RefactoringPolicy

How much and how often should refactoring be done?

View 1. As often as one sees something incorrect, obviously biased/partisan. It is better to change a page immediately, when one sees something perceived to be a problem, rather than to discuss changes that need to be made. Adherents of this view: LarrySanger

View 2. Only after a discussion has played out. It is better to let the original author of a page to make changes to it. Adherents of this view:

View 3. The middle road -- respect for a dialogue _qua_ dialogue should be respected, but at the same time a minor tweak early on can avoid a flame war. To refactor or not will often depend on the context, and so either rule 1 (change immediately) or rule 2 (wait for the discussion to end) are too extreme. Adherents of this view: JimboWales

Should discussion occur on the page itself or instead on a *Talk or *Discussion page?

View 1. On the page itself. Adherents of this view:

View 2. On a *Talk or *Discussion page, always (or almost always). Adherents of this view: LarrySanger

View 3. The decision to keep the discussion where it is, or move it to a *Discussion page, is contextual. Factors involved in the decision include such things as: how long is the discussion likely to continue, is resolution likely, is the discussion particularly flame-likely, etc. -- JimboWales

What is the purpose of refactoring?

View 1.

View 2.

View 3. I propose that there is a long-run and short-run purpose. The long-run purpose is to turn a discussion into a resource. The short-run purpose is to channel a discussion in a useful direction, i.e. to help aim it at the future time when it can be a resource. --JimboWales

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Discussion:

Occasionally a useful middle-ground is to separate the commonly-accepted summary from the discussion. A good way to do this is to place the summary at top, then use two horizontal lines and a word like Discussion: before the discussion. If the discussion grows large or unweildy, it can later be separated into other page(s). --CliffordAdams

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 * Policy policy

If Wikipedia achieves its potential there will be thousands of people writing and editing articles. There is no system in place that would allow all of this activity to be monitored by some central authority to insure compliance with various policies. With this in mind, we should not try now to lay down policies as if the project is easily controlled. We should assume that policies will emerge from use and experience. We should not try to anticipate what the lessons of experience will be.