1

I was wondering, is it possible to create a bot to remove the {{stub}} templates?? Every single article that I have seen, I have removed the stub from. Most were not stubs, but some were NFDd. If that can be done, would it be desirable??

2

I like this idea. All we need is some help from Chris and Travis, and another creative name =P

3

I don’t know. Just so I am clear - you think we should remove all {{stub}} templates that are on articles right now and just start over from scratch, basically? So articles going forward that appear to be stubby would have the template added, right? I am not opposed, just trying to clarify.

4

Yes. that is what I am saying…I am just about positive that 99.99% of the articles are not stubs. The ones that are, can get retagged or added to as they are found.

5

Couldn’t we just… review all the articles with that tag? Then we’d KNOW what the percentage was… and whether the tag was being regularly mis-applied.

6

All the articles with that tag are listed here: http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:Stub

7

LOL at _least_ 5000 of them! I can see why we’re thinking “bot” here!

8

That includes all of the talk pages with {{stub}} on them too - but even so, the number is currently at 4544:wink:All of the articles can be found here: http://wikihow.shaiaqua.net46.net/getcat.php?select=stub

9

I wouldn’t even consider it, but so far, every one that has been done by me, could have the stub tag removed. But it is a way to flag that there might be a problem…so…I could go either way on this.

10

Nothing here has to be completed to a deadline. There’s no urgency to review all current Stub tags so I’ll oppose this proposal. The problem is, which tag will be selected for removal next, and so on. It’s a shame the number is so large, but what problem is it causing? Regardless, your reviewing of the current Stubs is great work, that most so far have been removed is just a sign that it needed a more experienced eye to be cast over the articles. The original taggers didn’t do wrong, they were just inexperienced/cautious.

11

Ok. Sounds great to me. It was just a thought.

12

We’re actually working on a new feature called “stub finder” which will help us start solving some of these problems. It will allow an editor to look at stubs in a “rc flow” type environment which will enable folks to expand stubs. Or remove the tag. I might suggest we wait to see how effective this feature is before we make any drastic changes to the stub templates.

13

Sounds great!

14

Well, I hope so. Like all new features, we will have to see if they work as well in reality as they do in the “labs”.:slight_smile:I’m optimistic, but I’ll reserve judgment till I can get something admins and NABers can start testing. Thank you very much for the inspiration to pursue ideas like this though.:slight_smile:

15

I really like the sound of your proposed gizmo Jack. Thanks!

16

me too! Let us know when it’s up and running Jack!:wink:

17

Just out of curiousity, would an article be tagged as {{stub}} even if it was complete?

18

The {{stub}} tag is supposed to be for articles that give you a very basic overview of a topic, but definitely not enough info to complete the task without getting info from other pages.

19

In my opinion, most of the stubs are complete, albeit short, or they are INC.