SmashWiki talk:Show preview

This page is intended to be a guideline on the Wiki, to replace the current help page on the same topic. I believe this guideline should be implemented for 3 main reasons:

Firstly, failure to make use of the show preview button is a constant problem on the Wiki, and one that will not go away. With how frequently this issue occurs, and how troublesome it can be, I think it is necessary for there to be a guideline regarding it.

Secondly, this is already enforced as though it were a guideline. Users are cautioned, both by other users and by administrators, to stop making multiple small edits to pages in quick succession. Furthermore, users have been, and will continue to be, punished with blocks for repeated severe instances of doing so. This is in line with how guidelines are typically enforced on the Wiki. I don't believe this should be a policy, as there needs to be some leniency with making successive edits to pages. We are all human, and we all make mistakes. And sometimes we don't catch these mistakes right away, or simply forget to preview our edits.

Thirdly, a guideline which clearly explains in detail how and why the show preview button should be used will be beneficial to the Wiki. Interactions with other users with regards to this issue have a low success rate. Many users continue to fail to use the function, and make successive edits to pages, seemingly not in bad faith. I believe a major reason for this is ignorance. They are often simply told, "use the show preview button and don't make successive edits to pages", without any clarity on exactly how show preview works, or why they are being told to do so. Rather than leaving users confused, or having to write out a long spiel every time this issue occurs, it will be useful to have a page to point to which explains everything they need to know, and I believe the current help page fails to do this.

Feel free to make changes to the proposed page, as the current state it is in is not final, and please leave your thoughts below. Alex the Weeb 15:37, January 16, 2022 (EST)

Support

1. Support for reasons stated above. Alex the Weeb 15:37, January 16, 2022 (EST)
2. Support. This issue keeps happening and it'd be nice to have a guideline. Awesomelink234, the Super Cool Gamer (talk) 21:24, January 16, 2022 (EST)
3. I'm surprised we don't have something like this already. Support. Aidan, the Celebratory Rurouni 21:47, January 16, 2022 (EST)
4. Nothing much more that needs to be said about this. Black Vulpine the 🦊Furry🐺. Furries make the internets go! :3 23:25, January 16, 2022 (EST)
5. Support, however in Minerva skin, clicking on the "edit this page" button doesn't seems to allow you to edit the whole page, only the infobox and the head paragraph. NPM Morr!? 04:29, January 17, 2022 (EST)

   That's strange...it might be a bug with the editor, maybe ask Porple about it? Alex the Weeb 09:25, January 17, 2022 (EST)

6. As someone who has been constantly notifing new users about using the preview button, and most of the time it just ends up getting ignored, there's no way I can decline this proposal. Despite me going into clear detail why making consecutive edits to the same page is a problem, most users just treat it as if they didn't read a single thing I wrote. Having this as it's own policy will not only make people take this issue more seriously, but also go into more detail as to why this is important. Omega Toad the Jolly Shiny Litten. (Seasons greetings!) 06:12, January 17, 2022 (EST)

   Just to clarify, this will be a guideline, not a policy, for the reasons I outlined above. It will still be authoritative, however. Alex the Weeb 09:25, January 17, 2022 (EST)

7. Support with nothing new to add. I'm so sick of people having to be reminded of this. Sincerely, Samuel the Banjo-Kazooie Boss. 21:50, January 28, 2022 (EST)
8. Support. Newer editors should be told about it if they break the guideline, but this needs to be enforced. Without it, it's harder to go over the edits done in that time, as well as clogging up the edit history when one edit would suffice. Making two or three edits in a short amount of time is fine once in a while like if you forgot something, but ten or more is going overboard. --Meester Tweester (talk) 01:01, January 29, 2022 (EST)

Comments

Bump. Alex the Weeb 19:22, January 16, 2022 (EST)

I think I am more ok with this being a guideline than a policy, mostly because I really don't like the idea of banning people for constructive edits just because they happen to be for the same page. I realize that that is what this proposal is, I just wanted to put that on paper for anyone thinking that a policy for this is necessary. Serpent  King 22:40, January 18, 2022 (EST)

I will step in to clarify I said policy by mistake when I meant guideline. I already know this isn't supposd to be a policy proposal. Omega Toad the Jolly Shiny Litten. (Seasons greetings!) 06:29, January 21, 2022 (EST)

Bumping this again. Forgot about this until I saw someone edit it in the recent changes. Awesomelink234, the Super Cool Gamer (talk) 20:33, March 2, 2022 (EST)