1

I’ve been housekeeping the inuse titles category lately, which involves two rounds, checking if the inuse tag is older than 2 weeks and giving the editor a heads-up, then coming back after >5 days to remove the tag if it hasn’t had any action taken on it.

As a courtesy, I would inform the (oftentimes inactive) editor that the inuse tag on the article was removed due to inactivity, but stopped after guidance from another wikiGnome.

Removal of a tag without explicit information may introduce an element of surprise for some editors who might return, but at the same time sending a message every time you remove an expired inuse can be tedious (considering the 25+ tags removed (scroll down to see) after the WSU students left).

Keeping efficiency and courtesy in mind, why don’t we inform the editor of the possibility of removal of the inuse in the absence of action taken along with the reminder? Possibly a nicer way of saying “If the tag isn’t updated after 5 days, anyone else may remove it.” Adding such information to the end would suffice!

Some editors, on returning, might frown on why their tag was removed, but they should understand that the wiki can’t just leave certain articles “uneditable” for an undetermined amount of time in hopes of a person returning. After all, there are other policies too that editors are expected to abide by, especially the promotion-related ones, violations of which RC patrollers and admins deal with on a regular basis. Perhaps we could explain this in short if required.

Looking forward to the community’s opinions/suggestions!

Related: Retired inuse template

2

Wouldn’t a simple personal message do on the talk page without using templates or expansions to the existing template?

3

This sounds like a good idea to me—it doesn’t look like it would hurt anything. While I agree with @EpcotMagic that one could just leave a message on the editor’s talk page, for purposes of expediency, an update to the template would certainly be convenient.

4

I wouldn’t mind leaving a few personal messages, but I think of doing so especially in cases of students who mostly leave the site with inuse-tagged articles as tedious. Removing the need for a second message doesn’t bother the inactive user with one about the same thing. Besides, a simple addition to the template would require far less effort than leaving a message every time, saving a lot of time in the long run.

5

I agree that this would help improve the process and support updating the template!

6

I’ve seen some instructors remove their students inuse tags. If more of that were encouraged, the instructors would, potentially, push the inuse tag removal task onto the students, taking it out of volunteer hands. Is that worth pursuing, @JayneG ?

7

I can reach out to the professors about it, but can’t guarantee they will follow suit!

1 Like
8

Updated as requested! I added “ To ensure this article remains accessible to other editors, if neither the date nor the article are updated within a week of this message, the tag may be removed to allow others to contribute. ” to the end of the talk page notice version of the template.

9

Thanks to everyone who participated in this discussion.

For consistency, “If there is no response from them within 5-7 days,” on the article template was changed to “If there is no response from them within a week,” and the appropriate wikiGnoming page was updated.