Forum:Temporary forums/T:BOUND Reform

Opening Post
So for quite some time it has been the semiofficial stance of this wiki that T:BOUND implies some additional policy, something vaguely related to people "being bound by the way we currently do things". This informal broadening of the policy has never been precisely fleshed out, but has been alluded to quite a few times in admin decisions, including those that have had substantial discussion on the very nature of "community consensus" or T:BOUND itself. See, for instance, User talk:Shambala108 and Talk:Hugh Grant.

It's been suggested in the past that our rules can be difficult for new users to learn, and this is certainly the case. But having a rule that simply isn't written down and only exists due to self justification, the ultimate bootstrap paradox of a rule, makes this situation even more frustrating for new editors. It's important that we codify this policy formally into our rules in order to make things more accessible for new users. As stated at Tardis talk:You are bound by current policy, it's not immediately obvious that a forum thread is needed for this, but I think it's reasonable to have one in order to hammer out the precise wording.

Two years ago it was stated that


 * it makes sense to have a policy that says "even if the current setup isn't codified by a specific policy, you shouldn't, on a whim, try and implement a change that would have ramifications on thousands of pages without starting a discussion".

And I think this is the correct approach to take. In the main body of the rule, that is the section with three paragraphs, I suggest that we add a fourth, between what is currently the second and third paragraphs. The current wording I'm floating is the following:


 * As a corollary, "policy" doesn't just apply to those decisions that have been officially enshrined through discussion, but also refers to operating procedures that apply to multiple pages over large periods of time with the express knowledge of admins, even if these procedures technically contradict the results of a previous forum decision. Do not make large scale changes to the wiki without opening a discussion about these changes first.

But obviously the purpose of this thread is to workshop the wording. With that said, given the nuances of the issue, I would like to bring up another option. Separating this policy from T:BOUND entirely. I'm not sure this is the right path forward, and historically it's not what we've done. But it's certainly an option I think we should consider in this thread.

Discussion
I support this policy change, but am unsure whether I'd prefer it to be its own policy or just a clarification on T:BOUND. Cousin Ettolrhc ☎  17:32, 26 March 2023 (UTC)


 * This one seems very simple to me, we're not changing policy we're just... writing it down. OS25🤙☎️ 17:33, 26 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I mean, fair point, although I'd argue it's only policy if it's written down. Otherwise it's practice. But that's just semantics Cousin Ettolrhc ☎  17:41, 26 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I support this proposal to the fullest. Especially because we not so long ago did have major changes done to a large portion of the wiki that went through without discussion. These changes were luckily undone. (I will not go into further detail as it is past tense now and the user in question (who will remain nameless) seem to have learned their lesson; those who know, will know). Also, we need policy written down. The wiki's editors shouldn’t be expected to just follow some unwritten word of mouth. This isn’t "common sense of life". Danniesen ☎  17:58, 26 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Yeah I support this. I agree Danniesen about needed policy needing to be written down. Time God Eon ☎  19:14, 26 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Great proposal and great proposed wording. As I mentioned at Tardis talk:You are bound by current policy, I think this could have been added by an admin without a requisite forum thread, like how T:MERGE was created by summarizing existing practice – but come to think of it, that conversion of existing practice into policy is exactly what this proposal is all about! It's good that this forum thread will enshrine that practice and pave the way for admins to freely encode precedent as policy in the future. – n8 (☎) 00:27, 27 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I guess the issue is that changing T:BOUND without consensus is a violation of... T:BOUND... and specifically the part we're trying to add. So adding this rule without a discussion would ironically be a violation of the rule itself. OS25🤙☎️ 03:48, 27 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Well, sort of. I wouldn't say the creation of T:MERGE violated T:BOUND, but the action assumed the universally-understood "precedent as policy" approach which this thread will codify. – n8 (☎) 12:37, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

I'd like to mention that I am definitely against admins creating policy pages without forum discussion. Cousin Ettolrahc ☎  16:53, 27 March 2023 (UTC)


 * While in general it's best practice for them to do so, they're not required, as per T:WRITE POLICY. Though the exceptions are usually supposed to be for more technical issues. Najawin ☎  19:46, 27 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I don't think there's anything wrong with creating a policy page to describe current practice, as long as the admin doesn't use it to try to change the existing practice in any way. – n8 (☎) 20:48, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Coming back to this, I'm not entirely sure how okay I am with granting the ability of saying "That's not current practice" to shut something down. For example, pages like Eleventh Doctor's adventures with Alice Obiefune are not "current practice" by a certain definition, although this clearly isn't what the thread intends to codify. For fear of future abuse of this rule by future admins, I think we should phrase this as "don't contradict current practice" rather than "don't go outside current practice. This may seem painfully obvious and/or pedantic, but I just want to make sure this is how it I codified so as to prevent any possible future exploitative, however unlikely. Cousin Ettolrahc ☎  15:18, 3 April 2023 (UTC)