FamilySearch Wiki talk:Maintenance Templates

Possible page design changes
As the list of templates grows for maintenance work, I'm not sure that this page should remain the same as it is today. I'm hopeful that anyone watching this page will have some ideas about:


 * How to improve the page itself
 * Should this page just continue to get longer and longer as new templates are added?
 * How to improve the current templates (size of flag, text on the flag, etc?)
 * How to incorporate this page with the rest of maintenance. I guess this question is about the overall design of maintenance projects and tasks.
 * The bottom section of this page was added to help with monitoring the pages that currently have a maintenance template added to the page. With the implementation of the new FamilySearch Wiki:Maintenance page I don't think the section at the bottom of this page is needed anymore. I'm open for discussions and welcome your feedback and ideas for improvement. --Fran 19:51, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Under construction
The question has been asked about creating a maintenance template to flag articles as under construction. I think in the majority of cases a stub template would be adequate. However I can understand that in some instances, when an article is in the middle of an expansion or major restructuring and is being actively edited, then a separate Under construction is warranted. --Steve 06:37, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Agree. I guess when users add the words "under construction" to the page itself, then a comment on the discussion page could be added regarding both the Stub template and the Under Construction template. That would both educate and give the author the option to use the one most appropriate for the content they are adding/editing. Does that sound okay? I'm training our support teams on the many aspects of supporting the wiki, which includes all of the maintenance templates. This training is now a WikiProject Support, and your comments or suggestions are always welcome. --Fran 01:06, 18 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes I think the approach that you outline would work well. If moderators/admins/experienced users are encouraged to use the talk pages to help newer contributor learn about the help available in this and other circumstance it will hopefully lead to continued growth and participation from more users. --Steve 08:52, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Policy
I am wondering how much effort goes into making sure these templates are aligned with policy. For example, I haven't found any policy on image use which states that you shouldn't have duplicate images even if they are different sizes. So this page contains a template which infers a policy that doesn't exist. Randyhoffman 17:15, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * That is a great question. At the moment there is not effort going into this but we could set up a project to be sure that people know that it's something that needs to be done. It would be very helpful to make sure those were aligned better. janellv 18:32, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * We should also add instructions on the request for approval form that a search for duplicate images should be conducted prior to submitting a file for approval. --Fran 20:55, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Issues related to moving this page to the Help namespace
This maintenance template page was originally in the FamilySearch Wiki namespace for a specific reason. Now that the page was moved to the Help namespace, it doesn't make sense to keep the content the same as it was before. The purpose for having the page in the Project namespace was due to the identification of the whole Wiki project. The templates for maintenance are part of developing the wiki project itself.

With the page now in the Help namespace, the content on the page does not help the end user know how and why they should the maintenance templates. The page is written towards those who are in the support role. I think it would be better to have a Help page that actually helps the user understand how they can use the templates and why they should use the templates.

We still need to have a page in the project namespace (FamilySearch Wiki) that describes the maintenance templates and their purpose related to the whole project. What are your suggestions? --Fran 16:44, 30 September 2011 (UTC)