This discussion seems to be getting slightly off track.
There already is a incremental improvement in the way new articles are dealt with: the Cleanup page. I've listed stubs there which I would have voted to delete on VfD, and, much to my surprise, I've seen them blossom into passable articles. By first listing substandard articles on Cleanup with a brief comment for a week or two seems like a far more positive and constructive approach than immediately "voting" on their deletion.
As an aside, I'll add that a fair number of new stubby articles can profitably be merged into existing articles. It seems that many new users are more inclined to start a new article than add to existing one.
V.