Draft:Drafts
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This article is intended to be moved into one of Bulbapedia's main content spaces. Be mindful that it is still part of a personal userspace. Any content changes should be brought up on the talk page for this article. |
NUTSHELL: This page explains how to effectively use the Draft namespace to develop content for integration into the encyclopedic mainspace or elsewhere.
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Drafts are pages in the Draft namespace where new articles and templates can be created and developed for the mainspace or one of the encyclopedia's other content spaces. The Draft space is a collaborative workspace where editors can get direct assistance and eyes on larger-scoped articles to help prepare them for the mainspace. It is an open and free space, maintained by the community. Staff will also assist in moving content into the mainspace and resolving involved tasks in order to keep the space tidy, viable, and functional for everyone to use.
This space can also be used by new or inexperienced editors to get help with producing new articles or templates, similar to the community sandbox (which focuses on experimentation and testing).
Draft content
Drafts can be used to develop a wide variety of content, including full articles, sections or content for existing articles, as well as tables and templates. For example, the Draft space can be used to prepare:
- An article that merges content from separate pages.
- Content to be split off from an existing article.
- A major revamp, overhaul, or upgrade to an article, such as to resolve pages needing attention.
- A brand new article that has not previously been suggested or linked to yet.
- Separate draft pages on the same topic to propose or showcase alternative approaches to a proposed article or revamp.
- A page involving innovative content or style.
- A table or template for testing.
Restrictions
While most content is acceptable for development in the Draft space, certain material or uses of the Draft space are not permitted, and may be deleted or moved to an appropriate namespace at the discretion of staff. This includes:
- Content that explicitly violates the notability requirements or the unreleased materials policy.
- Note that this may not apply to content that is expected to become notable in the near future or that has questionable or undetermined notability, which can be discussed on the draft's talk page.
- Personal content or content that a user does not want anyone else to edit; this content is better suited to the userspace, in compliance with the userspace policy.
- Content that is clearly not acceptable for the mainspace, including games/riddles, fan fiction, friend pages/awards, nonsense/gibberish, offensive/vulgar content, abuse/flaming, spam, etc.
- If a user wishes to experiment with editing, they can instead use the community sandbox, in compliance with the rules of the sandbox.
- Any other content deemed inappropriate by staff.
Users are always welcome to ask a staff member for clarification on any specific content's viability for the Draft space. Moreover, if a user feels that certain content was deleted or removed from the Draft space unreasonably or in error, they are encouraged to contact a staff member to review or explain the situation.
Moving content to the mainspace
Users can move any draft to the mainspace that they feel is ready for the encyclopedia. However, before moving content into the mainspace, please ensure it meets the standards expected of a mainspace article, including addressing any outstanding issues or discussions related to the draft. This includes:
- Ensuring page content conforms to Bulbapedia's norms and conventions as addressed in the manual of style.
- Adding any appropriate categories.
- Adding appropriate notice templates that foster further improvements (see below).
- Removing or commenting out any editor notes.
- Ensuring the page is free of broken visuals, raw code, or major errors.
- Addressing any existing drafts covering the same topic.
- Resolving any relevant discussions, questions, and additional considerations relating to the draft's content.
From there, if a mainspaced article needs further development, notice templates such as {{incomplete}} or {{cleanup}} can indicate specific further work or refining to be done using the needs= parameter, rather than moving the article back into the Draft space. Content can also be moved out of a draft and into an existing mainspace article until it needs to be split; make sure to leave an edit summary noting where the content came from. Mainspaced content is subject to standard wiki processes, and may be merged, split, or deleted as necessary.
Staff will routinely look over draft articles and may move content into the mainspace as appropriate or otherwise resolve content through means such as page or content merges. If specific content is moved out of a draft and into the mainspace, the original draft page can be maintained as a redirect, and any leftover content can be recovered from the page history. Before mainspacing, staff will ensure that any discussions related to the content are resolved and that the content is up to Bulbapedia's standards, tagging any further work required with notice templates.
If two or more drafts cover the same topic, their content may need to be merged into a single page, with page histories preserved. Where possible, this can be done through a page merge; however, if there is significant conflict between the page histories, some histories may need to be preserved under a redirect or the like.
Moving content to the Draft space
Content from another namespace, such as the mainspace or userspace, may sometimes be moved to the Draft space when necessary. Rarely, an article considered not yet suitable for the mainspace may be moved to the Draft space for further development before being moved back to the mainspace. Typically, however, articles are preferred to remain in the mainspace to be developed normally; this notably includes incomplete pages and stubs.
Additionally, content from articles with deletion notices or userspace pages that have been marked for deletion, blanked, or otherwise abandoned by the author may be moved to the Draft space by staff if the content may have potential future use. If a draft already exists for that topic, the page may be merged into the existing draft, provided the histories do not significantly overlap. Staff may also highlight relevant or quality content that editors may be interested in helping develop, such as via the Spotlight Board.