MarioWiki:Proposals

Proposals can be new features (such as an extension), removal of a previously added feature that has tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action(s) are done. Any user can support or oppose, but must have a strong reason for doing so, not, e.g., "I like this idea!" "Vote" periods last for one week. All past proposals are archived.

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 {{user|User name}}.

This page observes the No-Signature Policy.

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:
   • Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
   • Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
   • Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
3. Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
4. 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.
5. "# " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
6. All proposals that end up in a tie will be extended for another week.
7. If a proposal has more than ten votes, it can only pass or fail by a margin of three votes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and the total number of votes for each option differ by two or less votes, the deadline will be extended for another week.
8. 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.
9. No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
10. Proposals can only be rewritten or deleted by their proposer within the first three days of their creation. However, the proposer can request that their proposal be deleted by a Sysop at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it.
11. 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.
12. There shouldn't be proposals about creating articles on a underrepresented or completely absent subject, unless there is major disagreement about whether the content should be included. To organize efforts about completing articles on missing subjects, try creating a PipeProject.
13. Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.
14. If the Sysops deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to remove it at any time.
15. No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters, and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

The times are in EDT (UTC -4:00), 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: 11:03, 13 June 2024 (EDT)

New Features

Amend FA Size Requirements

Some smaller pages deserve to be recognized, so this proposal will replace the rigid 4000 byte minimum length and the 50+ entries stipulations with a general statement that: "All articles must have a reasonable size." While potential FAs will no longer be automatically rejected based on their byte or header counts, if they are overly short articles, their nomination will surely be rejected on that basis through normal voting procedure.

Deadline: Friday, 25 September 2009, 20:00
Proposer: Walkazo (talk) & Super Paper Mario Bros. (talk)

Amend Size Requirements

1. Super Paper Mario Bros. (talk) Per my comment below.
2. Marioguy1 (talk) - Don't judge a book by it's cover. Or in this case, don't judge an article by its size. That is what we've been doing, it's time to stop.
3. Edofenrir (talk) - Relatively short articles can be well-written and representative as well, so why not removing the size-requirements or at least decreasing them? I'll support this.
4. Walkazo (talk) - Per me (see below).
5. Knife (talk) Shorter articles usually require less work to be good, but that doesn't stop them from representing the best the wiki has to offer.
6. Tucayo (talk) - Per all, how can we write 4000 characters about things like.... uh.... dunno, but here are some examples.
7. Master Lucario (talk) - Per all.
8. Stooben Rooben (talk) - Per all. There's plenty of great articles on the wiki -- or articles with the potential to be great -- that will never legitimately reach our current size limit.
9. Yoshario (talk) - Per All
10. AlienZone55 (talk) - Per all.

Comments

The last proposal I made was starting to fail, so I rewrote it. Common sense can be used for the size, if it is a well-written article and meets all of the requirements except for the current size-limit, it would still deserve to be featured, except in the case of stubs. As I said, common sense can be used. Super Paper Mario Bros. (talk) 16:22, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

For the record, this was originally my idea (made in response to SPMB's original proposal):

"If smaller pages deserve to be recognized, lowering (or even eliminating) the minimum length of the FAs seems like a better way to go about things than installing a second system; the sizes of individual sections are already taken into consideration when people vote on FAs, so having the overall size of the page left to the voters' discretion doesn't seem unreasonable."

Credit is as credit does... Or however that expression goes. - Walkazo (talk)

Yes, you are correct. Sorry for forgetting to credit you, I'm pretty busy with other things, and often have to get up in the middle of editing and the such, which gets me off track. I have rewritten the proposal accordingly to correct my wrong. Super Paper Mario Bros. (talk)

Ok, thanks. - Walkazo (talk)

Maybe you should also remove the rule that says the article must have 50 entries.Knife (talk)

Good idea. Also, Time Q: you're right in that the absence of a size limit could be abused, however a lot of those FAs could possibly be written-off as jokes, or at the very least swiftly crushed by an overwhelming opposition. On the other hand, not having a size limit would prevent things like the Deanna Mustard debacle. - Walkazo (talk)

"...or at the very least swiftly crushed by an overwhelming opposition": No, they couldn't. Opposers must have valid reasons, but if we remove that requirement, there wouldn't be any valid reasons they could bring up. Seriously, I think there could be fatal consequences if we let this proposal pass. Time Q (talk)

"It's too short" would still be valid even if there isn't a fixed amount of bytes. Comments like "Section X needs to be longer" or "it still needs more info on Y" are allowed, so opposing because of the overall length should also be acceptable. Also, the 4000 bytes bit could simply be replaced with "The article must have a reasonable size." ("reasonable" is used in two other rules, so why not here as well?). - Walkazo (talk)

Well, comments like the ones you put are only valid as long as no one suggests to remove them. 'cause actually they don't help. The purpose of oppose votes is to tell the supporters what an article is lacking for FA quality ("Others will object to the nomination if they disagree that the article is good enough; they will then supply reasons for doing so, and ways to improve the article (errors, style, organization, images, notability, sources)." - from the FA guidelines). Comments such as "It's too short" don't help if the opposer doesn't explain what should be expanded; and for articles like the one I gave as an example above there's no way to explain what should be expanded since the article is already complete (there simply isn't any more info you could add). So if someone nominates an ultra-short article, there is no legitimate way to hinder it from being featured. (It couldn't even be unfeatured, since it'd be a valid FA.) This is a huge problem in my opinion. Time Q (talk)

Okay, then would this be a solid opposition: "It's too short to be an FA. Trevi Fountain simply has not played a large enough role in the Mario series to be considered important enough to showcase on our main page. All the relevant information and images that could be included in the article have been included, but that does not make it an adequate example of what the Super Mario Wiki has to offer."? And if that's not enough, I could go on saying: "While hard work has gone into Trevi Fountain, it pales in comparison to the effort put into larger pages, and would therefore be a misrepresentation of just how much time and commitment the editors have dedicated to this database as a whole." Really, it would be unreasonable for something like Trevi Fountain to be nominated as an FA, and if we acknowledge that with a "reasonable size" requirement, that should be as easy to police as any nominated pages that don't adhere to the current two "reasonable" stipulations (reasonable amounts of images and red links). - Walkazo (talk)

Okay, you're right in that we already have two requirements that use the word "reasonable", so I could agree on turning the 4,000-character rule into a "reasonable length" rule. However, what is proposed here is to eliminate this rule completely. I can't support this, for the reasons I gave above. SPMB, I'd like to ask you to start this proposal over, proposing to require a "reasonable length" rather than get rid of the requirement completely. Time Q (talk)

I'm credited as co-creator, so I went ahead and rewrote it. I also incorporated Knife's suggestion. - Walkazo (talk)

Okay, thanks. I didn't realize you were the co-author of the proposal. Time Q (talk)

Removals

Get Rid of the New Userspace Requirements

A mans userspace is his castle, so why is there so many rules on what should be on it and what shouldn’t. What’s on someone’s userspace is supposed to be like what describes them and if you are not allowed to go out of the lines of the requirements, you simply can’t do that. I think we should get rid of those rules so users can express themselves better. I really just don’t think those new rules are fair at all. Also, it will take a lot of users time a lot of time and effort to change their userspace to fit the requirements. Some of the user space rules I agree with, such as “no illegal game links”, but some like “No discussion not related to the Super Mario Wiki” and “No excessive personal information” are completely unfair. It is like living in a house, but you are only allowed to have stuff from “Home Depot” in it. "Home Depot" doesn’t sell all of life’s necessities, just like Super Mario Wiki doesn’t have all of the information you need. If this Proposal passes, users will be free to use their userspace any way the want to except there will still be no more illeagal game links.

Proposer: Egg Yoshi (talk)
Deadline: September 26, 2009, 20:00

Support

1. Egg Yoshi (talk) of course I would Support my own Proposal
2. Cherrybomb444 (talk) I'm with Egg Yoshi. I have decided to retire because of these stupid rules.

Oppose

1. Vini64 (talk) Well... Rules are rules.
2. Edofenrir (talk) - The server of this site has limitations too. A few restrictions are unavoidable if you look at the size of the community. If "user expression" becomes too excessive, the whole server will eventually collaps, and then you have absolutely no userspace left at all! Maybe you have noticed the server getting very slow from time to time? A little moderation shouldn't hurt anyone.
3. Walkazo (talk) - Per Edofenrir. There are plenty of sites dedicated to self-expression on the Internet, but the Super Mario Wiki is not one of them. Here, userspace is a privilege, not a right, and the only information we "need" to provide is located in the mainspace pages of the encyclopedia.
4. Tucayo (talk) - We are a Mario wiki not a user wiki, i recommend you to check Userpedia. I also say we should delete this proposal, admins?
5. Twentytwofiftyseven (talk) - Your userspace belongs to the wiki first and you second, and it's better for the wiki if these rules are followed. Also, these are not new rules, we've just started cracking down on those who break them.
6. Master Lucario (talk) - Per all.
7. Marioguy1 (talk) - Why did we make these rules in the first place? That reason still stands. Next time you decide to make a proposal like this, I suggest you specify which rule you want to delete don't say all of them because all of these rules are for the wiki user's own good. A wiki should be a relatively safe place, these rules keep it that way. Don't delete the rules!
8. Stooben Rooben (talk) - Per all.
9. Super Paper Mario Bros. (talk) Egg Yoshi, if you are retiring because you can't observe our policies, then good ridance. I was, at first, against giving up my subpages, but I complied with the rules and went even further, as to get my user page itself deleted. I now only have proposal-related subpages for archiviing-sake. I see that many users also have stories in their userspace. I feel this should be moved over to Userpedia, in fact, that was the original reason why it was invented was so that we would have more space here, and that more users wouldn't get distracted with the stories. User-related content isn't the main purpose of this wiki, the Mario series and other related games is our focus. We have these rules so that our server will have more room for our main purpose. Per all, particularly Edofenrir and Twentytwofiftyseven.
10. Yoshario (talk) – Per all
11. Time Q (talk): Per all, if you're a member of this wiki, you have to follow its rules. You have no "basic right" to put whatever you want on your userpage.
12. T.c.w7468 (talk) Per all.
13. H Poke (talk) - You think our Userspace policy is restricting? why don't you head over bulbapedia and see their Userspace Policies, then come back and see what side your on.
14. FunkyK38 (talk) The rules aren't that bad. This wiki isn't MySpace, it's the Super Mario Wiki. We've gotten by just fine with the system we've got.

Comments

I don't know wether to suport or oppose, because it's true that rules are rules but I'm afraid the "only talk about MarioWiki-related stuff" rule is somewhat...strict, but I completely understand the "no excessive personal info" because there are some not-nice people out there, but I'm not gonna take sides for this one. Lemmy Koopa Fan (talk)

I don't see the problem with this. The rules were created to disburden the server and it is necessary if you look at how slow it gets from time to time. There's still the forum, the chat and userpedia left for personal discussions and contents. But sacrificing the whole wiki for the sake of self-portrayal? I doubt that's in your interest as well. - Edofenrir (talk)

THATS IT! I AM RETIREING FROM THE WIKI! I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DOING IT, BUT NOW ITS OFFICIAL! wWHO WOULD BE STUPID ENEUGH TO MAKE A WIKI WHERE YOU CAN ONLY TALK ABOUT THINGS ON THE WIKI! I will still rwrite my 'shroom articles and survivor, though... Egg Yoshi (talk)

To be honest... I would be that stupid. If protecting the own project from a possible server crash is stupid, then yes, I admit it: I would be stupid. And before making rush conclusions, note the comment of Tucayo below this, and understand what exactly will be deleted in the next week. Thank you. - Edofenrir (talk)

*sigh* WE ARE NOT GETTING RID OF USER PAGES, BUT OF USER SUB PAGES Tucayo (talk)

Actually, if User Stories (or whatever) are embedded in the Userpage itself, those sections will also be removed. However, having a Userpage is perfectly fine: no one should feel the need to have theirs deleted; if they think they're taking up too much space, they can simply trim it. For sub-pages, we're asking that people not only cut back on content but merge as much of it together as they can, so that there aren't, for example, five sub-pages when one Userpage would suffice. - Walkazo (talk)

I have a question: What are we going to do about the users who split their entire userpage into separate subpages? FunkyK38 (talk)

THey will delete content that breaks the rules, and then put everything into their user page, anyway. whats the point in doing that? Tucayo (talk)

I've had it up to here with this stupid wiki and its excessive rules. Therefore, I am retireing. Cherrybomb444 (talk)

You're just calling the wiki's stupid because you don't want to follow the rules? Everything has rules, and the userspace ones are those, so, we must obey. Vini64 (talk)

Leaving because you're unable to adhere to rules on that you agreed with creating your nick, and complaining if the admins eventually start to enforce those rules... No offense but that's just immature, if not pathetic. We are all different people who came together here to reach one goal: To create an encyclopedia about the franchise we love! We're a team here and everyone who contributes is a part of that team. If you don't want to support our team and even refuse to take userpedia as an alternative to your userspace, which would indeed greatly help out the server, then I wish you good luck in the future, but I also advise you to leave. - Edofenrir (talk)

Per Edo, and if you are retiring, then do not lose your time voting. Tucayo (talk)

FunkyK38: Users are strongly advised NOT to move all their content to subpages and delete their main userpage because it makes navigating the information harder than it needs to be (even if they have a directory, one-stop-shopping is still the way to go: it's faster and takes up less space). - Walkazo (talk)

hey, everyone has opinions. And anyone has the right to feel a rule is stupid. my entire wiki life is ruined with this rule, therefor, i quit. its not that hard to understand. Egg Yoshi (talk)

Isn't a wiki life supposed to be mainly focused on editing? oô That's what a wiki is for. - Edofenrir (talk)

OK, so maybe it dosn't have a complete affect on my wiki life, but I have a question. How does qriting about something that dosn't have to do with the wiki affect the surver? Egg Yoshi (talk)

It's a waste of server space because it doesn't serve the wiki. –Yoshario (talk)

Everything you write here on the wiki consumes data space and weights the server down. It becomes even worse when user subpages are created. While it doesn't matter if you look at just one or two of these, if every user on the whole wiki does it, it becomes a problem. In some cases however, it is inevitable to create subpages. Therefore, to disburden the server, the wiki policy tolerates subpages if they are necessary and wiki-related, but requests to stay away from creating unnecessary userpages, so there are as less subpages as possible to help out the server. This is by no means ment to make fun of users, or to curtail their rights of self expression. It was even suggested to move all the content to userpedia, so your and the other users wiki lifes can continue unaltered, rather that just bluntly deleting them (the Admins would be allowed to do so, due to the fact that the policy already exists). There is absolutely no reason to acuse the admins of being mean, as they just did what is necessary. - Edofenrir (talk)

Why can't they just say "no more talking about stuff that dosn't have to do with the wiki? Egg Yoshi (talk)

NoT EVERYONE HAS A USERPEDIA ACCOUNT! Egg Yoshi (talk)

Then... uh... make one? Where's the problem? - Edofenrir (talk)

Not everyone on super mario wiki has one. i won't be able to reach some people Egg Yoshi/sig (talk)

Splits & Merges

Merge & Split: Enemies Inside Pages

Clever title there. Anyway, I was thinking- Instead of having all the enemy names in Bowser's Inside Story on the same page, and then having to click a link to go to the page which turns out being a stub, and then having to click the back button on your browser, wouldn't it be much easier to split the enemies to split the enemies and merge all the enemy articles onto one page? I'll do this myself if there's enough good feedback.
This saves having to tire yourself by clicking on different links all the time!

Deadline September 27, 2009, 15:00
Proposer Hyper Guy (talk)

Oppose

1. Knife (talk) - I don't quite understand this proposal, but I assume you mean you want merge all MLBiS enemy articles into one article. I believe enemies are entitled to their own articles.
2. Luigifreak (talk) Soo.... you want to take the enemy articles and merge them into one page, because they are stubs? Once more people get this game, they will get much bigger and we will have one big jumbled mess. Just give it time.
3. Time Q (talk): We're talking about a major Mario game here and we're the Mario Wiki, so there's no reason why enemies from the game shouldn't get separate articles.
4. Marioguy1 (talk) - This is the splitting of SMG Missions all over again except this time, we are not going to let it happen. OK, think of it this way: You are a regular person who is desperate to find out about this certain character from a series of your choice but then suddenly, that page is a redirect to a tiny little section on a larger page! You're not happy because you were for some reason expecting more even though it's all the same content just stuck together. Now, to make a long story short, You tell Bobby that you're sad, Bobby tell George and George tells Michael, Michael tells Alexa and so on. Now all those people don't want to come here :(
5. Walkazo (talk) - Per Knife, Luigifreak and Time Q.
6. MC Hammer Bro. (talk) - Adding this info would mean adding the info of every enemy specific to a certain game. All those characters from SMRPG or SPM would be merged with the page and they would be enormous. Plus what do we do with enemies that are similar or appear in multiple games? Why would they get single articles and not the other ones? oh and per knife

Comments

Split to split to merge? Did you say it twice or something? Betaman (talk)

You want to split the enemy articles, split them again and then merge them all together? If you want to merge them, why splitting them in the first place? There's clarification needed here. - Edofenrir (talk)

I say it again: I'd like to vote, but I don't understand what this is about. - Edofenrir (talk)

Changes

None at the moment.

Miscellaneous

None at the moment.