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
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
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
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
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, conflicting topics that share the same name, longstanding articles that users don’t feel comfortable changing, among other reasons. Essentially any reason where experienced input is needed a valid reason to discuss a move.
