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Community Wishlist Survey 2022/Editing/Make the edit request process easier

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Make the edit request process easier

  • Problem: Currently, it's hard to submit edit requests for protected (semi-protected, fully (admin) protected, etc) pages and pages where users have a COI (conflict of interest). Users often don't know how to use edit request templates, and for large edits, copying over text to talk pages is hard. On the other hand, it can also be difficult to review edit requests. Changes can be hard to implement, especially larger or more complicated ones.
  • Proposed solution: Allow users to propose edits by editing the article as if it were not protected, then instead of saving to the article, it saves the edit request on the talk page. This process should be configurable (which templates to use, etc.) to accommodate the different workflows across wikis. Additionally, the process should be easy and automatic for those submitting requests. To quote MusikAnimal here (in their volunteer capacity), As a good-faith new user, ideally I shouldn't have to learn about edit requests or any internal processes in order to contribute. I should just be bold and edit, inline with the spirit of the wiki.
  • Who would benefit: Users submitting and processing edit requests.
  • More comments: See also related discussion at the English Wikipedia Idea Lab.
  • Phabricator tickets:
  • Proposer: EpicPupper (talk) 00:36, 16 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

  • @EpicPupper: Thanks for proposing! I think what you're basically asking is to use FlaggedRevs as a way for a user to submit an edit request. So the edit request still works like it does now, only you get the exact changes since we can generate diff output. Is that correct? Perhaps taking it a step further, we don't use FlaggedRevs at all, and instead the "Edit" button reads "Propose edit", works just like VisualEditor, but "submits" the proposed edit on the talk page, with a message "Your edit request has been submitted." You get the idea. How does that sound? As you say, taking FlaggedRevs out of the picutre is probably good :)

    Finally, I don't think you are, but just in case you are asking for the community to simply use FlaggedRevs instead of semi-protection under certain circumstances, that is something we wouldn't be able to assist with, since this is something only your local wiki can decide on.

    Hope this helps and look forward to hearing your answers! MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 04:52, 18 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi MusikAnimal! Thanks, that's exactly what I meant :) EpicPupper (talk) 20:10, 20 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @EpicPupper Great! Would you mind if I reword your proposal a little bit so people better understand what they're voting for? I can more or less guarantee using FlaggedRevs isn't the right solution, and just that name appearing in your proposal could attract opposition since many people have reservations against it, in addition to it being unmaintained in general. I think a better title would be something like "Make the edit request process easier", then your proposed solution could be something like "Allow users to propose edits by editing the article as if it were not protected, then instead of saving to the article, it saves the edit request on the talk page. This process should be configurable (which templates to use, etc.) to accommodate the different workflows across wikis." We're hopefully not underestimating how much work this will be, but I think there's something we will be able to do to help this process. Anyway, your "Problem" statement is crystal clear, so no need to change that unless you want to. I just think it'd be a good idea to get rid of the FlaggedRevs part :) Thanks and let me know if you need help, MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 21:42, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @MusikAnimal (WMF) sure, thanks for the suggestion! I've moved this page and edited the contents. Is there anything else to do? EpicPupper (talk) 22:36, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This looks great, thanks (also *blush* for quoting me from the en:WP:VPIL discussion :) I'll get this proposal marked for translation now. Best, MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 23:05, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ah, where we would be if Flow had come to its end result. --Izno (talk) 21:25, 18 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

+ Wouldn't pending changes cover this? If you can set pending changes for individual protection levels, that is. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:17, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

In a context sense, sort of, but we couldn't just loop it into that system - as pending changes is deliberately for "low threshold reviews". That is, don't use it if detailed review is to be needed, which probably would be the case for many of the COI use cases. Nosebagbear (talk) 10:17, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Will this not just cause an enormous amount of vandalism and spam on talk pages, on pages that are protected due to frequent abuse? If someone thinks they can edit en:Donald Trump directly and don't realise it's protected then en:Talk:Donald Trump will get an inordinate amount of crap on a daily basis. Pending changes is really good, but sometimes the aim is just to stop wasting volunteer time with floods of garbage. I'm also worried about the potential for deliberate abuse (e.g. off-wiki targeted harassment campaigns), and some issues I won't spell out due to WP:BEANS. — Bilorv (talk) 11:19, 6 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

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