Wikipedia:SweeTFA proposition

The proposal in 41 words

All FAs are listed alphabetically in a serially numbered list that is updated daily with new FAs. The TFA is picked out using the number Pi as a random number generator. This will provide transparency, equity, and motivate users to improve articles.

This is a very simple solution to a major problem in wikipedia. I bear no ill-will to User:Raul654, who has done a fantastic job of chosing the articles, in my opinion. He is effectively the editor-in-chief of wikipedia, it is he who picks the "main story" for the "front page" (with 5% of all traffic) every day, for as long as I can remember.

The problems

1. It is not particularly fair to other users, that User:Raul654 has so much power as I am sure he will agree.
2. On the other hand the idea of a daily debate on what FA should be tomorrows TFA would be a disaster of Pompeiian proportions. A daily train-wreck that is would pit user against user and create endless bitterness.

Furthermore:

1. Currently the process is entirely opaque, ultimately the decision is made entirely within the mind of one user;
2. It is subject to no checks and balances;
3. Many users become aggrieved when User:Raul654 does not pick the article they worked on for days, and they have no recourse to complaint, and User:Raul654 must always respond that he is only trying to be fair. I think that is true, but unfortunately it is also unfalsifiable.

This leads to:

1. Alienation with the entire FA process; and
2. De-motivation to create FAs and improve articles in general.

So, how can we design a system that ensures that:

1. we have a good article in the TFA slot every day,
2. is transparent,
3. fair,
4. and motivational?

(Note: that I have no axe to grind, I have never nominated anything for featured status, nor do I intend to. I have no run-ins with User:Raul654, and like his work.)

The solution

• Since FAs are supposed to all be of excellent quality they are all candidates to be TFA.
• The number Pi has an infinite number of digits.
• We write a list of FAs (that have not yet been TFA), in alphabetical order and numbered with the # sign, this will be updated every day as new articles are approved for FA status, and as articles are demoted.

We can use Pi as a totally free, GFDL, transparent random number generator. Every day we start move along the digits of Pi, four at a time, until we have a number that corresponds to a FA

• There are 1,300 FAs. That means on average we would have to use about 25 digits a day to get a "hit". This would take someone about 20 seconds.
• Aha! You cry! But then the articles can be predicted months in advance, since anyone can read Pi! Not so - since the list is always changing in a totally unpredictable manner (articles being added shift all the lower ones down) it is not practical to predict even a hour in advance. (Unless the article is Aardvark and 0001 is coming up soon!)
• The article would always be picked one week in advance to allow checks to be made, and Raul654 would continue to write the blurb as he has been doing well for the past 2 years and more.

Two simple rules

Two objections have been raised to the proposal when I proposed it on Talk:Main Page. First, it does not allow for articles to be picked for special occasions like the world cup or something. Second, it could lead to articles on the same subject being featured close together. These can be elegantly solved as follows:

1. There could be a "override rule", where once a week (at most) people could nominate an article with some relevance to be listed in place of the random one - if there was a good deal of support. There could even be a weekly straw poll where users could nominate time-relevant articles to be the override that week. That would allow all users to have an input without the chaos that a daily vote would cause.
2. There could be a "proximity rule", that articles on the same topic (e.g. hurricanes) could not be featured within a certain time frame, and we would "spin the bottle" again.

This way everyone who makes the effort to write a FA will know that it has a fair and equitable chance of making the main page. David Spart (talk · contribs · logs · block user · block log) 21:51, 26 March 2007 (UTC)