Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-03-12/Discussion report

Editor's note: ''As I've been away most of the week, we will present a different take on the discussion report this edition. Below is an analysis of the dispute resolution and discussion system that we have, looking at the advantages and the disadvantages.''

The process today
The English Wikipedia is in some ways becoming better at dealing with issues, with the creation of more and more specialized dispute resolution forums and centralized discussion areas. Areas where topics are being discussed include the village pump, centralized discussion, and the community portal; a watchlist notice is also being used to draw editors' notice. Without a doubt, there are plenty of ways to get the attention of editors who may be interested in discussion.

On the other hand, with the proliferation of these specialized forums and areas, it becomes increasingly difficult for editors to find discussions that may be relevant to them, and to ensure their opinion is heard, because of the large number of pages that need to be checked.

It also seems that it's taking longer for disputes to be resolved and discussions to be closed. Perhaps, because of the double-sided process that we have, the discussions drag out because there are so many options to consider.

In brief

 * A proposal on restricting administrator's powers was started by Malleus Fatuorum on March 10.
 * A "problem hotline" was created to iron out any issues with the new MediaWiki software (version 1.19) by BarkingFish on March 1.
 * A poll to determine why there is a lack of non-date-specific submissions for "Today's featured article" was started by Raul654.
 * A request for comments in the problem area of Indo-Afghani relations is seeking the wider-community to provide their opinions.
 * Today's featured article/February 7, 2012 (Cartman gets an anal probe) causes 17,000 words of discussion with no discernible outcome.