GuildWiki:Builds wipe

On May 1, 2007, all articles in the GuildWiki build namespace were deleted. This includes every build on the GuildWiki. Related categories, policy articles, and editing guides were also removed.

Many, but not all, of the the builds we wiped now reside on the PvX Builds Wiki.

Details[]

On April 2, 2007, a notice was added to Main Page, [Build:Main Page], GuildWiki:Builds, and GuildWiki:Community Portal linking back to this article and summarizing this decision. Editors were free to include this template at the top of any article to be deleted by this decision, to help spread awareness of this policy change – it was very quickly copied into common builds templates to spread the word.

Many editors felt that the builds wipe was too heavy-handed, but the administration felt – even after all the comments, many of which are on this talk page – that the builds wipe would cause more good than harm.

Coordinated efforts to archive builds, like this one, sprung up quickly. Additionally, the builds wipe spawned a GuildWiki fork, the PvX Builds Wiki, that contains all our old builds. Many of our editors interested in builds now contribute there.

On May 1, 2007, as stated above, all builds and build-related articles were deleted. GuildWiki:Builds was rewritten from scratch to state our new build policy. However, like all GuildWiki policies, this new builds policy can be modified, replaced, or scrapped by our editors per the guidelines in GuildWiki:Policy. It was the hope of the administration that the GuildWiki users would pull together and have a fresh new builds policy worked out as soon as possible after the wipe to replace the interim post-no-builds policy.

Reasoning[]

Like most of the GuildWiki, the builds section originated organically with little thought to maintainability, scope, or value. A few editors posted builds they found useful and it snowballed into the huge section we have today. Builds policy, like most GuildWiki policies, originated after the builds section came to exist. Unfortunately, our early policies, which worked well for a site with a couple thousand editors, doesn't expand particularly well to a site with several tens of thousands. Over the last year, the builds section, with its dysfunctional policies and procedures, has grown into a monstrosity.

In October of 2006, the GuildWiki administrative team first began considering a complete removal of the builds section. It was decided we'd try anything we could to fix the section and make it sustainable before such drastic steps were taken. The build policies and procedures were codified and clarified and additional administrative attention (for a short while) was given to build disputes. Certain editors were even offered sysop positions, in hopes they would act as impartial build section editors-in-chief, controlling what content was allowed and disallowed. None of these attempts were successful, and in March of 2007, the decision was finally made to wipe the section clean.

Why not allow editors to propose new builds policy, per the terms in GuildWiki:Policy, instead of a wipe?[]

The administrative team has fervently hoped that a policy suggestion amenable to all would emerge. Indeed, people have been discussing alternate build policies since at least September 2006. However, no policy suggestion has been made that garners even majority support, let alone anything approaching consensus.

Why not simply fully protect the builds section and disallow new builds to be posted?[]

There are two reasons.

We feel that, in general, the builds section isn't useful in its current form. There are many other better build resources on the Internet.
Allowing the current, broken builds section to remain prevents a new build policy from being created from scratch. We feel that the status quo would infect any new idea. Starting fresh allows build policy suggestions that are unrelated to the current section to be created.

What other policies are being considered for after the builds wipe?[]

There are a variety of builds policies being discussed. Feel free to add links to proposed build-or-build-related policies in this section.

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