I'll make some brief remarks on the responses to my proposal.
1. Viajero suggested that it needed software changes. While some software assistance would be nice, it can all be done with the present software. The official page would be, say, [[Arafat is fat]], and the draft page would be [[Arafat is fat (draft)]] or maybe [[Arafat is fat/Draft]].
2. Nikola mentioned the partiality of the committee as an issue. There need not be a committee, that is just one possible implementation. Another is that the protagonists agree amongst themselves when some draft is better than the official page and ask a sysop to do the copy. In any case, the current system is that the page contents are decided by the most persistent fanatic, and anything has to be better than that.
3. John suggested that Wikipedia should in fact drop some issues altogether. This is actually close to the way I really feel about it. My suggestion for a process change is merely my best idea on how to avert this step. Whatever path is taken, the present system is the worst option.
Zero.
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A logical first step would be to try this scheme on one article as a test. I would suggest taking perhaps the most controversial topic in the Middle East, the Palestinian refugees.
There are now two articles on this topic: [[Palestinian refugee]] and [[Palestinian exodus]]. They overlap and should be merged into one; let's call it [[Palestinian refugees]].
Adam Carr demonstrated on articles like [[Anti-zionism]] that it seems to make a huge difference if ONE individual takes charge of the article with no particular authority except the confidence of other contributors. Adam is by no means impartial (who is?) but he has a gift for synthesizing various POVs into an effective, well-written organic whole.
Taking Adam's very effective work mode as a starting point, let's have one person take (temporary) responsibility for the article. What about Zero? Any objections? Or another candidate? We protect the page and move all work to [[Palestinian refugees/Draft]] and discussion to [[Talk:Palestinian refugees/Draft]]. We give it a month and see what happens
At this point, we have nothing to lose.
V.