Discussion report
Article Rescue Squadron in need of rescue yet again
The future of the Article Rescue Squadron (ARS) was once again drawn into question this week, as The Devil’s Advocate launched an RfC on the group with a 3,000 word opening statement addressing the issue of canvassing, which ARS members stand accused of engaging in.
At the time of writing, there were nine editors in support of the proposition that the ARS has engaged in canvassing. On the other hand, as expected, members of the ARS have entered the discussion in numbers to defend their project – which has survived four nominations for deletion in five years, primarily motivated by similar concerns.
Other concerns that have been brought up include gaming the system, disrupting Wikipedia to make a point, the project homepage and the (articles for) rescue list. These concerns, along with the main issue of canvassing, are being addressed by proposals such as initiating an in-house discussion about refocusing and restructuring the project, joining the ARS and instigating change from within, converting the rescue list into a proper deletion sorting (delsort) list (like those of other WikiProjects). For a full list of proposals, visit the discussion page.