Requests for Comment/Changes to the Dormancy Policy (2)

The Dormancy Policy has been around for a long time, with the last changes to it made in May 2019. It may be one of the most controversial global policies on Miraheze, with many users not liking the fact that if they’re not active for 6 months their wiki will eventually be deleted. It may not be the 'nicest' policy, but it is necessary, as Miraheze doesn’t have the resources to keep all wikis online indefinitely if they’re just not being used anymore. In addition, the Dormancy Policy is already very generous to users and it’s very easy to avoid it altogether, all someone needs to do is have some sort of activity on their wiki, even one edit every few months will prevent the Dormancy Policy from taking effect. Exemptions are of course also granted quite regularly to users with a reason. Additionally, it is easy for users to backup their wikis with Special:DataDump. That being said, since May 2019, some issues have arisen that can be resolved with a new amendment of the policy. Here are some proposals to address them. Thanks to Dmehus for helping to draft this RfC and and to John for their suggestions.

The proposals below are not mutually exclusive unless indicated otherwise. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 1 (Adoption/Reopening)
The “Adoption” section is changed as follows (now referred to as "reopening," though given the historical usage of the term adoption, it may still be referred to as an adoption process): Immediately after a wiki has been automatically closed (minimum 60 days inactivity) it will be eligible to be reopened at the request of any good-faith user. The user must meet certain activity guidelines (on any wiki), have read-rights on the wiki (if the wiki is private) and provide a reason for requesting to reopen the wiki. While there is no minimum amount of wikis that one can request to reopen, a Steward may decline to reopen a wiki if the user has requested opening a large amount of wikis in a short period of time.

When a request to reopen is approved, no rights are automatically granted to the user who requested the reopening, these are instead granted on a case-by-case basis following a local election.

Note: The above does not preclude a contributing user from requesting from Stewards, usually via Stewards' noticeboard, for user groups below that of the  group that customarily do not require local permissions election (i.e., ,  ,  ,  , etc.), where local administrators are not recently active

"Rationale": The rationale for this change is that it, regarding the immediate adoption possibility it isn't easy for a Steward to know when a wiki has been actually closed, making it difficult for them to know when 14 days have passed. Therefore, since the user hasn't been active in 6 months anyway it would be fair to allow adoption immediately after closure. Additionally, adoption is changed to 'reopening' to better reflect that a user will no longer automatically become bureaucrat/administrator immediately upon reopening.

Support

 * 1)  as proposer, per rationale given above. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  I do like that it formally renames adoption to reopening and clarifies the timeframe.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:23, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  as collaborator on Reception123's draft RfC, and per the proposal's arguments. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  .WolfMan (talk) 09:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  makes sense for me --LilyLilyu - smile.svg talk and I will listen · Lilypond Wiki 09:21, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  I suppose some changes to the Dormancy Policy would be necessary to fulfill what has been missing for so long. --DarkMatterMan4500 (talk) (contribs) 10:09, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  makes sense. I wonder why was that 14 days gap in between closure and adoption. --Magogre (talk)  12:12, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 8)  Formal version of what is already fact. However, I think it's an excellent opportunity to put a proper resource for what an election entails and an example template into the mainspace to minimize confusion for what that means. I'm not saying as 'you have to do this' rather a 'this is what it means' for those less familiar with wiki/Miraheze conventions. --Raidarr (talk) 12:48, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 9)  --ShriekingSouls (Email me) 12:57, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 10)  Useful for not making a closure definitive. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:09, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 11)   Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:29, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 12)  -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:26, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 13)  Ugochimobi (talk) 17:31, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 14)  --Mike9012 (talk) 20:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 15)  Per above rationale. --Turtle84375 (talk) 21:06, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 16)  as per above reasons. --Robkelk (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 17)  Per above. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 22:56, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 18)  per cited reasons above.  -- Looney Toons (talk) 03:11, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 19)  per nom. Firestar464 (talk) 06:04, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 20)  Per above. --Soukupmi (talk) 10:04, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 2.1 (Adoption/Reopening)
A wiki that was closed for reasons outside of the Dormancy Policy (i.e. by a local bureaucrat) may not be reopened/adopted following the Request for Adoption/Request for Reopening process described in this policy.

Note: This is a counter proposal to Proposal 2.2, meaning its passage depends on the other proposal failing or resulting in no consensus

Support

 * 1)  If Proposal 2.2 does not pass, I prefer this one. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:28, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  I too would like this to pass should 2.2 not pass.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  as an alternative to Proposal 2.1, though I think I do prefer Proposal 2.2, albeit a bit mildly. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  WolfMan (talk) 09:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  I feel like if a bureaucrat of a wiki voluntarily chose to close a wiki it's for their own personal reasons whatever it is and it's not intended to just be left vacant and reopen again.  Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:32, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  Local consensus must be considered at the highest degree for our wikis. If "local consensus" is for some reason a single user in some position of power, it may be a community responsibility to create a new, more collaborative community.  dross  (t • c • g) 19:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  I prefer 2.2, but this is an okay fallback, I suppose. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:00, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  I would rather have 2.2 over this proposal; if an active community was on a wiki and one of the local bureaucrats decided to close it, that community should be able to take that wiki back. -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  ^ --Firestar464 (talk) 07:04, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Abstain

 * 1)  in practice it seems to me this already happens; I'm not sure what would really change since 'invalid' requests not based on normal process are already being declined and it is possible that an exceptional case can be reviewed by a Steward. It seems to me the latter ability to review exceptional cases is already an informal rule, and at best this addition would make it harder to address them. But I could be misunderstanding, hence a mere abstain. --Raidarr (talk) 12:55, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Indeed, this is just making things clear and codifying it into policy to avoid any doubts. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 09:23, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Comments

 * How many wikis that were closed for reasons outside of the Dormancy Policy have or have not been reopened? How much controversy has this created? --Robkelk (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * For me this depends on the community, how many contributors are there? Has the wiki been closed by the only contributor or is there a large community? Why has the wiki been closed etc., and is this a great problem on Miraheze? --LilyLilyu - smile.svg talk and I will listen · Lilypond Wiki 10:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 2.2 (Adoption/Reopening)
A wiki that was closed for reasons outside of the Dormancy Policy (i.e. by a local bureaucrat) may be reopened following the Request for Adoption/Request for Reopening process described in this policy, unless there was a local public community consultation favouring closure, ideally on-wiki or in a public IRC channel/Discord server which any Steward can access without the need to request access to join.

Note: This is a counter proposal to Proposal 2.1, meaning its passage depends on the other proposal failing or resulting in no consensus

Support

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  I think it makes sense to allow this in the narrow circumstances that are given here which basically means that a wiki can only be reopened this way either if it was closed because of inactivity or if a bureaucrat has closed it without local consensus. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  This would definitely help resolve issues like the ones we've seen recently where bureaucrats close wikis against community consensus and sets out a clearer path for how these sort of situations should be resolved.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:27, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  as the mildly preferred option to Proposal 2.1. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  no concerns.WolfMan (talk) 09:12, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  I like this especially on principle, where it's been proven that some users will close wikis specifically to preclude them from reopening when they personally don't wish to continue despite the wiki being 'bigger than them'. --Raidarr (talk) 12:50, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  Offers possibility of redemption after a closure. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:11, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 8)   Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:34, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 9)  -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:28, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 10)  --Mike9012 (talk) 20:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 11)  The focus on community consensus is core IMO. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:05, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 12)  ^ --Firestar464 (talk) 07:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  While the data of such a closed wiki should be available, at the very least to previously active community members, there should be no presumption that a wiki closed due to any on-wiki circumstances will be available to any user who may satisfy general adoption requirements. If a wiki is to be reopened, it should be done with the respective local ManageWiki access. In other words, if a community member is interested in reopening a wiki, they should successfully reach consensus with the community for the attainment of bureaucrat permissions, as with any other wiki without an active bureaucrat. A wiki which does not adhere to such processes (such as those with "owners" or a structure which mandates a sole bureaucrat)  should simply be closed and later recreated with a relevant wiki request if there is interest.  dross  (t • c • g) 19:08, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 3 (Private wikis)
Private wikis may only be reopened at the request of a good-faith user who previously held   rights, as at the time of the wiki's closure, on that wiki, notwithstanding private personal wikis wholly or substantially about the originally requesting user where ruling by community consensus would be entirely inappropriate.

Support

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  as proposer. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  This proposal makes sense and helps set out a clearer protocol and guideline to follow in these sort of situations.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:28, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  as obvious and per above. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  It should've been quite obvious by the nature of this proposal. The Dormancy Policy does need a little bit of an upgrade. In short, an improvement is needed here. --DarkMatterMan4500 (talk) (contribs) 11:34, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  --Magogre (talk)  12:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  --ShriekingSouls (Email me) 12:57, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 8)  This seems partially in place already (the proposal makes it more explicit), but paired with other language in the proposal I think it's helpful. Not to mention I like the idea either way. --Raidarr (talk) 12:59, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 9)  Obviously yes, that only those involved take care, not unknown randoms. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:13, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 10)  - A similar situation happened to me so I support.  Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:36, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 11)  -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:31, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 12)  --Mike9012 (talk) 20:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 13)  Seems fair & makes sense. --Turtle84375 (talk) 21:08, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 14)  Private wikis should only be reopened on behalf of their previous editors, IMHO. This would ensure that. --Robkelk (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 15)  Reads as sensible to me, per above. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:04, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 16)  Fair enough --LilyLilyu - smile.svg talk and I will listen · Lilypond Wiki 09:59, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 4 (Public personal wikis)
Wikis created for as public personal e-portfolio, curriculum vitae (r&eacute;sum&eacute;), blog, or narrowly construed similar wikis of a single user are exempt from the adoption process of Dormancy Policy, as, similar to an aspect of Proposal 3 above, it does not make sense to allow a community of users to hold a local discussion to change the administration of someone's personal public e-portfolio or similar wiki.

Note: that this does not make them automatically exempt from closure due to inactivity; exemptions will still need to be requested from Stewards, which will be assessed by Stewards in terms of both need and content. Note that while this proposal is somewhat connected to Proposal 3, it is mutually exclusive of Proposal 3 and may pass regardless if Proposal 3 passes as Proposal 3 failing would just mean the status quo for Proposal 3 applies

Support

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  as proposer. It makes sense not to allow someone to request to reopen a wiki that was clearly meant to be something personal to one single user. If the user wishes to have the wiki URL, they will have to wait until the wiki is deleted to do so. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  Per Reception123 who summed it up perfectly.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:28, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  as obvious and per above. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  --Magogre (talk)  12:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  --ShriekingSouls (Email me) 12:57, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  especially for the reasons the proposal highlights. --Raidarr (talk) 13:00, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 8)  --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:13, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 9)   Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:36, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 10)  per Reception123 -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:34, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 11)  --Ugochimobi (talk) 17:35, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 12)  --Mike9012 (talk) 20:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Comments

 * 1)  We (or SRE) should consider a policy regarding server load/resources for mostly static websites hosted with Miraheze. High-load personal sites should perhaps not be considered for exemption, while the small, simple sites would cause nearly no load.  dross  (t • c • g) 19:20, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Dross This seems like it was more of a comment related to Proposals 5.x and/or Proposal 6, no? Dmehus (talk) 20:43, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It certainly could. I just stuck it here because there isn't a great place for general commentary. The comment mostly applies to those sites which don't get edited much anyway. dross  (t • c • g) 20:46, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Dross Thanks. I strongly suspect, though, that personal wikis do not cause much strain on Miraheze's servers. The wikis which tend to use the most resources are high trafficked wikis, and those tend not to be personal wikis. I would wager that the Qualitipedia wikis, AllTheTropes Wiki, and the Wikipedia encyclopedia fork wikis that tend to be spambot havens tend to create most of the user growth and traffic. Dmehus (talk) 20:43, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I wasn't aware we had any Wikipedia forks over here, let alone ones that poorly maintained. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:12, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Umbire the Phantom, there's quite a few, some which don't feature notability guidelines and others which do. Gyaanipedia, for example, features active administrators and content editors and is one of the better maintained ones, though in that case, one practice I don't particularly like is they really downplay the Miraheze involvement and local administration will invite users to host their wikis with them. They, in turn, will then request a wiki from Miraheze, with the requesting user becoming the primary bureaucrat on the wiki and acting as a sort of network bureaucrat across the Gyaanipedia network of wikis. That's all fine, but my issue there is the downplaying of the Miraheze involvement. There's other Wikipedia forks including this one, this one, this one, and others. Callipedia, in particular, requested multiple imports from English Wikipedia, in order to boost their article count into the hundreds of thousands. Thankfully, we don't host all the images, as they largely use Wikimedia Commons, but still, with one local administrator who is not active, it becomes very difficult to possibly wade through all of the articles and catch all the vandalism, spam, etc. I don't really know the fascination with requesting Wikipedia forks, but surmise people are attracted to it because (a) Wikipedia is well known, (b) they can't otherwise think of a more specialized topic in which they're interested to create a wiki, and, in some cases, (c) may be attracted to topping wiki leaderboards in terms of article counts. Since they're mostly text, these may not be too significant in terms of system resource usage, other than if they attract a high number of spambots and spambot user creations. If the Counter Vandalism Team observes high numbers of spam only account user creations relative to human user account creations on those wikis, where local administration is both in understaffed and not recently active, we can, and have, restricted local account creation on such wikis to logged in users. Anyway, I digress as this is getting a bit off-topic from this RfC. Nonetheless, I wanted to provide context and answer your question. Dmehus (talk) 00:08, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Dmehus, I'm inclined to think it's primarily C with a bit of A, alongside some (usually personal) antipathy towards Wikipedia as an 'institution' and/or their guidelines - I know a few sorts who're wonky about that type of thing. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 00:16, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Umbire the Phantom, yeah, that's pretty fair in terms of likelihood, I think. Dmehus (talk) 00:24, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 5 (Exemptions)
In addition to the current requirements, the following is added:

Exemptions to the Dormancy Policy are granted for a maximum period of two years. After two years, a it can be requested that the exemption is renewed if the reason why an exemption was originally requested still exists.

Support

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:19, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  as proposer. I think given the generous provisions already in place that it's fair to ask bureaucrats to have to renew their exemptions every two years, which is a long time. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  We run on limited resources so it makes sense to ask wikis every so often whether they still require their exemption or not. We don't want literal zombie wikis which were abandoned 5 years ago to still be roaming and eating up server space with viewership that does not justify it's existence.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:32, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Just as there are differences between dog and cat, there are differences between a zombie wiki (with few pages, small content, or main page that hasn't moved yet) and a database wiki (even with no edits, or with few visits is important). So I thought the term 'zombie wiki' was a bit heavy. Of course also, I understand that Miraheze needs to delete some wikis as maintenance is paid. YellowFrogger (✉ Talk  ✐ Edits ) 01:39, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I understand your point about database wikis and about zombie wikis but I would like to say that requesting an renewal of an inactivity exemption is not very hard. My understanding is that users would be alerted when the time arrives for them to request a renewal. They'd be given an ample amount of time to ensure they respond and if they re-request an exemption, they'd most likely be given another 2 year extension. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 01:44, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * However with this change, it's no longer just a forever exemption (or indefinite as User:Dmehus says), and it's just a "renewal voucher" to the dormancy policy. And people who want an infinite (forever) exemption will be able to? That's why I voted Oppose. I don't know if I can have wikis that will stay forever even if no have edits. YellowFrogger (✉ Talk  ✐ Edits ) 02:01, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1)  per above. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  per Agent. --Magogre (talk)  12:19, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3) ; I think TheDungeonMaster raises a reasonable point, but I think that 2 years is fairly reasonable as well. I also think it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to make a workflow where exemptions are sorted by date and Stewards can check it out every so often, presuming that workflow isn't forgotten of course. --Raidarr (talk) 13:03, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  Why not, gives some time which could be useful for some contexts. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  -  Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:38, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)  How much work is it to ask for an exemption every two years? Not asking for the exemption would be a sign that the wiki had been abandoned. --Robkelk (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * And that's what the exemption is for. The person does not have time with the wiki or will leave the wiki in read mode forever. And this proposal is a problem. If it is accepted, there will have to be two ways to request exemption, one indefinitely and the other with a 2-year renewal! YellowFrogger</b> (✉ Talk </b> ✐ Edits </b>)</b> 21:42, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1)  Per Robkelk above - TDM isn't necessarily wrong, but honestly that isn't asking for very much more than currently, and the other reasons to oppose aren't remotely compelling in the slightest. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * And that's what the exemption is for. The person does not have time with the wiki or will leave the wiki in read mode forever. And this proposal is a problem. If it is accepted, there will have to be two ways to request exemption, one indefinitely and the other with a 2-year renewal! YellowFrogger</b> (✉ Talk </b> ✐ Edits </b>)</b> 21:42, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * If this is accepted, what is the reason for the existence of "exemption". It will all be useless now. YellowFrogger</b> (✉ Talk </b> ✐ Edits </b>)</b> 23:36, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * And they can plan matters accordingly around whichever option they prefer. I fail to see how this renders the existing process "useless" considering how little ends up changing in practice, nor how this copypasted comment qualifies as a compelling reason to withdraw support. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:42, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * In fact, one mightt argue that this seems to be personally motivated somehow. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:49, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * What's the problem with someone having a "limited brain". This more or less means "lack of subject knowledge". I don't see any problem with having a limited brain. I put it in a joking form as well, but I removed it because for people not to stay angry, but that's not the point. The objective is to talk about this subject of this proposal. YellowFrogger</b> (✉ Talk </b> ✐ Edits </b>)</b> 00:17, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not asking you to make another decision. I'm just warning you that this will make the exemption useless. But for you it won't change anything/you won't feel anything because you don't have a wiki, and instead you edit a wiki that is currently the largest in Miraheze (in number of articles) and benefits from an exemption. I'm not forcing you not to vote, but think before you vote, as this won't just be for you, but for everyone. Understood? <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 23:54, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Said as you then proceed to imply that I didn't put any thought into my vote, or that I am only doing this for myself, on the sole basis that I disagree with your perspective. If you call yourself trying to discuss this matter, I highly suggest you give further consideration to your tone and the honesty (or lack of) communicated in your comments, recognize that ownership is by no means necessary or required to have a "stake" in matters concerning the entire community, and work on your own awareness before commenting on someone else's. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 00:05, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * YellowFrogger, it's good that you removed this phrase. I get what you're trying to say, but I think this is one of those situations of the subtleties of the English language where context matters. It comes off as calling other users mentally challenged merely because they don't agree with you, which might rightly be perceived in derogatory terms. I assume good faith here that this was likely a language barrier issue, so perhaps it'd be best if everyone just dropped the discussion. To correct something in your earlier comment, though, that's one of the misunderstandings of Dormancy Policy exemptions; they were never granted permanently. They were granted without defined time duration, subject to revision based on need (assessed in terms of active editing community and content made to be read by real people, most commonly). While I'm not strongly in favour of a maximum two-year Dormancy Policy exemption, the reality is that regular reviews of the indefinitely exempted wikis are precluded by other priorities. That's likely the reason that wiki you identified appears to not exist. There's likely a few of those that just need updating, simply because they've requested a subdomain/database name change. I will aim to review those over the near-term. Dmehus (talk) 00:32, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Hmm. What a nice rebuke you gave me. But you forgot to mention that my way of talking just sounds 'ignorant', which it really isn't, but it does. The purpose of this word was just a mini joke, but I thought people wouldn't like it. If no one liked it, just regret it because I can't reverse your emotion. I understand the proposal, which seems to limit the exemption to two years. After two years and no one has edited/requested another exemption the wiki can be deleted within a few days, is that it? I'm against the proposal, not the people who vote for it. <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 00:45, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Could've fooled me. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 00:53, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * YellowFrogger No, that's not the proposal at all. If an exemption is removed and not extended, the wiki would continue as normal as if it had no exemption. If the wiki has activity, nothing happens. If the wiki has no activity in a further six months, then it would be marked as deleted. Proposal 6 outlines existing wikis being given a one year timeframe from the opening of this RfC by which they'd continue to have their previously granted indefinite exemption, to give them time to request a justified exemption renewal. As an administrative point regarding removal of previously granted exemptions, Stewards would likely need to either (a) remove the exemption on Meta Wiki and make a local edit to the wiki, to prevent the wiki from potentially reclosing the next day (if it's not had activity in the past sixty days) or (b) remove the exemption locally, to prevent reclosing of the wiki if no activity in the past sixty days, and note here the reason for the removal. Dmehus (talk) 01:08, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1)  Per RobKelk above.  -- Looney Toons (talk) 03:16, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  Additionally, I would consider the visits, if the wiki is been visited frequently the period should be renewed without asking --LilyLilyu - smile.svg talk and I will listen · Lilypond Wiki 10:12, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  If my math is correct, this means that an exemption only saves you a couple of "inputs" (making an edit or comment) to save your wiki. Instead of slightly more than four times during a two-year period touching your wiki, you need to ask once for an exemption. But since the latter choice might lead to follow-up discussion, making you interact several times, not to mention how it adds to the administrative burden of the Miraheze team, is it really any easier than to just not ask for an exemption in the first place? If the exemption period were at least five years, it would actually mean a real saving in time, focus and effort worth maintaining an Exemption Policy in the first place. So my question is: is the short period truly motivated by restrained hardware resources or are you just shooting yourself in the foot here...? :-) Cheers TheDungeonMaster (talk) 12:40, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * That observation is fair though it would in total save 5 inputs because 24 months would have to pass since the granting of the extension, so 4 edits plus 6 months since the regular Dormancy Policy would apply once the exemption is removed. It may not seem like a lot, but the purpose of exemptions is to allow the bureaucrats/administrators to not have to worry about that and just let their wiki be read. As to the administrative side, I don't think as complex as described as all that needs to be done in two years is create a thread and explain in a short sentence why the exemption is still needed and then a Steward can just tick a box. In my opinion, the status quo which is the possibility to grant exemptions indefinitely needs changing because there's no reason why a wiki which has been completely abandoned should remain online. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:49, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with Reception123's comments here. I did consider whether there is even a utility to Dormancy Policy exemptions since many wikis can, and do, opt to never request a Dormancy Policy exemption, and just make an edit or log action every few months. I still do think the exemptions provide some value, largely for the reason Reception123 has outlined. Dmehus (talk) 17:55, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1)  per above -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:35, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 17:47, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * , will you please ammend your !vote and remove these recurring alphabets. --Magogre (talk) 17:52, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It's fine, in my view, though perhaps a few less Os would be appreciated. :) Dmehus (talk) 17:55, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Please also note that the number of 'O's will not make your argument stronger. If you disagree so much with this proposal, please do feel free to explain why in more articulate terms. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:59, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * In addition to the above, I see what Magogre has said, so I've fixed the indentation as a community courtesy by adding line breaks to prevent horizontal scrolling. Dmehus (talk) 18:00, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * , and  For starters, most people who voted for Support don't have a wiki (Anpang, Raidarr, Magogre Etc). I didn't like this proposal because, from what I read, the dormancy policy exemption will no longer be infinite. If so, I hope they'll accept infinite waiver requests! Also because there are people who have the wiki that needs to be infinite even though it is not much visited as this wiki here, because they wait for the wiki to be read, or because it is a blog, database, etc. <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 18:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't know about Magogre, specifically, but I do know that Anpang has several wikis, with content on them. Raidarr has a private wiki and at least one other wiki, as far as I am aware. It's a bit fuzzy because he's recently requested deletion of an unused wiki or two, but I still think he has at least two current wikis. Note that DP exemptions were never permanent; they were merely indefinite, meaning they could still be removed, ideally with advance notification to the wiki bureaucrats, if there were no longer a need for an exemption (i.e., a very active wiki with a large community of editors, or a nearly empty wiki with no significant edits). Dmehus (talk) 18:43, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Lets just say I don't put much stock in an oppose where multiple users must pull teeth to get more than two letters of argument to make its point and then makes obviously inaccurate presumptions about the investments of other users. It makes whatever is used as an argument from there all the weaker, though I don't accept what is left because it utterly fails to address Reception's reasoning anyway. In other words it is the loudest oppose with the weakest voice. I apologize for the harsh bluntness of my comment, but this is not the first time I've seen this sort of discussion style from the user. --Raidarr (talk) 19:32, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Their wikis are private and have little content. The wiki I manage has more than 1K articles and has precious information: it can be classified as a database. The only thing I want is the wiki I manage, have an infinite dormancy policy exemption as it is a database. Probably, if this RFC is accepted, I will no longer contribute to my 1,114-article wiki, as I won't be contributing an one thing that will disappear one day. Have you ever seen a Blogger blog, and it hasn't been updated since 2008, 2007? It's a database. What did talk about, what do you mean? Indefinite no dormancy policy also means that a bureaucrat/steward gets out there and deletes a wiki even though it's obeying the content policy? Isn't that unfair?  I didn't really understand what you said, because it's a large text with several changed synonyms, but from what I deciphered, it was a criticism of me. What can I improve on? <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 20:28, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * YellowFrogger, I think there's a few misconceptions here. Wikis that do not have Dormancy Policy exemptions will see no change to their workflow (most do not). That is to say, wikis can see their wikis continue indefinitely, so long as they or any user makes one qualifying edit or logged action on their wiki every six months. With this proposed change in this RfC, that will change, to an extent, for exempted wikis; however, in the sense that wikis granted a two-year exemption will have to make one logged action or edit on their wiki or on Meta Wiki every two years. I do not think this is a significant imposition on existing wikis, whilst balancing Miraheze's limited system resources. Content Policy is an entirely separate global policy and is completely unaffected by these changes. As well, for public wikis, by SRE convention, Reception123 posts XML dumps on The Internet Archive every 3-6 months or so. Even if wikis lost an inactivity exemption, that in and of itself does not mean the wiki will be deleted. The wiki's users could continue making the occasional edit on the wiki. Similarly, one could deploy a  account on their wiki to periodically perform minor wiki maintenance on a fixed schedule, and would also be unaffected. If anything, this proposed change makes it more transparent and increases the accountability for wikis. Dmehus (talk) 20:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It's okay that Miraheze needs to delete useless wikis to keep working, because maintaining wikis is paid. However, this proposal will make the exemption useless, as the wiki will be deleted in the same way, and only the time has changed (instead of 6 months, it will be two years). For me, if this proposal is accepted, there will now have to be two ways to apply for the exemption. Normal exemption (only two years) and infinite exemption (indefinite time, the wiki will remain forever). And I don't know how to make/run bots. There are also wikis listed in Dormancy Policy/Exemptions, which have strangely been deleted as this one, but for reasons I don't know. <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 21:23, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * , I see that you are a sysop on six wikis. Is it really so much work to edit your own User or User talk page on one wiki each week, cycling between the six wikis so that they're all updated at least once every six weeks? From the amount of effort you're putting into this discussion, I thought you were in charge at a lot of wikis. (Yes, I'm sysop on "only" three wikis, but one of those three is the monster of Mirahee, AllTheTropes.) --Robkelk (talk) 21:42, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm on six wikis. However, what really counts is just a wiki (which is also the only one that has an exemption). The others, mostly, are wikis for personal notes or other things. AllTheTropes is Miraheze's largest in number of articles because it was created even before the creation of Miraheze. <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 21:54, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * , the size of the wiki only matters as to how much work needs to be put in to keep it maintained. What matters for the Dormancy Policy is activity, not quantity of activity - the "one edit every six weeks" solution would work just as easily for AllTheTropes as it would for Buses, assuming the edit is needed to keep the Recent Changes history active. --Robkelk (talk) 22:05, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) * What if a person needs a 3-year exemption with a valid reason? For example, a person with a private wiki is facing political prosecution. He expects he will face 2-3 years of imprisonment soon. He requests a 3-year exemption, but under the new rule, it will no longer be possible due to the hard limit in place. He couldn't ask for exemption renewal when he is in jail.
 * 2) * Most wikis which asked for exemptions are granted infinite exemptions. They will be seriously affected under the new rule.
 * 3) * Most people do not see such a need, but that doesn't mean such a need does not exist, and that's what an exemption is for. Exemptions exist so as to cater for a small number of people with special needs or in difficult circumstances. We should allow more flexibility rather than placing a hard and rigid limit.--Revival (talk) 08:02, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) * Most people do not see such a need, but that doesn't mean such a need does not exist, and that's what an exemption is for. Exemptions exist so as to cater for a small number of people with special needs or in difficult circumstances. We should allow more flexibility rather than placing a hard and rigid limit.--Revival (talk) 08:02, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Abstain

 * 1)  --Mike9012 (talk) 20:17, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 5.1 (Exemptions)
If the data available on Matomo suggests that there are very little or no visits on a wiki exempted from the Dormancy Policy, that exemption may be removed no earlier than six months after it was granted by a Steward. Two weeks prior to removal, notice should be given via a suitable notification method (notably, via a note on Meta user talk pages or via e-mail) to all existing bureaucrats.

Note: If the request for removal of an exemption comes from SRE, it should ideally be requested of Stewards via Stewards' noticeboard. A Steward may then provide the appropriate notification, or they may delegate the notification to an SRE team member, both in accordance with the policy.

Note: Where a wiki with very little or no visits to a wiki suggests it is unused and not being read by multiple people, a Steward should, ideally and as a good practice, generate XML and image dumps and e-mail them either to the most recently active bureaucrat(s), all bureaucrats, or, in the case of personal and/or private wikis, the original requesting wiki bureaucrat, to mitigate data loss. Stewards should advise SRE when this been done and, optionally, copy SRE on the e-mail to bureaucrat(s).

Support

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:20, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  Since wikis are granted Dormancy exemptions mainly because of the fact that while they're not edited they are still read, it would not make sense for a wiki that is not active or read by anyone to stay online. If needed again, the bureaucrat will just have to use the XML and image dumps to restore their wiki. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  Extremely reasonable. If the viewership doesn't justify the exemption then why should these wikis continue to take up space?  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:34, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  per above. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  likewise as an extension of my rationale in 5.  Includes a strong steward and core volunteer support, so at least on input it doesn't seem like there is a workload concern here. --Raidarr (talk) 13:05, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 6)   Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 7)  If there's no traffic to a wiki, then I support. If there's traffic, even if it's "very little", then I would have to know how much of Miraheze's resources are being used to support the traffic. --Robkelk (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 8)  Per Robkelk - I doubt low-viewership wikis are taking up that much in terms of resources, and I think there would have to be other criteria considered in that regard at least. Now, if it was a significant drain from a zero-traffic one... --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 23:24, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 9)  pending a definition of the threshold at which a number of edits becomes insufficient to preserve a wiki.  -- Looney Toons (talk) 03:19, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  This rule only seems to take in account public wikis. Private wikis are only supposed to be visited by owners and their guests, and thus cannot have visitors similarly to the public wikis. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  per above and the fact that some wikis are very niche and usually do not receive too much attention from most readers. -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * EdwardMaginot and Waffledogefern, while an exact number of visits constituting "low usage" is intentionally not codified, speaking hypothetically as a Steward, I would expect that it would be a fairly low threshold to reach. At the end of the day, Stewards still retain discretion to remove an exemption to Dormancy Policy under this criterion, and it would be my expectation that the number of unique visits to a wiki would be very low. Even on private wikis, there would be the expectation that someone reviews their wiki every months in order to add additional notes, or removes outdated personal information. Each page view counts as a visit. A wiki that was nearly completely unvisited would suggest it's no longer being used. Moreover, users would still be notified, via their user talk page, via e-mail, or what have you, prior to any exemption being removed, so they would have ample opportunity to state how they're still using the wiki, and in all likelihood, the exemption would be extended, if there was still was a clear need in terms of both activity and content. Plus, as noted in the proposal, XML and image dumps would be generated and made available to either (a) current wiki bureaucrats or to (b) the original requesting wiki bureaucrat (in the case of personal public or private wikis). Hope that clarifies. Dmehus (talk) 16:50, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree. On the visited part, if a wiki is neither being edited by anyone or visited by anyone it seems that there's no reason for it to stay on Miraheze and it could just be saved somewhere locally if it's not being used. Once again, all someone needs to do is edit once in 6 months to avoid this. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:46, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) * This rule does not take private, public personal, niche, bi-yearly or yearly wikis into account. They may have very little visit (or no visit for extended periods of time but will eventually visited). Still they should be kept. Currently some wikis are granted exemptions because the contribution is (generally) done but they will still be read by the admins/guests of the private wiki, or a small number of people in niche wikis, or only read bi-yearly or yearly. The exemptions shouldn't be removed later on because of that.
 * 2) * The stewards should have considered this factor when they initially granted exemptions. If the number of visit is a condition to grant that exemption, the steward should state it clearly at that time the exemption is granted.
 * 3) * Some wikis may have very different special circumstances. There is no one-size-fits-all (that's why they asked for exemptions). There shouldn't be a hard and rigid "visit" requirement to all sorts of exemptions.
 * 4) * After all I don't think exemptions should be removed after granted unless in extreme circumstances.--Revival (talk) 09:35, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) * After all I don't think exemptions should be removed after granted unless in extreme circumstances.--Revival (talk) 09:35, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal 6 (Transition)
For wikis granted a Dormancy Policy exemption prior to the initial publication date of this RfC, SRE will not request removal of any indefinite Dormancy Policy exemption until the greater of (a) at least one year has passed since they were first granted the exemption or (b) at least one year has elapsed since the RfC was first made public, due solely to low Matomo visitor statistics. After that, the criteria specified in Proposal 5.1 would apply.

Note: This does not preclude Stewards from periodically reviewing indefinitely exempted wikis to see whether wikis still need an exemption (i.e., wikis with very active editing communities) or have sufficient content intended to be read or otherwise used as a resource by real people. In such cases, Stewards, will reach out to recently active bureaucrats (usually via their Meta user talk page) to see whether they still require an exemption and to provide an updated reason for wishing to maintain an exemption. If no response is received after a reasonable period of time in such cases, then a Steward would remove the exemption, ideally generating XML and image dumps as in the above proposal

Support

 * 1)  as proposer, it makes sense to allow wikis that relied on the previous Dormancy Policy provisions more leeway. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 08:22, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  Again, does sound extremely fair and reasonable. Additionally, the provision of generating XML and image dumps is a good one as some users later resent having lost access to their work.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 08:38, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 3)  per Reception123. Dmehus (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 4)  for the principle and continuity. Again I think TDM raises a fair point, but with a Steward in support I don't think it's prohibitive. Though I think the proposal could do just fine if the attached notes were streamlined to just note the goals, rather than detail out the process. --Raidarr (talk) 13:08, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 5)  -  Sapphire Williams  (talk page • contributions) 14:41, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  Opposed by principle as opposed to the Proposal 5.1 this rule depends on. --EdwardMaginot (talk) 13:20, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  Opposed to 5.1 -- Waffledogefern (talk) 15:40, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * See my reply to your comments in Proposal 5.1. Dmehus (talk) 16:54, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 01:27, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2) * Opposed by principles as opposed to the Proposal 5 and 5.1.
 * 3) * There are only about 70 indefinitely exempted wikis. Disk space is very cheap nowadays. Those very-infrequently-visited wikis adds negligible server load. I fail to see any strong or good reason to change the rules just to revoke a small number of indefinite exemptions. There are valid reasons to be granted those exemptions in the first place. We should keep the honor.--Revival (talk) 10:30, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) * There are only about 70 indefinitely exempted wikis. Disk space is very cheap nowadays. Those very-infrequently-visited wikis adds negligible server load. I fail to see any strong or good reason to change the rules just to revoke a small number of indefinite exemptions. There are valid reasons to be granted those exemptions in the first place. We should keep the honor.--Revival (talk) 10:30, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Abstain

 * 1)   Anpang   Talk   Stuff  08:21, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 2)  Meh. The language already says "a Steward may" (my emphasis). It would follow no formal transition rule would be necessary if Stewards can be assumed to use common sense rather than follow rules to the letter, rather than never giving any leeway unless forced to. Is this wiki really that big you have Stewards that must be told what to do through formal language? Cheers TheDungeonMaster (talk) 12:51, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

General commentary
Do not vote in this section! Please give only commentary on the whole RfC in this section.


 * 1) First let me link to my feedback on the existing policy (posted at its talk page: Talk:Dormancy Policy ). Then: it really isn't "not active for 6 months" that is the crucial time limit, is it? If you don't modify your wiki in only 45 (or is it 60?) days, your wiki is marked inactive, and that is enough cause for nervousness. So whether the policy is "nice" or not, I think most visitors to your site will feel the timeout is far less than six months (which I would have considered generous). Cheers TheDungeonMaster (talk) 12:29, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * (If I should have simply added a new RCC below - using formalized change language - I apologize for not being familiar with your procedural routines. Thanks)''
 * One RCC I don't see below is a discussion of the actual time period before a Wiki is threatened with closure. Can I suggest it might actually be more productive to offer a more generous time window up-front, and then considerably shorten the various administrative windows before the wiki passes through each stage of inactivity, closure or deletion? The total time from last activity to obliteration can stay the same. Why have only two months and then spend twice as long as that "behind the scenes"? (As if it was a enjoyable game to shuffle wikis from one stage to the other...) Why not allow wikis to remain fully open for 4 months and then use the remaining two to step through the various stages? Put simply: Why put up a warning notice so quickly only to then do nothing for so long? Cheers TheDungeonMaster (talk) 12:47, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) I was seeing all the proposals and I thought it was good until 5, which is the only one I didn't agree with. Of course, a wiki is PROBLABLY never here on Miraheze forever, but having to wait two years to renew? And how will it look like, I won't be able to have a wiki with infinite exemption again? Apart from proposal 5, the changes will not be so bad. <b style="color: #1965e0;">YellowFrogger</b> <b style="color: #069404;">(<b style="color: #069404;">✉ Talk </b> <b style="color: #069404;">✐ Edits </b>)</b> 02:07, 29 November 2021 (UTC)