Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/Instructions

These step-by-step instructions show the FL directors and their delegates the exact steps to maintain Featured lists, Featured list candidates and Featured list removal candidates, their subpages and logs, and how to close and archive FL nominations. These steps are not, strictly, required: the only thing that determines whether a list is an FL is whether it was added to or removed from WP:FL by the Featured list directors or their delegates. The instructions on this page are for the convenience of other editors, by creating a stable and transparent process.

Incorporates bits from User:Matthewedwards/FL, with updates made for bot changes since then.

New FLC listings
All new WP:FLC listings should be checked for
 * 1) The FLC template at the top of the list's talk page (sometimes nominators manually create the nomination instead); note that it should be the template, not a subst.
 * 2) Lists may not be at PR, GAN and FLC at the same time

Ongoing FLCs
Check WP:FLCs regularly for
 * 1) Unsigned entries (surprisingly frequent)
 * 2) Graphics (see the WP:FLC instructions, they slow down the page and often need to be removed)
 * 3) Sub-sections are discouraged, and may not be any higher than ====Level 4====
 * 4) Inappropriate strikes—nominators should not strike others' comments
 * 5) Monitor for double declarations of Support or Oppose, or unbolded and almost hidden supports or opposes
 * 6) Monitor for declarations of support or oppose not accompanied by a full review

Closing FLCs
The following instructions assume that the bot (currently as of December 2015) is running to perform much of the manual process. If the nominator attempts to perform the manual process themselves, please revert in order to remove any potential issues with the bot.

Promoted nominations

 * 1) Tag the nomination page at the bottom with  and sign—do not subst the template
 * 2) Update Featured lists, including the count at the top
 * 3) Update Former featured lists, including the count at the top (rarely necessary)
 * 4) Update Featured list candidates/backlog/items
 * 5) Update Featured list candidates/Closure log

The bot will, within 24 hours:
 * 1) Cap the nomination page
 * 2) Remove the transcluded discussion from WP:FLC
 * 3) Transclude the discussion to this month's promotion log
 * 4) Update the log tallies in Featured list log
 * 5) Add a notice to Template:Announcements/New featured pages, cycle the entries, removing as many as has been added
 * 6) Add a notice to Goings-on
 * 7) Update the list's talk page with ArticleHistory and add the FL star

Failed nominations

 * 1) Tag the nomination page at the bottom with  and sign—do not subst the template
 * 2) Update Featured list candidates/backlog/items
 * 3) Update Featured list candidates/Closure log

The bot will, within 24 hours:
 * 1) Cap the nomination page
 * 2) Remove the transcluded discussion from WP:FLC
 * 3) Transclude the discussion to this month's failed log
 * 4) Update the log tallies in Featured list log
 * 5) Update the list's talk page with ArticleHistory

Withdrawals and premature nominations
It is up to delegate discretion whether to formally close an FLC that is being ended early; in general if there are any substantive comments then the nomination should be closed as per the Failed instructions above, but if there are none the delegate may instead choose to delete the nominations page, remove the transclusion from WP:FLC, and remove the FLC template from the list's talk page.

New FLRC listings
All new WP:FLRC listings should be checked:
 * 1) Make sure the FLRC is actually a Featured list (sometimes nominators meant to submit to WP:PR or WP:FLC)
 * 2) Make sure the FLRC has had at least three to six months since promotion and several days after mainpage appearance
 * 3) Lists may not be at PR, GAN and FLRC at the same time
 * 4) Make sure notifications are done per the WP:FLRC instructions, if not, prompt the nominator to do so
 * 5) If the nomination doesn't belong at FLRC, it is up to delegate discretion whether to delete the nomination page, remove the transclusion and remove the template from the list's talk page, or whether to fail the nomination as per the procedures below

Ongoing FLRCs
Check WP:FLRCs regularly for
 * 1) Unsigned entries (surprisingly frequent)
 * 2) Graphics (see the WP:FLC instructions, they slow down the page and often need to be removed)
 * 3) Sub-sections are discouraged, and may not be any higher than ====Level 4====
 * 4) Inappropriate strikes—nominators should not strike others' comments
 * 5) Monitor for double declarations of Support or Oppose, or unbolded and almost hidden supports or opposes

Closing FLRCs
The following instructions assume that the bot (currently as of December 2015) is running to perform much of the manual process. If the nominator attempts to perform the manual process themselves, please revert in order to remove any potential issues with the bot.

Kept nominations

 * 1) Tag the nomination page at the bottom with  and sign—do not subst the template
 * 2) Update Featured list candidates/Closure log

The bot will, within 24 hours:
 * 1) Cap the nomination page
 * 2) Remove the transcluded discussion from WP:FLRC
 * 3) Transclude the discussion to this month's FLRC log
 * 4) Update the log tallies in Featured list log
 * 5) Update the list's talk page with ArticleHistory

Removed nominations

 * 1) Tag the nomination page at the bottom with  or  and sign—do not subst the template
 * 2) Update Featured lists, including the count at the top
 * 3) Update Former featured lists, including the count at the top
 * 4) Update Featured list candidates/Closure log

The bot will, within 24 hours:
 * 1) Cap the nomination page
 * 2) Remove the transcluded discussion from WP:FLRC
 * 3) Transclude the discussion to this month's FLRC log
 * 4) Update the log tallies in Featured list log
 * 5) Update the list's talk page with ArticleHistory, and remove the FL star

Other FL-related tasks
These tasks should be done on a periodic basis, though there is no set schedule.
 * 1) Check Category:Wikipedia featured list candidates and Category:Wikipedia featured list removal candidates to make sure they agree with WP:FLC and WP:FLRC—differences occur if a nomination does not have the correct talk page template, or if it has one but the nomination was never started
 * 2) If the bot is not running (unlikely), open new archive files every month at Featured list candidates/Featured log, Featured list candidates/Failed log, and Featured list removal candidates/log, adding featured list log to the top of each.
 * 3) Check WP:FL for lists that have been moved, merged, or deleted, and update WP:FL and WP:FFL accordingly.
 * 4) Check WP:FL for lists that have been split, and update WP:FL accordingly. These cases are rare, but typically are handled on a case-by-case basis to determine whether one, both, or neither of the resulting lists should be considered featured. Often, both are considered featured if the list was split solely for page size reasons, rather than for content reasons.

Troubleshooting bot issues
If the bot fails to close a nomination within 24 hours, and you've verified that the bot has contributions from that time (i.e. is still working), that generally means that there is a problem with either the closing template on the nomination or the FLC template on the list's talk page. Common issues are:
 * 1) The closer did not use the correct "closing word" in the FLCClosed template- the word must be correct, including capitalization
 * 2) The nomination page was moved during nomination- the link to the nomination in the talk page FLC template must be direct to the current nomination page, it can't redirect, regardless of whether the article itself is not at the same title any more.
 * 3) In addition to being exact in regards to article title, the archive numbers of the talk page template and the closed nomination must match
 * 4) The capitalization of one of the templates is wrong- they must be FLCClosed and featured list candidates (the output of subst:FLC); the bot does not recognize redirects or Featured list candidates (capital F), even if the visual output is the same
 * 5) If anyone but the director/delegates places the FLCClosed template (or corrects a typo in the closing word), the bot will cap the nomination but will not finish promoting the list- a director/delegate will need to rollback the changes and reapply the template correctly. The bot determines who is eligible by the names at the @FLC template.