On Wikipedia, there is a way to permanently change the title of an article without posting a template on the article page. however, here on wikiHow, the only way to change the title(by a registered user) is by posting a template. Sometimes this works and signals an NAB editor or Admin to come-by and edit the title, and sometimes they totally disagree with the title change. For issues such as when the system picks up iPhone/iPod touch in the title or mistakenly formats web addresses as .Com instead of .com, this can be awful annoying. I feel strongly about the ability for a regular editor(registered user) to change their titles. I’ve been a valued member here with several titles that are Rising Star articles. While I know the title conventions for this site, I don’t like this naming system we use, and I feel we should ask the admins to change the systems, so that registered users can change a wikiHow title(as similar to wikipedia’s article-move)registered user change. For proof on how to “move” a page on wikipedia, I have already typed an article on how to do the wikipedia move, here. It can be found at: http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Change-the-Title-to-a-Wikipedia-Article
Oh, not only would this lessen the amount of titles for the NAB team to change, but if properly discussed (if unsure) the possibility would still be there for the former to result. As far as unregistered users, they’d still only have the option to place the template.
@Krystle
, can you help me fill in some of the voids, and ask me some questions, so I know where to better discuss my ideas. I’m a little lost when I typed this up.
IamSH
3
@Byankno1
If you take look at this
, you’ll see there is around 5 articles in Title category and I don’t think it’s something a big issue with amount of time admin/NABer spending to clear it.
Actually, this would be for editors that understand the rules of naming titles, but, due to incorrect titling, can fix the title immediately after writing, such as for system-errors for iPhone or .Com…I’ve had several over the course of the last few months.
system
5
I’m a little wary of allowing any registered user to change titles…this could lead to some very messy vandalism situations, especially on featured articles. That’s my main concern.
By the way, wikipedia doesn’t allow ANY USER to change the title to any of their featured articles, that could also be an instituted policy!
Got thinking of some key points to realize if this was instituted. 1. If the site had this feature, not only could it be reversed by an NAB editor later, if they deemed it necessary, but also if there was only x amount of days before this option closed,. It seems to take a minimum of one month for an article tone added to the FA stream-therefore at about 25 days, this option would be unavailable.
system
8
Great ideas. I’m interested in seeing how other community members feel about this
I feel that this would be a good ability to take a small test on for reasons that Krystle stated. While having to move the articles with .Com to .com can be a tad boring after 10 or so, having to undo bad ones from multiple users would get annoying after awhile. I’m fine with trusted users using the ability but not just any user. Also, I’m fine with the current way. Not many articles get tagged and it’s a quick and painless operation to move the page. Takes up just a few seconds of time.
system
10
Well, you also have to change all the links to the previous article to the new article, which can actually take quite awhile if it’s a popular (?) article.
How popular can an article be, if it’s only been out a short period of time(lets say less than 30 days)? Didn’t you read past comments that I commented to Krystle with?
I use Special:Movepage. I deal with the double redirects afterwards
Special:movepages might be god for you, but what’s in it for me? I know the rules, and I can apply these rules. The system never listens when I nor anyone else tries to write an article with product name problems. When this happens, I feel very angry. I’ve put the title template on it, but I still feel angry that I couldn’t have done MORE about fixing this badly formatted title. I realize all templates do just mean, in all respects"look here, more attention needed", but if I had that ability to fix the broken title, I know I’d would’ve been a great help. I think you’re ALL misunderstanding my wiki-ability, including @Krystle
. Although I’ve only been on wikihow for (what is it now 8 months), this isn’t the first wiki-project I’ve been a part of. As stated in the article, I’ve also been (and heavily edited on) wikipedia. I had been on there since reading a very good book explaining the language in 2008. Therefore, my first wiki experience was wikipedia. If all of our regular registered users had a way to fix their own problems right then and there for themselves, it would help readers better understand the article in between the time it was first written till the time the NAB editor got to it. Oh yeah, when @krystle
has spoken in other places that, with wiki language having a reversal of every edit made, article titles can still be fixed in NAB, don’t get me wrong, it would still have the reversal available by the NAB app editor that prominently displays a “this title has been retitled banner” on their app, along what it was, and can only be reversed by them. I understand from all of you, that it doesn’t take much effort to change a title, but it could help alleviate this mess, if this could be implemented.
My last post proves my point for your issue too. If you felt like I put it on the back burner, no I didn’t; it was just on the side burner for a few days.
