Proposals before, so your is much better.

Well this rank is kinda of hard to use. And I have stated seven reason why this rank kinda of sucks. Um what do you mean by don't be so hard on your self?
 * You seemed convinced that your Proposal looked bad, that's what I mean.

Well Grapes, let's take a look at your seven reasons:
 * 1) You have to got to special edits then Patroll Edits just to revert something and that just takes to long if a vandal is on the loose.
 * 2) When you are on Patroll edit it show one edit that a random user did which really suck (You can skip it be then it shows another user's edit)
 * 3) You can't block trolls.
 * 4) Patrollers can't even patroll pages.
 * 5) You can't see the red ! like the sysop can.
 * 6) Patrollers can't acess the Block IP special page.
 * 7) Oh and they can't block too.

St00by just mentioned you can block people as a patroller, so 2 reasons are out, since you said they can't block twice. You can also block someone straight from Recent Changes if you can't access the BlockIP thingy, but that leads to the same page, so, that means theres a glitch or something. So 3 reasons are out. Patrollers can patrol pages by going to Special:Patrol Edits or something like that, so thats another reason knocked out. Also, Special:Patrol is built like that, so maybe Steve can do something about it, or change the coding, I dunno. You can patrol edits from Recent Changes too, if you need too. Just look for users that are not sysops, since their edits are patrolled automatically. The red ! is just there to help you see if the edit isn't patrolled yet, it does suck I guess that you can't see which pages are patrolled, or aren't. Well that's my intake on your reasons, i've never been a patroller before, so I don't really know.
 * When I was a patroller I could see red exclamation marks and could patrol pages excluding my own edits. I also could block users. No deletion. - 17:08, 15 January 2009 (EST)

Really. I don't see any of red ! or patroll pages. And I can't block users. Is there something wrong with rank??
 * There seems to be some permission errors with the rank as of now, but I've contacted Steve about fixing them. Once he does, the rank should be just like it was meant to be.

Splits & Merges
None at the moment.

Changes
None at the moment.

Miscellaneous
None at the moment.