User:Maverick Nate/candidates guidelines

Candidates for improvement Guidelines

{{nutshell|Bulbapedia is a community, and we like to have community input as much as possible when improving our content. Although staff have historically taken charge of decisions on splits/merges/etc., any motivated individual can carry out these tasks after a decision has been met through discussion.}}

The nature of our work on an ever-growing encyclopedia will occasionally present opportunities for improvement on how we represent topics to our readers. Although the solutions to many common situations are detailed in our Manual of Style, the wide range of coverage for the Pokémon brand frequently presents unforeseen circumstances that call for extra attention. As the answers to these issues are not always clear-cut and easily defined, the following guidelines are provided in order to assist editors with solving any disputes and discrepancies.

As a general rule, if there is any hesitation with how a topic should be improved, these options are an excellent way to start a discussion that answers any questions. Although staff are usually the ones leading these discussions for improvements, any motivated user can carry out such improvements after a solution has been reached.

Candidates for deletion

Category:Candidates for deletion

Not to be confused with `Pages to be deleted`, the candidates for deletion are for pages that have questionable notability, among other reasons. Candidates for deletion use the {{Discussdelete}} tag. As most information is notable in one way or another, outright deletion is typically a last resort. Discussion is encouraged in order to find a new home for this content in whatever form is best, even if that means improving and keeping the disputed page. Since deletion is an action limited to Staff, the final act of deleting the page cannot be finished by any user. However, the agreed upon changes can be done by any interested party, and the {{delete}} can be placed instead.

Candidates for splitting

Category:Candidates for splitting

Candidates for splitting use the {{split}} tag. Typical reasons for splitting a page include page size, load times, or page content developing beyond the scope that one article should detail. As the specifics to how exactly an article should be broken up are not always obvious, it is usually expected that users first use the split tag in order to elicit the input and guidance from additional users and other experienced individuals. Once a split has been decided on, any motivated individual can carry out the actual work involved with splitting the article.

Candidates for merging

Category:Candidates for merging

Candidates for merging use the {{merge}} tag. Common reasons to merge a page are to combine multiple pages that cover the same topic, to combine several minor pages to create a stronger article, etc. Since the final merged article frequently has a different scope as the original separate articles, discussion between all interested users in encouraged. Since merging pages involves the delete action, the final act of merging the pages is limited to administrators; however, motivated individual can write a rough draft of the combined article if the consensus agrees that it is the best option.

Candidates for moving

Category:Candidates for moving

Candidates for moving use the {{move}} tag. Although there are many valid reasons to move a page, this category is usually reserved for nominations that require a larger discussion from multiple viewpoints. Circumstances requiring discussion include vague concepts that don’t have clear names, determining the priority of topics when they share the same name, longstanding articles that users don’t feel comfortable changing on their own, among other reasons. Essentially any reason that needs experienced input is a valid reason to discuss a move. Once the new title has been agreed upon via discussion, any user can perform the move action, as long as they take care of any re-linking involved after making the move.

Note: there are many common situations for moves that don’t require discussion. These situations include, but are not limited to, Japanese articles that now have an English name, articles that are part of a series that already have an established standard, creating disambiguation pages for two minor, distinct topics, etc. However, if you ever have any doubt or questions, there is no problem with using the move tag or asking a staff member for help!

Candidates for mainspacing

Category:Candidates for mainspacing

Candidates for mainspacing use the {{mainspace}} tag. These pages are usually drafts for topics with unknown notability, or pages that contain important content that is difficult to incorporate into the mainspace. They also include unfinished, personal works that users don’t want to show off to the general public yet. Because they are private userpages, it is common courtesy to ask permission from the users to make changes to their userspace.

Due to the differing circumstances involved with these articles, there are different solutions when users are ready to present their work. Pages with unknown notability (such as owned Pokémon from the Pokémon anime) and content that is difficult to incorporate (such as a new infobox template for a series of articles) are subject to staff approval. When the author believes the page is ready for review, status=complete should be added to the use of {{mainspace}} on the page. However, if the page is a draft for a potential Wanted Page, the user is free to move it into the mainspace at any stage of completion.

Note: The practice of drafting articles in the userspace is for the users that prefer premiering their best work first. By no means do wanted articles require a draft in the userspace before debut. If a user feels motivated to create an article, they are welcome to do so normally without having to go through the “mainspacing” process first.