There has been a lot of discussion in the past months on how to proceed with the suggestions forum.

After a few unfinalized attempts earlier this year, the admin team has requested the lead forum moderators to work out a final procedure. As we have come to a number of conclusions and decisions we are now ready to roll out the first phase of the adjusted procedure on how we deal with suggestions aimed to improve the mod.

Main set-up

• Users post their suggestions in the Suggestions forum. They shall comply with the Forum Rules & Code of Conduct, and not include planned or 'What not to Suggest' features.
• Suggestion threads will eventually get the status tag [Rejected], [Expired] or [Endorsed].

Rejected

• If a thread doesn't meet requirements, it will be closed and tagged [Closed:Reason]. It will remain visible on the forum until after 2 weeks it will be tagged [Rejected:Reason] and removed from view moved to the Suggestions archive. Note that a moderator is supposed to provide clear reason for rejection. That can be reported in the brief line available in the 'Close' field, or, if that field proves too small, as a separate (last) post in the thread.
• The way we interpret the requirements and judge on it may change gradually as we may raise the bar in the future, dependent on other decision making related to this. For now, assume that the way we dealt with this in the past few months will be exemplary.
• Edit 20160716: Note that rejection for reason of a suggestion being 'Unoriginal' can only be acceptable if there already is either 1) an endorsed suggestion or 2) an non-endorsed, still open suggestion, holding the exact same notions brought forward in a new thread. If a new threads holds only one original new notion while the rest of the thread is verifiably unoriginal, the thread shall not be rejected and closed. If a notion has been proposed earlier, but it ended up in the archive, the new post is to be considered original. Note that reposting old threads without adding new notions, or more specific or concrete info will be heavily frowned upon and may generally not lead to improved chances of endorsement.

Expired

• After 2 months (for now) we will check if a thread is generally appreciated by the community or not. If not, the thread will be tagged [Expired] and removed from view moved to the Suggestions archive.
• Because of the current situation of transition, for threads that already meet these criteria, we will add the [Expired] tag in the coming week without removing the thread.

Archiving (Cleanouts)

Edit 20160716:

• There will be no more cleanouts leading to removal from view of any suggestion thread, whether they are rejected or expired. All non-endorsed threads will end up in the Suggestions archive. This will enable the entire community, including the both mod team, to draw inspiration from these threads.
• By no longer removing threads from view the chances that a search using a web search engine will result in a find of an old thread are significanlty improved.
• The 'order & search' functionality of the wiki boards is very limited. With the expected rapid growth of the archive it will soon become pretty hard to trace back old threads, unless you know when it has been posted and which keywords are in the title. Therefore we still recommend people to add links to their own suggestion threads on a personal page, either their profile page, a blog, or a page in their personal accounts domain on this wiki.
• We will perform 'cleanouts' for removal of [Rejected] and [Expired] threads, twice each month. These are scheduled on the 1st and the 16th day of each month. These must be finished within a week.
• The lead forum mods, see below, will perform these cleanouts. For the time being they will be the only 3 persons tagging any suggestions thread.
• The first cleanout of [Rejected] threads has just been finalized. The first cleanout of [Expired] threads will start on May 16th. This means each original poster of older active threads that run the risk of getting a [Rejected] tag, still has two weeks to add a link to their suggestion threads on their User profile page, or anything similar under User domains, to prevent their suggestions threads from no longer being visible / easy to find.

Endorsed

• Sufficient support by the community will lead to the status [Endorsed]. This will be achieved when a thread has received 20 kudos or more.
• This status does not mean the mod team approves/accepts (part of) the proposal! It only means the suggestion is considered 'supported by the community' and possibly worthwhile implementing. Additionally, READ THIS!
• Kudos granted by moderators and admins have a higher weight. Moderator kudos have a weight of 2, and admin kudos have a weight of 3. This is to ensure that less popular and/or discussed, but potentially very valuable suggestions will also be able to achieve the [Endorsed] status if sufficient staff support is acquired. This puts higher demands on the objectiveness related to staff kudos. We trust staff members will act responsibly and use their kudos with care.
• Suggestion threads that got sufficient support will be moved on the Endorsed Suggestions Board. This can happen at any time one of the lead forum mods notices a thread has become endorsable. Threads moved there will not be closed. That board will function as main archive for the mod team to use as source of inspiration.
• Endorsed suggestion threads may still be used for discussion and further improvement of the original post. We will encourage this as these threads are the most likely potential source of inspiration for the mod team.

Forum moderation

As we now have a clear criterium for endorsement of threads, we will be more strict on maintaining the rules. Off-topic posting, needless posting (while a kudo will do), advertising an own suggestion (posting without adding any new info or considerations) will be considered much less acceptable than before. meaningless posts will be deleted, warnings issued, bans requested. Be warned!

Other arrangements

No more distinction between Feedback and other Suggestions

The Feedback Board will be merged with the Suggestions forum. So, there will no longer be a distinction between 'minor' mod tweaks and 'major' new features, and anything in between those extremes. This will have to be coordinated in coming weeks: moving threads, deletion of the old Feedback Board etcetera.

Resit for old suggestions removed upon Public Beta 27 launch

Upon the Public Beta 27 launch, end of January, we had a major cleanout that resulted in removal from view of all suggestions present in the Suggestions forum at that time, even threads that were just posted a day earlier or threads that would have been endorsed with the new endorsement criterium.
We offer all users who wish to have their thread re-opened the opportunity to do this. If you want us to do so, post a message on the walls of either of the lead forum mods and we will comply if the thread is clearly endorsable and/or if it had only been visible for less than 4 weeks before it was removed.

Endorsed Suggestions Overview Board

Edit 20160623: We have converted the List of Doom Board to hold overview pages (threads) on categories of endorsed suggestions. These pages provide links to related endorsed suggestion threads, and for each thread hold a brief description of the subject of the thread, the objective of the proposal and a very brief summary of the proposed modifications / additional features. These pages will serve to provide an overview to both the mod team and the user community.
Mevans and the mod team might screen the endorsed suggestions and will use the overview threads. We expect users to check these overview threads before they post new suggestions: this will provide us all a meaningful check on 'originality'. This is supposed to less new pointless suggestions and more meaningful additions to already endorsed threads.
For each endorsement, the moderator that endorses a suggestion thread will have to add a link to that thread and related info to one of the overview pages in this board.
The board is renamed from 'List of Doom' to 'Endorsed Suggestions Overview Board'.
The way we categorize and summarize the endorsed threads can be improved. Check this thread to help us achieve some optimum way of doing this.

Issues still to be addressed

• Update texts on various forum and rules pages to thoroughly implement and communicate all of the above. This will be dealt with in coming months. Edit 20160612: The forum overview page and the Forum Rules & Code of Conduct page have already been adjusted to express the adjusted rules and procedures.
• A few minor issues that may be brought up, upon opening of this thread.

Closure note

This thread is used to inform you all about the procedure we're implementing in the coming weeks.

On behalf of the wikia staff team,

Lead forum mods: Ithilion, WarPig and Alte

Supervising admin: Grievous

On behalf of the Mod team,

Three representatives who may or may not present themselves some day.