Wikipedia talk:Flagged revisions/FAQ


 * Q: What is Flagged Revisions?
 * A: Flagged Revisions is a new feature of the MediaWiki software that enables tagging particular revisions of pages as "stable". This functionality is already implemented and is scheduled to be available for our use in a few months. A demo of the development version of the extension is available here.


 * Q: What is this proposal?
 * A: This proposal is about how we will use this new functionality on the English Wikipedia.


 * Q: This is outrageous. It will be the End of Wikipedia. How is this different from Citizendium?
 * A: There are significant differences in the software, but more importantly, the difference lies in how we will use the functionality. This doesn't mean Wikipedia will change its underlying philosophy!


 * Q: So, will anyone still be able to edit Wikipedia?
 * A: Yes, absolutely! All logged in users will be taken to the most recent edition of the page. For anonymous users (the outside world) there are two options to be discussed:
 * A. They will be shown the most recent version by default, but they would have a tabbed-link for the stable version.
 * B. They will be shown the last stable version by default, but they would have a tabbed-link to the most recent version (and still be able to edit it).


 * Q: But who will mark pages as stable, some self-proclaimed "expert"?
 * A: The exact details are up for discussion, but the so called "editor" privilege required will be granted liberally: not just experts, not just admins, all of us normal users, who have been around for some time to prove we aren't vandals, will be able to flag revisions as "stable".


 * Q: Well, then, what is the point?
 * A: First, this will deal with vandalism in a way that is much smoother than page protection: people will still be able to edit, but there will be less of an incentive to vandalize when the graffiti isn't immediately displayed to the outside world. Second, on many pages it can be used to mark a revision as "stable" in order to engage in discussion and experiment with larger changes without having to fork the content.


 * Q: Yes, but won't people just edit-war over which is the stable revision?
 * A: Indeed, people who want to edit-war will still be able to do so by marking their latest revision as "stable", so this won't make the situation any worse. This is not going to somehow miraculously solve content disputes between editors in good standing.


 * Q: Ok, but what are "quality" revisions?
 * A: If a revision of a page is marked as "quality" by a so called "reviewer" then that will override later "stable" version. Initially, this will only be used to deal with legal concerns, but at some point we could decide electing reviewers, or set up processes for quality reviews, so for example when an article is promoted to Featured Article status, it is flagged in some way. This is up to the community to decide, but it is probably wise to start with a very simple system with only "stable" revisions.