TLP reform

That might give draft sponsors the impression that the draft is theirs, though. We call them "sponsors" as opposed to O Ps or "writers" because that isn't the case.

Yes that wouldn’t be helpful, leaving some drafts that nobody can launch and some that anyone can. If anything, it would make launching problems worse.

I have a new idea for a feature that may help TLP: TLP Break.

• How would it work?: If there was a bunch of stupid drafts lately or the backlog is just too big, a moderator would be able to enforce a TLP Break. It would make it so normal tropers can't create new TLPs (but old ones can be altered and launched) until a certain work page goal is reached. For example, as of the time of this post, there's 10684 pages in the VideoGame/ namespace. A mod can put a TLP Break that ends when there's 10800 pages in VideoGame/ (the namespace and amount are customisable, but should not be excessive, like 20000 pages in Series/). Once it ends, everyone can create new TLPs until another TLP Break is enforced.
• What would this help with?: Reducing the backlog, obviously. But it may also help with using the current tropes more, instead of just launching and not giving a care, and media may change quite a bit during the few days a break takes place.

Note that it is still a rough idea, and I would appreciate feedback.

edited 10th Feb '18 5:16:17 AM by Piterpicher

I may be mistaken, but I don't believe that "backlog of drafts" is considered a problem by the moderators or administration. Most of the fixes they've approved of have been for quality, not quantity.

Well, it could help use the current tropes more, instead of just adding more neglected new ones. And besides, the more tropes there are, the higher a chance for a duplicate is, but if time passes, media may change, and possibly give people new ideas. Also, I did say this option could be used if there are too many stupid drafts in a short time period.

edited 10th Feb '18 6:23:06 AM by Piterpicher

I know I've joined this discussion super-late, but I read it all before adding my two cents.

I like the idea of changing hats and bombs to "vote to launch", "vote to fix", and "vote to discard", the hats-and-bombs system is a false dichotomy that I've already seen cause problems. I've seen an otherwise-hatworthy draft bombed just because of a bad name. Yes, that bad name was a big problem, but a bad name was the only problem. I was able to reverse the trend with a name suggestion that the sponsor agreed with, but I digress. In that case, and I'm sure there's others like it, maybe people would have been less quick to throw bombs in if there was a "needs fixing" vote available instead of a false dichotomy of launch-or-destroy.

I like the idea of heralds/medics/mentors/inspectors/engineers/whatever-you-want-to-call-them monitoring drafts and teaching tropers the standards. I've seen Arivne (I might have misspelled that troper's name) correcting formats with a fine-toothed comb on multiple trope drafts and posting immediately relevant format rules, that troper is already unofficially performing one of the duties that I would imagine an inspector role would hypothetically do. The question is hammering out exactly how much authority these roles should have and exactly what they do.

I think Piterpicher is on to something with the TLP Break. Piterpicher is right, that idea is rough and needs feedback, I just can't think of any feedback at the moment.

I love the (earlier) analogy of kindergartener/college graduate, it's given me an idea that would probably take a LOT of programmers and a whole ton of elbow grease to implement, and might not even be worth it for one big flaw I see, but hey, this is brainstorming. Maybe a bad idea will inspire a better one.

What if instead of directly launching a TLP draft to be a fully functional page, we split TLP into "Drawing Board" and "Refinement Platform"? Drafts that are made in the "Drawing Board" have to meet a slightly relaxed version of current TLP standards before it can be "promoted" to the Refinement Platform, where standards more rigorous than current TLP guidelines are applied, flaws are hammered out, the draft is spit-and-polished, etc, with the end result being either booted back to the drawing board or launched. In essence, a draft would be going through the hats/bombs system (or whatever replaces it) at least twice.

I predict that using an intermediate step (the Refinement Platform) will go wrong with tropers not understanding why the intermediate step is there and blindly voting drafts through the Refinement Platform just because "the draft passed the drawing board standards, isn't that good enough for launch?"

I kinda like the idea of drafts needing some more thorough reviews before they are launched.

Just a quick request - is it possible to bring back the date/time of the last edit for each draft on the TLP main page? I only look at it once or twice a day and not showing it any more makes it hard to tell how far I need to scroll back.

Imma close this thread as it has served its purpose to discuss TLP reform now.