In reference to the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Today's_featured_article/requests#Suggestions_for_TFA, I think we should go ahead and create a long range TFA request page. See Wikipedia:Long range TFA requests. This is essentially grassroots activism for changing the TFA process, as opposed to waiting for a change to be imposed from above. Basically, what we are doing is the reverse of Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests – instead of trying to get an article TFA'ed sooner, we're saying, Hold off on TFA'ing this article until this relevant anniversary comes up. This is in accordance with the spirit of the comment left at Wikipedia_talk:Today's_featured_article/requests#The_Raven.3F. I propose that as we create FAs, we start adding them to this list and if a lot of people do so, then it will be indicative of a forming consensus that this is a good system for requesting TFAs to supplement the existing system.
See also Wikipedia:Featured_articles_that_haven't_been_on_the_Main_Page. Given that there is a queue of 737 FAs waiting for TFA, an average of half a year is not a long time to wait. Obviously not everyone is going to get their way if there are competing requests but I think this is a good way of organizing and expressing preferences as to which date to put FAs on the main page. Sarsaparilla ( talk) 03:29, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Should a TFA box that has a lead and a picture be added or just a link and reason? – thedemonhog talk • edits 03:34, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
While I think this is a good idea, I would further subdivide it into sections for each day of each month as I believe this will make it easier to look at and use, especially if it attracts noms from most of the FAs that have not yet appeared as TFA. I suggested something similar a while ago on the TFA requests talk page and I also wonder if it would be useful for a thirteenth category, namely dates that are movable. This could apply to things like Eid, Passover, Easter, Thanksgiving, and anything that does not have a fixed date. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 17:31, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm trying to think of the most logical way to organize this page. It seems like if we could format this like an Excel spreadsheet, it would be really easy. Just have one column for the TFA request date; one for the article promotion date; one for the number of articles pending by that submitter; and possibly one for the subject category. Then you could just sort by column and say, "Hmm, here are all the articles that have been pending for more than 2 years... let's add one of those to the queue... now let's sort by TFA date; here are all the ones that have a request date coming up, so let's add one of those to the queue... let's sort by number of articles pending by the submitter... here are a bunch whose submitter has more than 5 articles pending, let's pick one of those..." I was thinking that as we get to the point where there are thousands and thousands, that kind of sorting might be the best way to keep track of everything and balance the different criteria without letting anything get too behind... that's how I would do it anyway... Should we reorganize this into a table, then, for ease of import/export into spreadsheets? Sarsaparilla ( talk) 00:52, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
In reference to the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Today's_featured_article/requests#Suggestions_for_TFA, I think we should go ahead and create a long range TFA request page. See Wikipedia:Long range TFA requests. This is essentially grassroots activism for changing the TFA process, as opposed to waiting for a change to be imposed from above. Basically, what we are doing is the reverse of Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests – instead of trying to get an article TFA'ed sooner, we're saying, Hold off on TFA'ing this article until this relevant anniversary comes up. This is in accordance with the spirit of the comment left at Wikipedia_talk:Today's_featured_article/requests#The_Raven.3F. I propose that as we create FAs, we start adding them to this list and if a lot of people do so, then it will be indicative of a forming consensus that this is a good system for requesting TFAs to supplement the existing system.
See also Wikipedia:Featured_articles_that_haven't_been_on_the_Main_Page. Given that there is a queue of 737 FAs waiting for TFA, an average of half a year is not a long time to wait. Obviously not everyone is going to get their way if there are competing requests but I think this is a good way of organizing and expressing preferences as to which date to put FAs on the main page. Sarsaparilla ( talk) 03:29, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Should a TFA box that has a lead and a picture be added or just a link and reason? – thedemonhog talk • edits 03:34, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
While I think this is a good idea, I would further subdivide it into sections for each day of each month as I believe this will make it easier to look at and use, especially if it attracts noms from most of the FAs that have not yet appeared as TFA. I suggested something similar a while ago on the TFA requests talk page and I also wonder if it would be useful for a thirteenth category, namely dates that are movable. This could apply to things like Eid, Passover, Easter, Thanksgiving, and anything that does not have a fixed date. Ruhrfisch ><>°° 17:31, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm trying to think of the most logical way to organize this page. It seems like if we could format this like an Excel spreadsheet, it would be really easy. Just have one column for the TFA request date; one for the article promotion date; one for the number of articles pending by that submitter; and possibly one for the subject category. Then you could just sort by column and say, "Hmm, here are all the articles that have been pending for more than 2 years... let's add one of those to the queue... now let's sort by TFA date; here are all the ones that have a request date coming up, so let's add one of those to the queue... let's sort by number of articles pending by the submitter... here are a bunch whose submitter has more than 5 articles pending, let's pick one of those..." I was thinking that as we get to the point where there are thousands and thousands, that kind of sorting might be the best way to keep track of everything and balance the different criteria without letting anything get too behind... that's how I would do it anyway... Should we reorganize this into a table, then, for ease of import/export into spreadsheets? Sarsaparilla ( talk) 00:52, 25 December 2007 (UTC)