Wikipedia:Centralized discussion
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This page in a nutshell: The {{cent}} template is a list of ongoing discussions on policies, guidelines or other matters that have a wide impact and on which a broad consensus is needed. It may be placed for reference on user pages or anywhere where appropriate debate takes place and editors may wish to be informed of active discussions. Editors maintain this list by adding ongoing discussions and polls, periodically archiving inactive issues, and removing inappropriate listings. Announcements and local or topic specific discussions are usually not appropriate for this template. |
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| Proposals | Discussions | Recurring proposals |
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[edit] Background
Wikipedians frequently discuss proposed changes to Wikipedia policy; these may take the form of new proposals, amendments to existing policies or guidelines, or straw polls. These discussions generally take place on relevant talk pages. They may also occur at Meta-Wiki, on IRC, and on our mailing lists.
Village pump (policy) and Village pump (proposals) provide central areas both for giving notice of discussions elsewhere and for debate itself. Despite regular archiving, these pages tend to grow rather lengthy. It's not always easy to know what issues are active.
[edit] Guidance
Cent is generally used to draw attention to discussions regarding policies, guidelines or other matters that have a wide impact and on which a broad consensus is needed. Announcements, such as for ArbCom elections, etc, are generally done via the Watchlist notice or the Sitenotice. Discussions related to content, including use of infoboxes and templates within a specific topic area, are usually best advertised within the appropriate WikiProjects.
[edit] Listing examples
Discussions listed on Cent are about matters that are significant enough to require a broad consensus. See Wikipedia:Canvassing for guidance on the appropriate way to gain attention.
Some discussions may also be listed on Wikipedia:Requests for comment.
- Appropriate
- Discussions on existing policies, guidelines and procedures
- Discussions on proposed policies, guidelines and procedures
- Discussions on matters that have a wide impact
- Inappropriate
- Announcements - see Wikipedia:Community portal, MediaWiki:Watchlist-details, or MediaWiki:Sitenotice
- Content disputes - see Wikipedia:Dispute resolution requests
- Topic specific discussions - see Wikipedia:WikiProject
- Minor matters, housekeeping or simple maintenance matters - see WP:Bold or Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines.
- General ideas or proposals, reviving dead Projects, technical issues, or any other matters that would be better suited to Wikipedia:Village pump
[edit] How to list
- To add a new item, edit Template:Cent, and place the item at the top of the list.
- Link directly to the discussion. Single, unambiguous and concise links are preferred.
- Describe the matter or proposal in neutral terms.
- Add date of listing between hide brackets: <!-- -->.
[edit] When to archive
- Inactive discussions, closed or not, should be archived.
[edit] Cautions
Like any tool, this may be misused. Kindly exercise restraint, assume good faith, and allow process to take its course. Please don't add new policy ideas indiscriminately; trial balloons are better floated at Village pump (proposals). This template should be reserved for ongoing discussions. Remember, its usefulness is in inverse proportion to its size.
Before joining a debate, it might be wise to gather some background, especially on complex or long-standing issues. Please be courteous to your fellow editors and read existing discussion before adding your own comment. It's hoped that {{cent}} will contribute to the opening of policy debate and the broadening of consensus; but of course no good purpose is served by uninformed comment. Stay cool.
[edit] Documentation
- This page is for explanation of the way in which we use {{cent}}.
- Wikipedia talk:Centralized discussion is for discussion of this process only.
- Template:Cent contains the actual box content of ongoing policy issues. It should be edited to stay current at all times.
- Template:Cent/doc contains technical documentation of the template.
- Template talk:Cent contains discussion of related technical issues.
- You may create any page of the form [[Wikipedia talk:Centralized discussion/Some topic]] if it does not appear that any particular existing talk page is the correct place for a policy-related discussion. Please note that there are a great many talk pages; a very large number of discussions are ongoing. Before creating yet another debate page, check to see that the topic is not already under discussion elsewhere. Search the project for keywords related to the topic in question.
- Links are stored at Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Archive.
