About a week ago, [[User:JHunterJ]] revised [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages)]] and then began making sitewide changes to articles on human names based on his revisions:
"People who happen to have the same given name should not be listed on a disambiguation page for that name unless they happen to be very frequently referred to simply by the given name (e.g., Beyoncé, Regis). If the name is uncommon enough for such a list to be maintainable (and if it would otherwise meet the WP:LIST guidelines), consider creating the page [[List of people named Title]] instead."
I have found that a few name pages I monitor with lists of people by name are magnets for occasional vanity additions, and more common names will have very long lists. However, such lists seem useful and interesting for causal readers, so I'm wondering what people think about balancing utility (especially for causal readers) and page size? Right now the lists are being removed entirely instead of being moved to [[List of people named___]]. This has led to protests by some editors, and he's only part way into the A names (actually, I just checked and he's now into B names).
My concern is that a lot of information is being removed when he implements these changes. Sometimes he's adding {{Lookfrom}}, sometimes not, but many of the articles with lists had explanatory information, not just a list. At the very least, I'd like to see that information moved to another page rather than deleted outright. I have asked him to hold off until a few more people had a chance to weigh in, but he has decided to continue.
Thoughts?
On 10/09/06, A jokestress@gmail.com wrote:
My concern is that a lot of information is being removed when he implements these changes. Sometimes he's adding {{Lookfrom}}, sometimes not, but many of the articles with lists had explanatory information, not just a list. At the very least, I'd like to see that information moved to another page rather than deleted outright. I have asked him to hold off until a few more people had a chance to weigh in, but he has decided to continue. Thoughts?
Take it to [[WP:ANI]]. If he's been disruptive enough, he'll get blocked and his changes mass-reverted.
(If it turns out he hasn't, of course, you might.)
- d.
Some people have tried to do this before. I disagree.
In general, rewriting policy yourself and then acting as if it's the "will of the community" is frowned upon.
-Matt
I don't think its appropriate to rewrite policy to suit your intentions. It defeats the purpose of having a policy in the first place. I respect the user as an editor, but I totally disagree with the changes simply because they aren't approved on policy - being on MoS without any prior community approval isn't policy.
On 9/11/06, Akash Mehta draicone@gmail.com wrote:
I don't think its appropriate to rewrite policy to suit your intentions. It defeats the purpose of having a policy in the first place. I respect the user as an editor, but I totally disagree with the changes simply because they aren't approved on policy - being on MoS without any prior community approval isn't policy.
I have a unique solution. Add Brainstorming subpages to each official policy and guideline, keep {{brainstorming}} on the top of those subpages, on the original, make editors aware of the subpage. Let significant changes and discussion move forward on the brainstorming pages, providing a sandbox. Protect the main policy pages from editing and only move changes over from brainstorming when they reach consensus. This should satisfy both immediatism and eventualism camps and discourage users who make an individual change to a policy to run around like its accepted.
-jtp Electrawn
On 9/10/06, A jokestress@gmail.com wrote:
About a week ago, [[User:JHunterJ]] revised [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages)]] and then began making sitewide changes to articles on human names based on his revisions:
"People who happen to have the same given name should not be listed on a disambiguation page for that name unless they happen to be very frequently referred to simply by the given name (e.g., Beyoncé, Regis). If the name is uncommon enough for such a list to be maintainable (and if it would otherwise meet the WP:LIST guidelines), consider creating the page [[List of people named Title]] instead."
This is really just a part of the continued onslaught against useful dab pages in the name of adherence to the manual of style... the stricter we make these pages, the more likely we are to be encouraging the blind elimination of good content.
See here for prime examples of this idiocy in action: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AFD&action=history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Disambiguation_pages_in_need_of_cleanu...
~~Sean