MarioWiki:Proposals

Proposals can be new features (such as an extension), removal of a previously added feature that has tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action(s) are done. 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

1. Actions that users feel are appropriate to have community approval first can be added by anyone, but they must have a strong argument.
2. Users then vote and discuss on the issue during that week. The "deadline" for the proposal is one week from posting at:
   • Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
   • Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
   • Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
3. Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
4. At any time a vote may be rejected if at least three active users believe the vote truly has no merit or was cast in bad faith. However, there must be strong reasons supporting the invalidation.
5. "# " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
6. All proposals that end up in a tie will be extended for another week.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
10. Proposals can only be rewritten or deleted by their proposer within the first three days of their creation. However, the proposer can request that their proposal be deleted by a Sysop at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it.
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 a Sysop, the proposer can ask for that help.
12. There shouldn't be proposals about creating articles on a 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.
13. Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.
14. If the Sysops 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.
15. No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters, and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

The times are in EDT (UTC -4:00), and are set so that the user is more likely to be online at those times (after work/school, weekend nights). If a proposal is added on Saturday night at 11:59 PM EDT, the deadline is the next Saturday night at 8:00 PM. If it is a minute later, the deadline is a day plus 15 hours (Sunday), as opposed to a day minus 4 hours.

CURRENTLY: 09:41, 19 November 2024 (EDT)

New Features

User Highlights

I know Mario Wiki isn't Userpedia, but I feel guilty when I find out somebody's prrromotion to a higher user rank just happened and I didn't congratulate them is an annoyance. The same with birthdays. Yes, I am a Userpedia user, but I'm thinking more about people limited to only Mario Wiki.
It could just be a small box showing something, (sorry about putting myself in this, but oh well: "Hyper Guy's Birthday is coming up on___" or "User___ has reached Sysop rank) just a small box with a bit of information about the users, who could be recognized for their efforts on Mario Wiki, might make our community look much, much better by giving users credit, no matter how small the alert is. (NOTE: I'm not talking about edits! Just marking important moments for our brilliant users) THANKS FOR READING THIS!
Proposer: Hyper Guy (talk)
Deadline:

Support

1. Hyper Guy (talk)

Oppose

1. Super Mario Bros. (talk) If you mean a box on the Main Page, it isn't necessary. For the promotion issue you stated, the promotion is usually listed in the Pipe Plaza, usually as, "*Insert User Name Here* has been promoted to *insert rank here*! Congratulations!" And the problem with the birthdays can be solved with the 'Shroom (we have the calendar, one of the sections is for birthdays). If anybody is not content with what we have, then that is too bad for them.
2. Cobold (talk) The wiki isn't a forum, so we will not have a database for something like birthdays - creating an automatic system or handling it manual sounds like too much work for me. If you want to congratulate certain users, write down those users' birthdays on your own list. SysOp promotions are noted on the Pipe Plaza.

Splits & Merges

Merge all the game and watch games

I was looking at the game and watch articles, when I realized something, they SUCK. Seriously. They are all undescriptive stubs that don't even deserve their own articles. I propose we merge them all.
Proposer: Vyro (talk)
Deadline: September 14 2009, 17:00

Support

1. Vyro (talk) - Read above proposal.

Oppose

1. Arend (talk) Oh, come on! Then {{Game & Watch}} is nothing good anymore! Just look at it! Most of the template is all Game & Watch games. And then to think about it that the list hasn't even every game! Plus, Most articles about Game & Watch games are long enough to get an article.
2. Itachi 96 (talk) Per Arend.
3. FunkyK38 (talk) Ouch, aren't you being a bit harsh? The articles don't "suck". Per all.

Comments

When you learn how to organize a proposal, you may get supporters. Paper Yoshi (talk)

Merge Keys Articles

Yeah, I was just looking at the articles linked to this template, and most of them are stubs. That is why I am suggesting that the community allows me to go ahead and merge them, as well as turn the original articles into redirects and changing the links so that they lead to the merged article. An example can be found here, and the discussion page will be a replica at first, but it will be so that users can change it as opposed to suggesting changes to me (such as moving images, sections, fixing links, etc.). So, to reiterate, if you want to suggest a change to my example, do the change on the talk page. If you have other comments, put them below on this page. NO COMMENTS GO ON THE TALK PAGE!
Note: A change in the proposed article has been made. See my large comment below.
Proposer: Super Mario Bros. (talk)
Deadline: Saturday, 22 August 2009, 20:00

Support

1. Super Mario Bros. (talk) I think this will improve the articles. Per Time Q's, Walkazo's, and Twentytwofiftyseven's concerns below (I hope they were addressed).
2. Marioguy1 (talk) - I like your article. It's long and combines a bunch of stubs. To Time Q below, the need would be that there are currently too many stubs. but I saw a problem. There is only supposed to be one image requested tag at the top if you have multiple sections because at the top it says "It has been requested that image(s) be added to this article/section" See what I mean (it says images).
3. Random User (talk) Per SMB.
4. Vyro (talk) Yeah, what's with all the keys anyway? The articles are terrible!
5. Walkazo (talk) - Per my comments below. Supplementing the nameless key list in Key with "List of Keys in the Paper Mario series" and "List of Keys in Super Mario 64 DS" pages in place of numerous stubs seems a more organized way of doing things. Use <br clear=all> (and {{Main}} in the sections for the few keys who merit full articles) to make the lists presentable.

Oppose

1. Time Q (talk): I see no need for doing this change. Those keys are unrelated to each other, they all deserve their own articles (or at least some of them, which means we can't merge them all together). If they're stubs, we should expand them rather than cramming them all together in a rather unattractive list.
2. Twentytwofiftyseven (talk): Per Time Q. Additionally, as you have it set up, all the categories and navboxes are applied to the article as a whole, which is rather imprecise. To someone who's unfamiliar with what's going on, it may seem that (e.g.) Category:Animate Objects applies to all of the items on that list. In fact, it applies to just two. And having some items under the subheader "key" when the article itself is also called "key" is redundant.
3. Baby Mario Bloops (talk): Per All!
4. Yoshario (talk) - Per all.
5. Itachi 96 (talk) - Per all
6. Ralphfan (talk) Per all.
7. Arend (talk) per all.

Comments

Marioguy1, I fixed the problem. Does it look good now? Super Mario Bros. (talk)

Yup, I was there when you fixed it. I'll strike that point in my article. Marioguy1 (talk)

I think the Key article itself should stay (and the introduction should be expanded a bit to explain more about the essense of Mario keys), with the rest of the keys going into a "List of Keys" page. Yakkey should keep his seperate page, since he's a character, not just an item. Skeleton Key also has enough appearances and information (plus, its animate) to merit its own article as well. The list entries for Key, Skeleton Key and Yakkey would all use {{main}} to link to the separate articles. - Walkazo (talk)

I think Marioguy1's vote is invalid. The only reason he states is "I like your article", which is not enough. Why would it be a change for the better? Please expand your vote, otherwise I vote for its removal. Time Q (talk)

Ok, hopefully I fixed most of the problems. The minor Paper Mario keys would all be merged, as well as a few of the other Super Mario 64 DS keys (Mario Key, Luigi Key, Wario Key). The bigger Key article, as well as the Skeleton Key article and the Yakkey article would be left alone as seperate articles. This would allow {{Key}} to stay, and the Keys category to remain as well. Any more suggestions? Super Mario Bros. (talk)

That still suggests that (eg) "Wario Key" falls under "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Special Items," which is wrong. And the fact that there's really no simple way to get to Key, Skeleton Key, or Yakkey from that article is also inconvenient. Twentytwofiftyseven (talk)

What? We have the {{Key}} to link to Key, Skeleton Key, and Yakkey. So, should we split the list into two lists (one for the Super Mario 64 DS keys and one for the Paper Mario keys)? We could still have the Paper Mario series keys on one article, even though they would share categories, I think it would be easy to tell due to the beginning of each paragraph having the game it appears in. Super Mario Bros. (talk)

Actually, there's been talk that templates like {{Key}} should be scrapped, seeing as they're just categories in template form, and are often based on "common sense" as opposed to canon (i.e. {{undead}} vs. {{LM}} and {{Boos}}). But that's beside the point: as I said before, those other independent articles should be linked to via {{main}} in the list, though with the two lists idea, that'd only be needed for Yakkey, since Skeleton Key has a series unto itself (barring the conspicuously pageless Bowser Keys). Considering how the three SM64DS Keys can almost be combined as-is, I think the two list idea is good. I'm always a fan of combining stubs and saving space; all that can be done to expand those key articles is writing their exact locations (Walkthrough fare, IMO) and maybe some more context - but after a point, it starts to look off-topic and/or reachy. Also, the "if it's named it gets an article" mantra seems to be an underlying part of this discussion; to be frank, I've always felt that ideal was misguided. The keys in Luigi's Mansion essentially play the same role as the Fortress Keys and Ruins Keys, except the named PM keys get stubs while the plain LM key merely gets a section of the Key article. If the "Key"s from LM, SMB2, SMW, SMW2:YI, SM64 and SSBB are shoved together, why not the "___ Key"s from the Paper Mario series? It's a double-standard born of the desire to not have dozens of "Key (game X)" pages, which is understandable, but also fixable if we weren't so bent on having dozens of "___ Key" pages instead. The list(s) just needs some fixing-up; with proper retooling, it won't look so bad. - Walkazo (talk)

Changes

Create poll to determine North American vs. PAL names

It seems that people are regularly debating over if North American or PAL names should be used when discussing games. I think we should make a final, permanent decision by advertising a poll in the Main Page info bar and leave the poll up for a month. This way, we could find the demographics of the users and determine this annoying question.

Proposer: Ralphfan (talk)
Deadline: August 27, 2009, 17:00

Support

1. Ralphfan (talk) - Per above. We won't have to put up with this crap anymore.
2. FunkyK38 (talk) - It's a good idea. It's dumb to keep arguing about something like this. This will help settle it.
3. Baby Mario Bloops (talk) - Per all, I have nothing more to say.
4. Itachi 96 (talk) Why does Mario Strikers Charged and Super Mario Strikers have their PAL name and not the others games? Its either completely NA or completely PAL.
5. Parayoshi (talk) Per Itachi 96. It's not exactly consistent from article to article, and while I don't really care whether its NA or PAL, the wiki needs to make a decision again.

Oppose

1. Super Mario Bros. (talk) No, you should make a proposal about what you want directly, not to make a poll to put on the main page for something that was already decided. Stick to a proposal.
2. Cobold (talk) It's been confirmed a long time ago by Steve that oveer 90% of the wiki's userbase is American - the real point of the name discussion is that while the name "Super Mario Strikers" it not very important to American users, as they rarely own the game, European users are much more likely to have it and care about it. For the football/soccer games we should definitely keep the current names - I agree that it's a bit more controversial for WarioWare and Yoshi's Universial Gravitation.
3. Arend (talk) As Cobold said, there are 90% American Users on this wiki. So, if we do a poll to decide, I'm sure that American names will win, because of such big group, and those Americans of course vote for their own continent! That would actually a bit unfair for a small percent of Europeans, and even less percent of Australians. Also, a poll is completely for having it about the (Mario) game mechanics, not about problems on the wiki how games must be named. There are the proposals for.
4. Tucayo (talk) - We cant settle this with a poll

Comments

With this, we'll never have to worry about it again! - Ralphfan (talk)

I have the demographics. If that's the only purpose of the poll, then there's no need. Porplemontage (talk)

Check this. A (quite controversial) decision was already made a while back, that is, whichever region it was released in first is what name it gets. Super Mario Bros. (talk)

We should settle it, but not with a poll, WITH A PROPOSAL Tucayo (talk)

Revert First English Title proposal

Some good time ago, we had this proposal that made us use many Europen names, which mariowikians are not used to, so I propose we use American titles for all the pages, indiferent of their first name

Proposer:Tucayo (talk)
Deadline: Thursday, August 27th, 17:00 EDT

Support

1. Tucayo (talk) - Per me
2. Itachi 96 (talk) Per Tucayo
3. Timmy Tim (talk) I'm from Australia, where we use European and American names (I think) and it's basically a fuss over nothing. I say, give them the American names, we have redirects for other names.

Oppose

1. Twentytwofiftyseven (talk) - Basically, per the reasoning of the proposal that did this in the first place. Additionally, it's not as simple as using "many European names," it's about not supporting one localization of the (Japanese) Mario games over another. Nintendo of Europe's product is just as valid as Nintendo of America's, so we need an unbiased way to decide which to support. Release date is the most obvious of the possible criteria.
2. Yoshario (talk) – Per 2257
3. Arend (talk) per 2257
4. Cobold (talk) per my oppose in the proposal above: It's been confirmed a long time ago by Steve that oveer 90% of the wiki's userbase is American - the real point of the name discussion is that while the name "Super Mario Strikers" it not very important to American users, as they rarely own the game, European users are much more likely to have it and care about it. For the football/soccer games we should definitely keep the current names - I agree that it's a bit more controversial for WarioWare and Yoshi's Universial Gravitation.

Comments

Well, I was just reading the original proposal, it seems very controversial. I myself am abstaining from voting as I understand both points of view. I will admit I'm an American, and I'm proud of it, too. But I feel there is no "wrong" in whichever decision is made. I would go as far as to say that Porplemontage should decide, he is the owner of the wiki and should make all monumental decisions, I just feel that this is too big of an action for the regular community to decide on, as it is mostly probably going to be bias that fuels a lot of the votes. Super Mario Bros. (talk)

To Cobold: Great you voted on the same as me, but is the only thing the Mario Football/Strikers series? Have you actually realized that the European names of some cars in Mario Kart Wii are better than the American names? Take for example B-Dasher Mk. 2. in NA it's just Sprinter. And Bowser Bike is called Flame Runner in NA. I liked both European Names better. B-Dasher Mk. 2: Mario's version looks indeed like the original, but because in the Wii Screen of the Mario Kart Channel, it got Bowser Jr.'s theme, i's called in NA Sprinter. Bowser Bike: You see directly: that's from Bowser, because of the face. But Flame Runner... It has indeed to fit in Bowser, but I don't see any flames. At The Flame Flyer (the car), I DO see flames, even that they are just printed on the car, but they're still flames. Arend (talk)

Miscellaneous

Regularly Update News Page

Every time I log onto the wiki, one of the first things I do is check the News section of the Main Page, along with the rest of the page. As I write this, on the 14th of August, the top headline is Mario Clock and Mario Calculator were released for DSiWare in Europe and Australia on July 3 and in North America on June 15, 2009. Wow, that sure was helpful, forty days ago! On other wikis, even minor news such as tidbits of info about upcoming games/shows/movies etc. is placed in the News template, yet we're stuck with information about a DSi feature released in July. I propose that minor news, such as information relating to an event in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games or another trailer for New Super Mario Bros. Wii being released, for example, be placed in the News template before it becomes a joke.

Proposer: Timmy Tim (talk)
Deadline: August 21, 2009, 20:00

Support

1. Timmy Tim (talk) per my reasons above.
2. Booman (talk) Per Timmy Tim.
3. Baby Mario Bloops (talk) Makes a lot sense. Tired of it being all the same.
4. Clarkmaster (talk) Doesn't do us much good with yesterdays news.
5. Marioguy1 (talk) - I don't expect you know who will update this? Will it be you? Per above.
6. Egg Yoshi (talk) Iv'e been waiting for that thing to change for 2 months
7. Super Mario Bros. (talk) Per all, although I do agree with Time Q. that this proposal is rather useless.
8. Randoman123456789 (talk) - Par all.
9. Platitudinous (talk) I get annoyed with it too. We must approve!
10. Yoshi Boo 118 (talk) Per all.
11. Joshazilla23 (talk) Per all, though, who's going to oppose?
12. Noahp89 (talk) Yeah, we need more news than that. I agree.
13. Random User (talk) Per all. However, I agree with Marioguy, who do expect to update it?
14. 4DJONG (talk) Summer is almost over and those came out during the beginning of the summer, and the info there should be updated right away!!!!
15. T.c.w7468 (talk) Per all.
16. Hate the N64DD (talk)Per all
17. Vyro (talk) Per Timmy Tim
18. Itachi 96 (talk) Per all
19. Jdrowlands (talk) Per all, but I agree with SMB and Time Q.
20. FunkyK38 (talk) Per all. That news isn't helping anyone anymore. We need regular updates.
21. Ralphfan (talk) Per all.
22. Mr. Br Mario (talk) Per all.
23. MechaWave (talk) Yes it was very helpful and notable when it became released, but that's pretty stale if the news keeps the same for about forty-five days or so. The title says "Mario & Nintendo News," there's plenty to add in my opinion, others can think otherwise. Per TimmyTim.
24. Supermario6449 (talk) Per all.
25. Parayoshi (talk) Per Timmy TIm. This has been bothering me for months.

Comments

Your proposal isn't really specific. I don't think the template is "a joke", or is becoming one. It has only the most important news - releases and announcements of games. If there's no news, we can't just make up some. I do agree, though, that we should also add the most important news on upcoming games. For example, when new characters in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games are confirmed, we should list that. But have any been confirmed lately? I don't know. Of course we could also add less important news to the template. The problem would be that the really important info would be gone from the template too early, at least in my opinion. So, to cut a long story short: Could you please specify what you mean by "minor news"? IMO, new trailers are too minor, but new characters are ok. Time Q (talk)

Well what about if a trailer was released for SMG2 which showed several new features and characters, would something like, A new trailer has revealed more information about the upcoming game Super Mario Galaxy 2? Or is that too minor in your opinion? We could also move the Tourney template to below the Proposal one, move the Poll Template and Did You Know Template down so they're next to the Tourney one and expand the News template. Timmy Tim (talk)

I say after today, we should get rid of the tourney template, and any user can edit that te,plate, I believe, so you can update it yourself :) Tucayo (talk)

That would violate the rules, as a proposal cannot be reversed until a month later (I would suggest a rule that if the administrators think a passed proposal is not good anymore, they could reverse it). Super Mario Bros. (talk)

Well, there is a rule saying we can remove proposals "at any time", which doesn't have to mean any time during the voting week ;) I actually meant to suggest an extension to that rule that would legitimately (i.e. not using a loophole in the phraseology) allow us to retroactively veto proposals (i.e. if one passed and immediately started causing major problems we had not foreseen), but I didn't get around to it... Maybe another Tourney Template Proposal could be made anyway, seeing as the circumstances have changed a fair bit (and so it's not just flip-flopping on an issue, which is what the one month waiting time is meant to prevent). - Walkazo (talk)

Guys, I think most of you have invalid reasons. "I want teh template to be updated!" isn't really valid. If there's no relevant news, we can't add some, it's as easy as that. And as far as I remember, there haven't been any important Mario news lately. So I vote for the removal of Baby Mario Bloops's, Egg Yoshi's, Platitudinous's, Noahp89's, and 4DJONG's votes. Timmy Tim, what would this proposal, if passed, change specifically? As for your question above, I think such trailers could be mentioned, but IMO it should be put as "X and Y are confirmed to appear in game Z" rather than "A new trailer for game Z was released". That's just my opinion, though. Time Q (talk)

Well, we have a number of new games on the way and information relating to their progress could be treated as news. If a new trailer for game Z is released revealing items X and Y, why not have an article in the news template stating Items X and Y have been revealed for game Z or A new trailer had revealed additional info about game Z? I suppose that would work for both you and I, as well as the supporters of this proposal who are sick of hearing about Mario Clock and Mario Calculator but wouldn't mind knowing if new content in NSMB Wii, for example is released. Timmy Tim (talk)

Okay. Still, I don't think this proposal would really change anything. If there is relevant news, feel free to add it. I don't think anyone would revert that, even if it's "only" about new characters or items. Oh, and as for your example news "A new trailer had revealed additional info about game Z": We should definitely say what kind of info it is. You probably meant that though, I just wanted to clarify. Time Q (talk)

I support TimeQ, this proposal is pointless, we do not need proposals about this kind of stuff. Tucayo (talk)

He's not really saying it's pointless really, just what it will accomplish if this is passed, or just clarifying some... things. MechaWave (talk)

Here's a new idea, why not rename it News as opposed to Mario and Nintendo News and add in wiki-realted news such as UserX has been promoted to Patroller or The latest issue of The 'Shroom has been released? that could work. Also, there's finally some new news, after over a month of now useless info! Timmy Tim (talk)

We have the announcement template for that. --Yoshario (talk)

Yeah, but we never use that much anyway and we could kill two birds with one stone. Timmy Tim (talk)

We have Template:Notices, its not protected, so anyone can update it Tucayo (talk)