Forum:Revisiting the placeholder name policy

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Revisiting the placeholder name policy

Amending the policy

Policy in question: FW:PN. Since the moderators of /r/mylittlepony only average about one poll per week, and people are getting antsy about ponies without placeholder names, I think it would be not too outrageous to allow for our own reddit community where all of the unnamed ponies on the list of ponies will be listed. Proposed changes: diff This will allow wiki administrators to create polls for all the unnamed ponies on the list of ponies. If duplicate polls exist, only one qualifying nomination is selected, which has the most votes. –Throwawaytv 15:12, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Sample submission is up and running. –Throwawaytv 15:50, January 26, 2012 (UTC) This looks good, and we should, in an ideal world, have votes going on for as many unnamed ponies as possible? Also, would it be possible to get this linked to r/mylittlepony in any way?      16:01, January 26, 2012 (UTC) I've e-mailed Equestria Daily and they seemed enthusiastic about the voting, so if everything goes smoothly /r/mylittlepony and Equestria Daily will both be involved in this. –Throwawaytv 18:09, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Alright, that's a job well done. Is it determined how long each vote is kept open for?      18:55, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Until there's a "clear plurality", but the moderator who made the submission is the one who decides. After that, the name can (but doesn't have to) be revisited every four weeks. –Throwawaytv 19:48, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Anything that makes the voting simpler, easier, and faster is alright with me. This looks good as well. If we can get EqD and /r/mylittlepony onto this, all the ponies should be named by the end of the month, if not sooner. Lord of Shadows Words mean nothing! 18:11, January 26, 2012 (UTC) I'd better buck up then and keep a steady supply of unnamed ponies coming in. --Kinrah 19:33, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Alright. I'm all for this, but how do we do this practically? Every admin who wants to participate sends you a private message so you can make him/her a moderator at the subreddit? And then... should we just start posting randomly, or maybe figure out a system first? --Tulipclaymore 20:48, January 26, 2012 (UTC) Ideally each pony should have only one poll, linked from the list of ponies like so. Creating a link on the list of ponies will prevent duplication. The only problem with this revision is that getting a decent number of votes will be much much slower than on /r/mylittlepony. Ultimately it doesn't matter because the polls are open indefinitely and the names are placeholder names anyway and always subject to change. –Throwawaytv 21:08, January 26, 2012 (UTC)

Volunteer for holding a poll

Put your name in the "volunteer" column for the pony you want to hold a poll for. This involves creating the submission on /r/listofponies, and, when the policy is in effect, removing the {{Requestvote}} template, hyperlinking the name from the list of ponies to the submission you created, and later putting the winning placeholer name, and possibly revisiting the poll every four weeks. I'm not sure what submission titles should be. Kind group coat mane eyes ("Unicorn stallion white gray blue") maybe? Please don't nominate names in your own submission because they will be emphasized as "submitter" comments. –Throwawaytv 11:05, January 27, 2012 (UTC) Will you be moderating the board? Also, I'll try to see what I can do this weekend to help this, if anything.      13:34, January 27, 2012 (UTC) I think priorities should first be on ponies that weren't named under the old system; something is better than nothing. Then, the more commonly used background ponies; Bon Bon, Dinky Hooves, Berry Punch etc. Then everypony else. I'm also trying to think what length of time would be appropriate to leave the poll for before adding the first placeholder name from it. --Kinrah 15:26, January 27, 2012 (UTC) Hopefully there won't be much going on except nominating names and discussing nominations. –Throwawaytv 15:33, January 27, 2012 (UTC) Since there won't be any submissions other than pony polls, I was thinking about something like this as a template (title in bold): Pegasus, f, c:white, m:blue, e:blue, CM:cloud and lightning bolt Determine the placeholder name of this pony! She is a background character and appears in the opening titles and throughout seasons 1 and 2. She currently has three names on the wiki. Keep in mind that your name suggestion(s) must not contain anything but the name, and must not be edited. See the sidebar for more information. Adjust as necessary. Pinkie's father, obviously, doesn't need such an elaborate title. --Tulipclaymore 17:10-18:51, January 27, 2012 (UTC) I say we continue working with /r/mylittlepony so we can still get that steady stream of weekly names out of the way, and also continue with the /r/listofponies so we can decide our own stream of names as well. Lord of Shadows Words mean nothing! 19:51, January 29, 2012 (UTC) I thought the idea was that we eventually create a reddit poll for every pony on the List, and the /r/mylittlepony mods pick one per week (probably one from the most recent episode, judging from their previous pattern) to submit to the larger subreddit. --Tulipclaymore 19:58, January 29, 2012 (UTC) Yup, that's the idea. –Throwawaytv 20:05, January 29, 2012 (UTC) Oh. So essentially this is just "beating the dough to get it ready for the oven" kind of thing? Lord of Shadows Words mean nothing! 20:10, January 29, 2012 (UTC) If that means "having one placeholder name per pony as soon as one month from now" then yes. –Throwawaytv 21:04, January 29, 2012 (UTC) If we are going to use the template Tulip came up with, I can take care of the wonderbolts. Where did the list of volunteers go again? Lord of Shadows Words mean nothing! 19:43, January 31, 2012 (UTC) It went unused. Since the policy is in effect now, you can simply link each pony to its poll. –Throwawaytv 21:57, January 31, 2012 (UTC) That makes sense. Lord of Shadows Words mean nothing! 23:29, January 31, 2012 (UTC)

Appearances in the list

Moved to Forum:Appearances and list of ponies. –Throwawaytv 19:16, January 30, 2012 (UTC)

Implementation discussion

Now that it's started, I'd like to suggest one amendment to the rules. Currently, moderators aren't allowed to nominate a name on their own submissions because those comments are visually distinct from the rest and would present an unfair advantage to that nomination. Fair enough. But I might still have an opinion. How about allowing one additional single-purpose account per moderator with which nominations (but nothing else) are allowed? Or the other way round, with one account for posting submissions only and another for everything else. --Tulipclaymore 07:07, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

Oh, sure, you can create alternate accounts to avoid having your nomination stand out. Maybe use your wiki reddit account to create the poll and your regular reddit account to nominate names. This should be fine as long as there's no excessive campaigning like putting a link to your own nomination in the submission text. –Throwawaytv 12:10, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

We have /r/mylittlepony's mods' blessing. –Throwawaytv 12:15, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

Equestria Daily is on board. –Throwawaytv 13:02, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

I just intend to work my way through threads, nominating names already on the wiki and that I'm already using. --Kinrah 13:57, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

Excellent. It would be great to have popular names already present when people come to vote. –Throwawaytv 18:09, February 1, 2012 (UTC)

Reddit Voting On Background Pony Names mentioned on EqD. Teyandee (Talk) 05:21, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

I think it's fair we get some help from EqD to name the ponies, we'll be seeing progress done faster. - KingLazy93 05:27, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

That was the idea. It went really well. Not as many voters as on /r/mylittlepony, but still enough to get a clear plurality. –Throwawaytv 08:51, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

I don't think we should wait for ponies to be nominated via reddit messages. We can prioritise those ponies, sure, but we'll have to redditise the entire List eventually, anyway. I counted, and there are about 300 ponies left; if every admin picks 20-25 to enter into the subreddit, we'll be done within a few days. Considering that some of the Equestria Daily voters may only stick around for another couple of days at most... --Tulipclaymore 14:56, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

Of course. By the way, quite a lot of your polls have a leader by a 100% margin or more, I think it's safe to incoprporate the nomination with a clear plurality into the list. –Throwawaytv 15:00, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

I know, but I want to let the polls run as "officially inconclusive" for at least a couple of days. There's no rush once a submission is online. One of the criticisms for the /r/mylittlepony polls was how names were incorporated into the List so soon that later suggestions didn't stand much of a chance. --Tulipclaymore 15:49, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

Well the polls are open indefinitely, but I see how letting them run for a week before the first conclusion would quell any accusations of "you're rushing it". –Throwawaytv 16:46, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

So how long should we wait for before we put a name in? A week, or just when a moderator feels like adding the name in? Lord of Shadows ^{Words mean nothing!} 20:03, February 5, 2012 (UTC)

I added all of the names on my polls that were ahead by a 20-point margin. Whenever you feel there's a clear plurality, you can add the name. Tulipclaymore has one poll where the top comment has 61 points and the next highest-scoring comment has 1 point, but he's still waiting for a "clear plurality". It's up to the mod that made the poll. –Throwawaytv 20:19, February 5, 2012 (UTC)

Alright, that sounds good. I'll add some names and fix the list. Lord of Shadows ^{Words mean nothing!} 20:21, February 5, 2012 (UTC)

I'm not exactly "waiting for a clear plurality". I don't expect any sudden shifts at this point. But I also don't think it's unreasonable to wait five days or so before, in effect, declaring a "winner". I'll probably start evaluating my earliest submissions sometime tomorrow. --Tulipclaymore 22:04, February 5, 2012 (UTC)

How many left

There are 266 ponies without an official name that currently don't have a poll for their placeholder name. Each pony could have a poll by March, but voting will most likely take a few months for the lesser-cared-about ponies. Overall I'd say this was a successful transition. –Throwawaytv 12:56, February 6, 2012 (UTC)

A week later, ~40 more ponies have received a reddit poll. That seems like an improvable pace.

While I'm here, is there any objection to giving the moderators power to disqualify inappropriate nominations that do not yet fall under the current restrictions? Have a guess why I'm bringing this up. --Tulipclaymore 21:17, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

You can remove disqualified nominations, and I suppose you can remove comments for harassment and harsh language. –Throwawaytv 22:36, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

I don't think a sexual reference qualifies as harassment or harsh language, but it is inappropriate. That also applies to the Wonderbolt formerly briefly known as "Storm Front". So I wanted to add "inappropriate" as a catch-all reason to disqualify nominations. --Tulipclaymore 22:42, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

My dictionary says it's "vulgar slang". Anyway since reddit is off-wiki feel free to moderate as you see fit. –Throwawaytv 23:13, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

The FAQ on the subreddit links to FW:PN, as well it should. I want to avoid people crying foul by amending parts of this section to say "Profanity, derogatory and other inappropriate terms are disqualified." to give moderators a "legal" basis we can point to when people complain. --Tulipclaymore 23:25, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

I don't think reddit moderation should be specified in wiki policy. Specify it on the FAQ if you must. –Throwawaytv 23:33, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

It's not reddit moderation. It's a question of whether a name like "Storm Front" or "Sarah Palin" or "Old Cockaring" or whatever that was is automatically disqualified when a moderator says it's inappropriate, or not. But fine, I'll add it to the FAQ and say that moderators can remove inappropriate comments, which circumvents the question of whether they would, in theory, qualify if they got the numbers (which Storm Front did). Or at least I would, but I don't see an "edit" button. --Tulipclaymore 00:51, February 14, 2012 (UTC)

Okay, added the broad phrase "contains or alludes to inappropriate material". –Throwawaytv 10:03, February 14, 2012 (UTC)

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Please consider renaming images to something descriptive before using them in polls. Linking to an image that already has a specific name might give that name an unfair advantage. –Throwawaytv 14:56, February 15, 2012 (UTC)

I disagree with the notion that that is necessary. I've linked to images without renaming them and linked to the spot on List of ponies with the old names from the very beginning, and I don't think it has ever had a measurable effect. The image for Twilight's father is Crescent_Sparkle.png; the anchor for his List entry was "Dusk Shine". Neither of those names got many votes. "Ponygirl Lyra" got more downvotes than upvotes, and a completely different name got the most votes overall. Other examples where the image name was disregarded would be Rarity's mother, the auctioneer pony from Sweet and Elite, Violyre/Ballad, the painter pony, Dizzy Twister, Odd Job/Sweet Wheat/Noi... I don't think most people care about what the image's filename is, or even notice. --Tulipclaymore 15:30, February 15, 2012 (UTC)

Good to hear. –Throwawaytv 22:32, February 15, 2012 (UTC)