[Foundation-l] Renaming "Flagged Protections"

David Levy lifeisunfair at gmail.com
Mon May 24 02:51:39 UTC 2010


William Pietri wrote:

> I think insiders will adjust to any name we choose, as some of our
> existing names attest. So I think as long as the name isn't hideous or
> actively misleading, then my main criterion is how it comes across to
> novices. For them, I'd suspect most will take "double check" as it's
> used colloquially,

My understanding is that we seek to avoid colloquialisms, which are
particularly difficult for non-native English speakers to comprehend.

And honestly, if I were not already familiar with the process in
question, I would interpret "Double Check" to mean "checked twice
after submission" (and I'm a native English speaker and Wikipedian
since 2005).  Someone unfamiliar with our existing processes might
assume that everything is routinely checked once by an outside party
(and this is an additional check).

Such potential for misunderstanding is non-trivial, as this feature's
deployment is likely to generate significant mainstream media
coverage.

> but if some do get the notion that it's checked twice by others rather than
> once, I see little harm done.

If the general public is led to believe that we're instituting a
second check because an existing check isn't working (as evidenced by
the disturbing edits already widely reported), this will be quite
injurious to Wikipedia's reputation.

David Levy



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