Wikipedia:Verifiability/2012 RfC

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
After examination of the discussion and close consideration of the arguments put forward, closing administrators Coren, jc37 and Sandstein agree that this request for comments concludes with a result of "There is consensus to implement the proposed wording of option D as the lead section of Wikipedia:Verifiability". The detailed closing arguments and rationales of each closer can be read here.

We note that there remain open questions about the exact status and place of the phrase "Verifiability, not truth", and recommend that the community continue discussion on these points. In particular, jc37 considers that there is consensus for option D only insofar as it forms a basis for such continued community discussion.

We thank each and every participant and organisers of this RfC and the mediation that led to it for their invaluable contributions in this difficult consensus-making exercise.

— Coren (talk) 03:57, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
—  Sandstein  06:33, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
—  jc37 04:53, 30 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is a community-wide Request for Comment about Wikipedia:Verifiability, its lead, and the much-discussed phrase "verifiability, not truth" (VnT). Instead of presenting just one proposal for comment, we are asking you to consider a range of possibilities.

A previous RfC in October–December 2011[1] was closed as no consensus. Since then, there has been a mediated discussion, conducted by Mr. Stradivarius. The present RfC grew out of that mediation.

This RfC has two sections:

  • Part 1. Five specific versions of the lead for you to comment on, including the way it looks right now, a way it looked in the recent past, upon the conclusion of the previous RfC, and three different ways it could look in the future.
  • Part 2. Twelve general questions about whether you support or oppose various views about how WP:Verifiability and its lead should look.

This RfC is a discussion, not a vote. Please provide informative and detailed comments that will help achieve consensus. Please comment on as many options as you can, and support as many of the options as you wish.

The RfC has been advertised at WT:V, WT:NPOV, WT:NOR, WP:Village pump (proposals), WP:Village pump (policy), WP:Centralized discussion, WP:Requests for comment/Wikipedia policies and guidelines, and through a Watchlist notice.

The RfC will run for 30 days, opening at 15:00, 28 June 2012 (UTC), and closing at 15:00, 28 July 2012 (UTC). It will not be closed early, nor extended longer. Upon closing, all user comments will be read carefully, and consensus will be determined by a panel of three uninvolved administrators: Coren, Jc37, and Sandstein.

To prevent the accidental editing of any of the proposed drafts for the policy lead, the main page of the RfC has been protected. The comments are transcluded from a subpage, located here. When you click on any of the edit links on the RfC page, you will automatically be transported to the comments subpage. If you want to monitor additions to the RfC, please place the comments subpage on your watchlist. General discussion about the RfC will go on the RfC talk page, so you may wish to put this page on your watchlist as well.

  1. ^ That RfC was about whether the opening paragraph of WP:V should or should not be revised in order to address concerns amongst members of the community about possible misinterpretation of VnT.