Hello,
We have lots of people from lots of projects familiar with lots of different ways of organising noticeboards. Therefore I think we must brainstorm to find a better model for our poor [[Commons:Deletion requests]]. It simply creaks and groans under the weight of too many requests, it is unmanageable.
Here are some requirements: * The requests still have to be on the [[template:deletion requests]]. This is because the 'Commons-level' page is actually a 'shell' or 'wrapper' with some instructions, and these instructions can be translated, while the actual requests themselves are not. * Want to keep adding new items simple (possibly we can use tricks with an input box similar to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/COM:FPC#Nomination to keep it outwardly simple) * Want to be able to archive individual items - archiving a day at a time is not appropriate because some debates drag on interminably (sometime while we wait for more information, replies from other people etc), and the system has to allow for these.
Some other ideas: * Ability to watch certain debates only? This would require a separate template for each item. I think a lot of people would find this useful. * Break up page according to ***type of request***? An obvious split at this stage would be splitting off requests based on format conversions, such as {{supersededSVG}} (since it seems people are going to persist in requesting these for deletion, we should deal with them in a more sensible manner). What other splits would be appropriate? (Keep in mind it has to be simple for users to be able to follow it - if they don't follow it, we're right back where we started) * Ability to flag debates as requiring participants having certain skills or interests?? This would be really useful. If we could flag debates as requiring say, German speaker, someone familiar with derivative works, someone familiar with PD expiration in the US, someone familiar with personality rights, someone familiar with XYZwhatever. Then people would be able to decide what issues they're interested in and look at those specifically. So this would again require one template per debate, I imagine.
* Can we think up some extra-MW innovation and get some of our toolserver friends to implement it? For example, before the en.wp DB went kaput, en.wp had a very interesting toolserver-based thing for dealing with 'proposed deletions' ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:PROD ).
* Need to keep track of those debates that drag on and maybe think up a better process for dealing with them.
What are some other technical improvements that people would like to see to this page, to make it more usable?
Are you aware of high-traffic noticeboards on other projects that are managed easily and well? If so, provide some links so we can check them out.
If you have ideas for improvements, I suggest implementing a model with 5 or so fake debates in a user subpage, and again share the link so we can compare it to the current model.
cheers, Brianna user:pfctdayelise