CZ Talk:Election July-August 2013/Referenda/6

Unnecessary

'Approved' articles are hard to modify, and many presently 'approved' articles are sadly deficient. So far as I can see, the notion of an 'approved' article does nothing to enhance CZ, but does result in a poorer quality of article being touted as prime examples of what CZ stands for. This entire conception should be abandoned, not made easier to institute. John R. Brews 13:29, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

You could propose your own referendum on that. :) It would have to be a Charter-modifying one, rewriting Articles 15 and 22. John Stephenson 13:48, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Maybe my reluctance to propose charter amendments is a carryover in habits from WP where no change is ever possible. In any event, I view this referendum as making the 'approval' of articles more common, and therefore to be avoided. John R. Brews 14:32, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Clarity

Wording should make explicit whether bullet-listed items are connected by "and" or "or". Peter Jackson 10:55, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Comments

In the olden days, there were fairly simple rules for Editor approval. Then the EC introduced a new system I find frankly unintelligible. Now Anthony's proposing this.

I don't think we should have been going along this route. WE shouldn't lower standards because of a shortage of personnel. In fact I think we should have fewer approved articles, not more. Approving Editors should set a time limit for the approval, after which the artilce would have to be reviewed to see whether it's up to date. If no Editor is available to review it, it should be unapproved.

What we could do instead is introduce a new grade below approved. Peter Jackson 08:58, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

I have supported Anthony's other referendum, which does away with /Draft and locked main articles, even though it refers to the current approvals procedure because those are two separate issues. Otherwise, I am inclined to agree with the above. I do not like the idea that, in effect, a set of non-specialist Authors and an Approval Manager perhaps with an Editorship unrelated to the article under review can actually approve an article. (Yes, contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be a subject expert to approve articles on Citizendium.) The original idea was to have expert oversight, i.e. for citable introductory general-readership articles such as CZ's, someone with a background in at least a related field and who is an Editor should have approved it. It's not enough to just have someone try to fact-check and see if the citations look scholarly. The current approvals procedure effectively sidelines Editors, reduces the workgroups to mere article lists, and hands the final say to EC members and AMs who probably don't know much about the topic. I've a mind to introduce yet another referendum... John Stephenson 01:36, 27 July 2013 (UTC)