...

...There is also the issue that if a newbie make a mistake during a move only a sysop can correct it because the old page title needs to be deleted before the move can be reversed.

In my view, the move feature will be sufficiently safe for general release if the effects are easily _reversible_ - just being non-destructive isn't enough. That is, if a newbie or anyone else makes a mistake or moves an article to where they shouldn't, it should be possible for anyone to reverse the change, just as it is possible to revert an article to a previous version. At the moment, only sysops can revers a move, because of the need to delete a page. I think this needs to change before the move function goes on general release.

I would suggest making possible to move a page without creating a redirect at the old page title by checking a tickbox. Then, even if a redirect was getting in the way of moving an article back to where it once was, a user could then get around this by moving the redirect to a new title to make way for the article.

LDC wrote:

I agree that I do need to implement some auto-promotion feature, but Sysop status is never "going away" as far as I'm concerned....

I wholeheartedly agree with this - there will always be a need for trusted people to oversee the system. While a democratic system of 'old hands' sounds appealing, I think preading out the really drastic powers - like IP blocking - to more users could have the reverse effect to that intended. The more people who have access to IP blocking (for example, by a 'vote to block this person' system), the more likely it is to be abused and used in arguments over controversial content rather than cases of genuine vandalism. A group of 'old hands' abusing the system, perhaps because of their strong views on a topic, would be very hard to deal with unless there were sysop-type users overseeing things.

Tim (the Enchanter)

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