Wikipedia talk:Certification

What I want, when I request an article to be transmitted from the PediaWiki database to my computer screen, is an article created, last-edited, or certified by my choice of:

• a user with sysop or above authority (41 sysops, 3 developers, 1 owner = 45 people, i.e., the "cabal")
• a signed-in user who is on my "trusted" list

I would also like the option of being informed of the existence of contributions from any of:

• anonymous users (i.e., not signed-in)
• signed-in users whom I have not yet placed on my "trusted" list

So if I had browsed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart any time in the last two months, I would have seen versions made by Andre, Magnus or Brion, since each has sysop or developer rights. I would not, however, have seen Ben-Zin's foreign-language links or 217.168.172.202's "Queen of the Night" tweak -- at least not until Sept. 16th, when Andre added a foreign-language link.

What would I have missed? Nothing I really care about. The article was just as good, for my modest purposes, with or without .202's minor copy-edit. The only improvement I really appreciate is the image Magnus uploaded. So for the Mozart article, Erik's "alternative viewing mode" idea works perfectly for me.

We can hammer out the details, if we choose to make Erik's idea into a full-fledged feature request. Here are my own suggestions:

• show a flag (possibly optional) indicating the existence of a later, "uncertified" change
• set the default for editing to "edit the latest version"
• provide an option to "edit the version currently displayed"

As a reader, I may be curious to see what some anonymous or "not yet trusted" contributor has added, so it's to my advantage to be able to access later, "uncertified" versions. I might discover that someone like Clutch or Lir has decided to get with the program and start writing NPOVishly. Or I might find that some new and wonderful user like Zoe has appeared, rising like Venus out of the foam, and is offering excellent contributions from day one.

As an editor, I will often want to compare the "certified" version of an article with what some political hothead or vandal has done to trash it. Please understand the context in which I'm saying this. For me, "certified" would be "users on my trusted list". For you, "certified" means users on YOUR trusted list. This would be an improvement over just using my watchlist, because that only shows the latest change, however minor. With Erik's idea, I would also get a "certified/non-certified" flag (maybe even a color, like green for "goofy" or blue for "be careful").

Well, that's all I have time for right now -- and this letter is getting too long anyway. If there's any interest along these lines, I will create a Wikipedia:Certification page where we can refine the details. Much as we did with Jeronimo's country project.

==Ed Poor 14:42 Oct 31, 2002 (UTC)