[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Flagged revs poll take 2

[Nathan]

CC'd this to Foundation-l.

There is a poll currently on the English Wikipedia to implement a version of
FlaggedRevisions. The poll was introduced left into the vacuum which
remained after the first poll failed to result in concrete action. At the
close of poll #1, Jimmy indicated that he thought it had passed and should
result in an FR implementation. When he received some protest, he announced
that he would shortly unveil a new compromise proposal.

While I'm sure he had the best of intentions, this proposal hasn't
materialized and the result has been limbo. Into the limbo rides another
proposal, this one masquerading as the hoped for compromise. Unfortunately,
it isn't - at least, not in the sense that it is a middle ground between
those who want FR implemented and those who oppose it. What it does do is
compromise, as in fundamentally weaken, the concept of FR and the effort to
improve our handling of BLPs.

The proposed implementation introduces all the bureaucracy and effort of
FlaggedRevisions, with few of the benefits. FlaggedProtection, similar to
semi-protection, can be placed on any article. In some instances,
FlaggedProtection is identical to normal full protection - only, it still
allows edit wars on unsighted versions (woohoo). Patrolled revisions are
passive - you can patrol them, but doing so won't impact what the general
reader will see. It gives us the huge and useless backlog which is exactly
what we should not want, and exactly what the opposition has predicted. The
only likely result is that inertia will prevent any further FR
implementation, and we'll be stuck with a substitute that grants no real
benefit.

What I would like to see, and what I have been hoping to see, is either
implementation of the prior proposal (taking a form similar to that used by
de.wp) or actual proposal of a true compromise version. The current poll
asks us to just give up.

Nathan