Wikipedia:Main page editor/RfC

RFC: Proposed creation of a new "main page editor" user group and policy
Proposal: Main page editor will be raised to the level of a policy. A new user group, "main page editor", will thereby be created, allowing users in the group to edit content that is on the main page. In brief, this group will include the permissions  and , as well as the ability to activate two-factor authentication. It will be assigned only to those users who have demonstrated experience and judgement in curating content that appears in one or more of the six content showcases on the main page (Today's Featured Article, In The News, Did You Know, On This Day, Today's Featured List, and Today's Featured Picture). The rights included may only be used to promote content to the main page, adjust content on the main page, and remove content from the main page, in accordance with our content policies and the guidelines for specific sections of the main page. They may not be used for any other purpose, including, specifically, modifying protection levels of any page, and edit-warring over content that is on the main page. Editors abusing the rights granted may have their membership in the user group revoked. The technical ability to assign and revoke this user group will be granted to administrators.


 * Rationale
 * Wikipedia frequently has a shortage of administrators willing and able to perform tasks related to main page content. This results in updates to the main page being delayed, or in errors on the main page persisting for long periods of time. Shortage of admin help at DYK is particularly dire; admins are currently forced to decide between promoting sets they haven't been able to check, allowing DYK to go unupdated, or checking more sets than they are willing/able to check, which results in burnout and error, attracting criticism and discouraging volunteers from working at DYK, which worsens the problem.
 * A number of non-admin editors have long track records working on content related to the main page. These editors often are experts in project policy, are trusted contributors, and are fully capable of performing administrative tasks related to the main page, but are unable to do so, because editing the main page (and the subpages transcluded onto it) requires administrator permissions. Many of these users are uninterested in running for adminship because they would not use other tools, or because they do not wish to endure the process RFA has become. Many others do not have the wide experience necessary to pass an RFA.
 * Therefore, allowing trusted, experienced, willing non-admins to hold the rights associated with the new "main page editor" user group would increase the number of editors committed to main page projects who are able to perform these tasks, and also decrease the workload of admins. Updates to the main page can be made in a more timely fashion and errors corrected more quickly.


 * Technical background
 * The main page is currently full-protected with cascade protection. This is unlikely to change anytime soon. The various sections of it are transcluded onto the main page, and are therefore also cascade protected. The ability to edit cascade-protected pages requires "protect" permissions due to the current software design. Editing these sub-pages therefore requires the edit-protected and protect permissions, which are currently only locally available to admins. While it is technically possible to split the edit-cascade-protect and protect flags, efforts to do so have been pending developers since 2017.
 * Addressing potential concerns
 * Risk to other protected pages. Although users in this group will have the technical ability to protect and unprotect pages, this proposed policy explicitly states that they may not do so, and that using their rights to modify protection levels would be grounds for removal from the group.
 * Risk to the main page. This right will only be open to editors with a proven track record at the main page, who have proven their commitment to the project and their understanding of policy there. Even if someone should go off the rails or have an account compromised, the main page has over 114,000 watchers, over 4000 of whom have visited recent edits, and the proposal allows for requested revocation by any user in good standing and emergency revocation by any admin. Editors who disrupt the main page are likely to be brought to administrator attention very quickly. Additional risk to the main page is therefore minimal.
 * Potential difficulty of revocation. Under this proposal, any user in good standing can request revocation of membership in this usergroup from any other user, and administrators may revoke it without prior notice in case of active disruption to the main page. Furthermore, the process for removal intentionally does not require a numerical threshold, but a consensus that the editor in question will not abuse the right; therefore, in the presence of substantive concerns, the removal of membership should be straightforward.