MarioWiki:Proposals

Proposals can be new features (such as an extension), removals of previously added features that have tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action is taken. Any user can support or oppose but must have a strong reason for doing so, not, e.g., "I like this idea!" "Vote" periods last for one week. All past proposals are archived.

A proposal section works like a discussion page: comments are brought up and replied to using indents (colons, such as : or ::::) and all edits are signed using the code {{User|User name}}.

This page observes the No-Signature Policy.

How To

Rules

1. If users have an idea about improving the wiki or managing its community, but feel that they need community approval before acting upon that idea, they may make a proposal about it. They must have a strong argument supporting their idea and be willing to discuss it in detail with the other users, who will then vote about whether or not they think the idea should be used. Proposals should include links to all relevant pages and Writing Guideline proposals must include a link to the draft page.
2. Proposals end at the end of the day (23:59) one week after voting starts, except for Writing Guidelines and Talk Page Proposals, which run for two weeks. (All times GMT.)
   • For example, if a proposal is added at any time on Monday, August 1, 2011, the voting starts immediately and the deadline is one week later on Monday, August 8, at 23:59 GMT.
3. Every vote should have a reason accompanying it. Agreeing with or seconding a previously mentioned reason given by another user is accepted.
4. Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the Comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. Voters can remove or rewrite their own vote at any time, but the final decision to remove another user's vote lies solely with the administrators.
5. If a user makes a vote and is subsequently blocked for any amount of time, their vote is removed. However, if the block ends before the proposal ends, then the user in question holds the right to re-cast their vote. If a proposer is blocked, their vote is removed and "(banned)" is added next to their name in the "Proposer:" line of the proposal, which runs until its deadline as normal. If the proposal passes, it falls to the supporters of the idea to enact any changes in a timely manner.
6. No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
7. Any proposal that has three votes or less at deadline will automatically be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
8. All proposals that end up in a tie will be extended for another week.
9. If a proposal has more than ten votes, it can only pass or fail by a margin of three votes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and the total number of votes for each option differ by two or less votes, the deadline will be extended for another week.
10. Proposals can only be extended up to three times. If a consensus has not been reached by the fourth deadline, the proposal fails and can only be re-proposed after four weeks, at the earliest.
11. All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of an administrator, the proposer can ask for that help.
12. Proposals can only be rewritten or deleted by their proposer within the first three days of their creation. However, proposers can request that their proposal be deleted by an administrator at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it. Please note that cancelled proposals must also be archived.
13. If the administrators deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to remove it at any time.
14. There should not be proposals about creating articles on an underrepresented or completely absent subject, unless there is major disagreement about whether the content should be included. To organize efforts about completing articles on missing subjects, try creating a PipeProject.
15. Proposals cannot be made about promotions and demotions. Users can only be promoted and demoted by the will of the administration.
16. No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

Basic Proposal and Support/Oppose Format

This is an example of what your proposal should look like, if you want it to be acknowledged. If you are inexperienced or unsure how to set up this format, simply copy the following and paste it into the fitting section. Then replace the [subject] - variables with information to customize your proposal, so it says what you wish. If you insert the information, be sure to replace the whole variable including the squared brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information", not "[This is the inserted information]".

---

===[insert a title for your Proposal here]===
[describe what issue this Proposal is about and what changes you think should be made to improve how the Wiki handles that issue]

'''Proposer''': {{User|[enter your username here]}}<br>
'''Deadline''': [insert a deadline here, 7 days after the proposal was created, at 23:59 GMT.]

====Support====
#{{User|[enter your username here]}} [make a statement indicating that you support your proposal]

====Oppose====

====Comments====

---

Users will now be able to vote on your Proposal, until the set deadline is reached. Remember, you are a user as well, so you can vote on your own Proposal just like the others.

To support, or oppose, just insert "#{{User|[add your username here]}} at the bottom of the section of your choice. Just don't forget to add a valid reason for your vote behind that tag if you are voting on another user's Proposal. If you are voting on your own Proposal, you can just say "Per my Proposal".

Talk Page Proposals

All proposals dealing with a single article or a specific group of articles are held on the talk page of one of the articles in question. Proposals dealing with massive amounts of splits, merges or deletions across the Wiki should still be held on this page.

For a list of all settled Talk Page Proposals, see here.

Rules

1. All active talk page proposals must be listed below in chronological order (new proposals go at the bottom). All pages affected must be mentioned in the brief description, with the talk page housing the discussion linked to directly via "(Template:Fakelink)". If the proposal involved a page that is not yet made, use {{fakelink}} to communicate its title. The Deadline must also be included in the entry. Linking to pages not directly involved in the talk page proposal is not recommended, as it clutters the list with unnecessary links. Place {{TPP}} under the heading.
2. All rules for talk page proposals are the same as mainspace proposals (see the "How To" section above), with the exceptions made by Rules 3 and 4 as follows:
3. Voting in talk page proposals will be open for two weeks, not one. (All times GMT.)
   • For example, if a proposal is added at any time on Monday, August 1, 2011, it ends two weeks later on Monday, August 15, 2011, at 23:59 GMT.
4. Talk page proposals may be closed by the proposer at any time if both the support and the oppose sides each have fewer than five votes.
5. The talk page proposal must pertain to the article it is posted on.

List of Talk Page Proposals

• Move the Vaporware page. (Discuss) Deadline: December 9, 2011, 23:59 GMT
• Fix Template:Warning. (Discuss) December 3, 2011, 23:59 GMT Extended: December 10, 2011, 23:59 GMT
• Delete Lakitu (character). (Discuss) Deadline: December 11, 2011 23:59 GMT
• Merge Chuckorok with Chuckola Rock. (Discuss) Deadline: December 12, 2011 23:59 GMT
• Delete Wuhu Island (Discuss) Deadline: December 13, 2011 23:59 GMT
• Change Character Infobox image for Princess Peach. (Discuss) Deadline: December 17, 2011 23:59 GMT
• Decide on name for Queen Bee (Discuss) Deadline: December 18, 2011 23:59 GMT
• Merge Flight with the List of Implied Characters (Discuss) Deadline: December 18, 2011 23:59 GMT

Writing Guidelines

MarioWiki:Upcoming content

This writing guideline is meant to establish a consistent guideline for how we handle content from unreleased games. The only aspect of upcoming content that is not covered in this guideline are the project articles themselves. This is because I believe they need a separate guideline page due to their complex nature. Most of what's covered in the guideline is already more or less adhered to, except for one thing. If this proposal passes, all information about upcoming projects will need to have a suitable reference. The main reason for this is because information from upcoming projects are at high risk of being false and references improve our credibility. It really shouldn't be too difficult to enforce on a mass scale, today's games have ton of secondary source coverage and it is easy to find something that backs up the information. The process is detailed a little more in the draft page. Comments and suggestions for improvement are always welcome.

Proposer: Knife (talk)
Deadline: December 8, 2011, 23:59 GMT
Draft: User:Knife/Policy

Support

1. Knife (talk) – Per proposal.
2. coincollector (talk) - Per all. And what per all I mean is Knife.
3. Mario4Ever (talk) Per proposal.
4. New Super Yoshi (talk) I could actually keep track of new info which I always would want to Per all.
5. Jazama (talk) Per all
6. Bop1996 (talk) Per proposal.
7. RandomYoshi (talk) — Per Knife. We really need this thing.
8. Walkazo (talk) - Per Knife.
9. B.wilson (talk) - Per proposal.
10. Lindsay151 (talk) Per all.
11. Tails777 (talk) Per all.
12. Toad85 (talk) I don't know what to say other than Per All, and that's a bad thing. However, this proposal is a good thing.
13. Superfiremario (talk) Per Knife! Great idea!
14. Fawfulfury65 (talk) Per proposal.
15. Awesome12456 (talk) ok
16. Bowser's luma (talk) I thought this was already in effect - a definite Yes.
17. Raven Effect (talk) Per proposal

Comments

It's just my opinion, but I think it's not by their complex nature but rather by their unique nature. Regarding to the new subjects (articles that talk about new element of the game like enemies, courses, etc. especially those that are introduced in a game) Is it possible to use the infoboxes and make mention of their appearance? I see a problem with this. Usually we don't include the appearance of something of a an upcoming game in the infobox until it is officially released. However, some articles (for example, the racecourses of Mario Kart 7) include their appearance despite the fact that the game has not been released yet which may be incosistent to the guidelines. coincollector (talk)

That's why those articles have the {{newsubject}} template on them. The information within the articles, as I understand it, is coming from one or more of the official websites, but that doesn't mean the articles aren't subject to revision once the game comes out. Mario4Ever (talk)

Yes, but that doesn't explain the necessity to include an infobox with such information in a upcoming subject, that's what bothers me. Include information to the infoboxes respecting the sources or get the rules of not include information to them until the game is released? Coincollector (talk)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the issue only arises when people try to add appearances in an unreleased game on preexisting subjects (like if someone tried to say that the latest appearance of Maple Treeway is in MK7). There's nothing that says we can't include appearances in infoboxes for subjects (e.g. Melody Motorway) that have yet to appear in the series provided it comes from a reputable source. Mario4Ever (talk)

If that were the case, I think it should be needed to make notice of that, because some people may get that the appearance of a new subject should be applied likewise for another previously released and will make an upcoming appearance as well. Coincollector (talk)

Maybe the new subject's infoboxes could have "(upcoming)" next to the game's name to set them apart from normal released appearances. I also think it'd be a good idea to have a small section on Infoboxes in the policy page to make the varying use of the "latest appearance" clear. Additionally, I think more emphasis on using references could be made in the "New articles pertaining to upcoming project" and "Previously existing articles in upcoming projects" - nothing major, however, just a short note in each section (leaving the discussion to the section). Like, in the former section one sentence could be expanded to "If an article does have sufficient information backed up by reliable references,", and the latter section could have "as long as the information is not speculation and is accompanied by solid references". Also, "Once information has been rewritten" seems redundant: if the info was well-written from the start, maybe it doesn't need rewriting, just supplementation, and something like "Once the project has been released for a reasonable amount of time and more content has been added" seems like it's giving more bang for the buck (since it's also pointing out that the template can't be removed immediately). - Walkazo (talk)

@ Walkazo: That sounds fine to me. Coincollector (talk)

@Stuff regarding infobox usage: I'm not going to include that into this Writing Guideline since that is a rule that deals with the template specifically. Such rules of usage should be mentioned on the template page itself. The only reason why I mention how to use the Newsubject templates is because those template are specifically for this purpose.
@Walkazo's suggestion to the wording: I'll amend all the changes you suggested except for the "Once the project has been released for a reasonable amount of time and more content has been added" suggestion. I don't think either case is necessary to do a rewrite. Sometime the amount of content is fine as it is and asking for more can sometimes prove to be difficult. Using the words "reasonable time" is unnecessarily restrictive. If the article has all the information it needs, then why wait longer to remove the template? Plus what defines a "reasonable" amount of time? I should clarify though; rewrite in cases like this only refers to changing future tense in present tense (will appear>appears in) and removing unneeded references. I will expand on this more when I make the amendments.--Knife (talk) 11:16, 29 November 2011 (EST)

Okay, made some changes. Supporters, please review them. I basically just differentiated vaporware and cancelled games (based on Glowsquid's proposal) and added a section for revision help.--Knife (talk) 23:56, 29 November 2011 (EST)

The changes are good, but I disagree with your decision to not include anything about the infoboxes. While the infoboxes do have their own sets of rules on the pages, this particular aspect of their use is directly related to upcoming/new releases. Dealing with infoboxes (or leaving them alone) is part of writing about upcoming games, and since different things are being done regarding the infoboxes, an outline for those specific procedures would be handy on a Writing Guideline. Why hope that users will happen to visit infobox pages and find out what to do when you could easily present them the info in a couple lines of text, laid out nice and simple? There's no rule against only describing writing policies in one page and no where else - on the contrary, many policy pages have overlapping content, and that's a good thing. It's not like it'll be a huge essay about general infobox usage, so what's the harm? - Walkazo (talk)

A specific suggestion regarding infoboxes: we would probably benefit from a note somewhere about changing the images on infoboxes after the games release, as I don't believe that's official policy, and it could use some clarification. Bop1996 (talk)

Again I agree with Walkazo. Abstain from this suggestion means you're leaving this in half-way, Knife. This is also part of the upcoming project, And I'm not talking the infobox itself, it's the information of the infobox that likewise is part of the context. At Bop1996, what do you mean exactly? In my experience, I see that some pictures are changed often when a new game is released. But not always... For example, Princess Daisy's picture has been never changed to this point, similar to Waluigi's. Additionally, I dunno really, but it seems there is a rule about not adding pictures of characters alongside other objects that may distract the prime subject... for example: the picture of Metal Mario of Mario Kart 7 which is new but it cannot be used by these circumstances. Coincollector (talk)

Recently, when we've had new high-quality artworks of characters like, Peach, Mario, Toad, etc, people seem to just replace the artwork when they feel like it. MeritC, I believe, has been reverting these changes until the games release, and I started doing the same for the same reasons. However, this isn't in any policy currently, but since we're discussing infoboxes and upcoming content, I figured it would be a good idea to mention that we aren't supposed to change the infobox images until the game they come from has released. We don't have to change it when the game releases if the artwork isn't better, but if we agree to change it, it should wait until after the game releases, basically. Bop1996 (talk)

Hmmm... MeritC told me the same thing and apparently that discussion came from the forums (Again I'm not sure). Going to your point, I guess it needs to be applied but looking how we are currently with the images, I think we should clarify that a bit more. But, again it can be done - At least if Knife approves this or else we have to do this by ourselves. Coincollector (talk)

Sorry for the late response. If you all really feel it's necessary to mention it here, that's fine. However, I'm not 100% sure what you want me to put in. It would probably be best for someone who is more familiar with the userbox usage to write that section of the guideline. You can either add a section for it on draft or post raw coding into this comments section (for non-sysops). If no one comes up with a draft by then, we can put in later assuming no one opposes adding this information.--Knife (talk) 20:24, 4 December 2011 (EST)

New Features

Music Files

I read one of Bop1996's comments in the previous proposal of mine and he had a better idea, to make a sub page for music files. (So credit to him for the idea). So I decided to delete the other proposal and restart it and going with his idea instead.

Proposer:Tails777 (talk)
Deadline:December 10, 2011 23:59 GST

Support

1. Tails777 (talk) Per proposal.
2. B.wilson (talk) If you say the music would be located at a subpage named Music, like for the article Mario, Mario/Music, I'd say it's an adequate idea.
3. Bop1996 (talk) It would cut down on clutter in the music sections, just like having huge Galleries on separate pages does.
4. Bowser's luma (talk) Pages would load faster. A yes from this impatient user.
5. Jazama (talk) Per all
6. Lakituthequick (talk) Good idea, we can ask Porplemontage to create a namespace for music (like we have a gallery namespace)
7. RandomYoshi (talk) — Per all.

Oppose

1. New Super Yoshi (talk) I think just having a list of music is a bad idea. People can look it up on YouTube and people need a player to listen to these and it would be easier to find the song they are looking for on YouTube anyway and it would take a lot of work to upload every Mario song in the series.
2. Toad85 (talk) Per NSY.

Comments

For the record, the previous proposal about Music Files can be found here. - Walkazo (talk)

@ Tails777: Can you specify the title of your proposal? It's about the Sound files, but what's exactly the matter about them? Coincollector (talk)

@Coincollector Nothing is wrong about them, I just find it would be better to put the music on a sub page rather than the game's page. Like what others have said, like gallery pages. Tails777 (talk)

I would only support this if we use YouTube Videos not Music Files because more people like me can listen to the music.--New Super Yoshi (talk) 11:37, 7 December 2011 (EST)

@ New Super Yoshi: The wiki doesn't use Youtube videos for the articles. See Mariowiki:Help for the reason. Coincollector (talk)

I don't see a good reason. Anyway music and video flies are taken from YouTube so what is the point. -New Super Yoshi (talk)

We had various proposals talking about inserting Youtube videos to articles, which all of them failed, mostly because Youtube videos are very informal and because of that contrast greatly with the articles' essential function. Coincollector (talk)

Removals

None at the moment.

Changes

Change Navigation Templates Colors

The navigation templates have a strange choice of colors. Some are hideous. The Mario Wiki could be more beautiful and organizated by changing game Navigation Templates by series (Super Mario series in red and DK in brown, for example). It will make the Navigation Templates less confusing and easier to understand. See Mario page Navigation Templates: so messy.

Proposer: Ultra Koopa (talk)
Deadline: December 11, 2011, 23:59 GMT

Support

1. Ultra Koopa (talk) Per my proposal.
2. ThePremiumYoshi (talk) - Yeah, it's better to change the color of some Templates. While others are fine, there are some Templates with horrid color, like the Super Mario Kart Template which is... PINK! This color totally doesn't fit SMK. Per proposal.
3. Magikrazy51 (talk) Per proposal. Pink would better suit the Super Princess Peach template, not the Nintendo DS Games template. That would be better as red or blue.
4. New Super Yoshi (talk) Some of the Colors just don't work right. Per All.
5. Bowser's luma (talk) Good idea - trading psychadellia for functionality.
6. Jazama (talk) Per all
7. RandomYoshi (talk) — Per Magikrazy51.
8. Lakituthequick (talk) We need some cleanup, yes.
9. Toad85 (talk) Seems legit.

Oppose

1. Knife (talk) – I don't really disagree with the premise, but I feel your proposal isn't specific enough to actually do something. What I think you should do is make a draft page detailing navigation color scheme and put up a Writing Guideline proposal.
2. Coincollector (talk) - Partly oppose, backing up Knife's comment. Also see my comment.
3. Bop1996 (talk) Per Knife.

Comments

Actually I think that some of the templates need a better color scheme. Change color scheme because they are colored in a "weird" manner and some whose colors don't allow to read clearly. Fine examples are the {{bee}}, {{MK7}}, {{Fuzzy}}, {{MP3}}, among a vast quantity of others that would make the list considerably long. On the other hand I agree with Knife that the templates require a better maintenace, following a firm writing guideline for the creation of templates. However this is a discussion that has long been even in our discussions in the boards. I suggest some of you to see my past proposal that overlaps with this topic. However, not all templates look so bad as to need a more proper color, like those used for the consoles - which they follow certain guideline to color the template according to the topic, although doesn't work for everything, and some of these really need a better color coding, for example, the Mario series-related templates and the Donkey Kong-related templates. Coincollector (talk)

@ Magikrazy51: The color of the DS' template was based in that japanese added some color-coding to their consoles: pink for the DS, light Bbue for the Wii, and red for the 3DS. Coincollector (talk)

@ Knife I already have a draft presentation showing some colors for the Templates.
The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ultra Koopa (talk).

You didn't link to it in your proposal, as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist. Your first three days are up anyway so it's too late to implement a major change like that. As I said before, you should make a Writing Guideline (with a written policy to complement the template color examples). Even if this proposal passes, you won't really have the ability to do anything since it is so vague.--Knife (talk) 11:12, 8 December 2011 (EST)

Miscellaneous

None at the moment.