User:Tstormcandy/NPP proposed changes

Written and posted to Wikipedia talk:Newbie treatment at CSD on 14 November 2009 after wasting several hours trying to think of what could be reworded.

Proposal/Idea for NPP changes
Note: This is something of an extension of WP:NEWP by Sebwite and later offer by Explodicle, though neither have been discussed seriously or acted upon and I'm not sure where else this would seem good to post.

I'm convinced a the only way to change overall behavior of patrols is a guideline to suggest that anything but the most obvious A7s get a newpage or construction tag. They already exist, they're productive, they show good faith, they inform the user instead of basically screaming at them, and gives us a chance to do basic improvements without having to drop everything and spend time on it that minute. This would require something manually left on the user's page, which might be forgotten by... lazier people. Just like there's a listing for PRODs @ 7+ days we could have a check of newpage'd articles @ 3+ days to check for improvements and PROD/AfD after that if none. This would also be when observers could do the most basic of improvements and add normal tags; could leave user another (polite!) message if the article winds up okay. If the article is simply hopeless, normal editors could remove the newpage tag and add a normal PROD. I'll repeat, this would only be for borderline and "uncontroversial" harmless-looking A7s.

Extremely dangerous, disruptive and destructive articles meeting G3 (including BLP issues) or A10 would still instantly CSD'd and there wouldn't be any change in the "maintenance" CSDs like A1, G1 G2 G7 etc. Discussion of how loosely we could change CSD opinion on A9 and G11s we'd need to deal with later.

One major thing holding this back besides it not existing for now would be the lack of a "New user Good Faith article" option available on Twinkle and Huggle, presumably that would be listed at the top of CSD options so it was noticed. Using it would (theoretically) add the tag to the article and a short, specific user talk entry (not a welcome and not a huge red sign). I do this all with articles I remove A7s on, but it's time-consuming to manually write a message. It also forces me to do quick wikification on the article to hit at least an extremely low stub standard with at least 1 resource cited to keep another CSD from popping up on it. I've yet to get any angry talk messages from other patrols for removing their CSDs if I put the newpage tag on and many go back and put on a normal PROD (which I think is fine). An second version could use "Article in Good Faith" that would be an alternative used for existing editors.

Thoughts? This alone would dissipate a lot of user anger, it would mean less subjectively-tagged A7s, it would eliminate the need for most hangons that hinder the process instead of help in most cases. Less stress and frustrating judgment calls for everyone, patrols would be relaxed instead of paranoid. I know the Twinkle/Huggle changes aren't even needed to do this, but it would result a hundred times more usage and a hundredth the time required. I know I don't have a trackrecord of reputation to use as support, but after a lot of thought I can't see how this wouldn't be a net help toward a few of Wikipedia's most nagging issues. ♪ daTheisen(talk) 04:31, 15 November 2009 (UTC)