I am going to take the liberty of closing this even though I have expressed opinions, because the outcome seems too clear to be disputed. There are many interesting ideas here, and many insightful comments. A number of editors have argued that the Ref desks need to be changed in some way, but only two specific proposals have gained significant levels of support: (1) to do away with the Ref desks entirely (endorsed by 9 editors); (2) to leave things as they are (endorsed by 42 editors). The upshot, then, is that at this time the majority of participants feel that it is okay for the Ref desks to continue as they are.
Looie496 (
talk)
16:28, 6 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]