Forum:Writing center proposal

'''I moved the following from Forum:Dealing with a lack of featured articles. I think this is an interesting idea that could address much more than the lack of featured articles, and we don't have to abandon this idea just because we've voted on another suggestion.'''

The premise of this suggestion is 1) We'll eventually have more FA/GA woes in the future (we've reformed the rules about a dozen times in the past) and 2) It's possible that if there were more noticeably outstanding articles, we wouldn't have to deal with a lack of FAs. This suggestion addresses the supply of FA candidates, instead of the rate of their promotion.

Since Brandon complained about clutter in the section above, I'll try to make this to the point.

What if we had a portal, (an either formal or informal community project) that had the following:
 * 1) A way for users to request critiques and reviews of their articles or works, reminiscent of the Critic's Lounge, BUT users may REQUEST reviews. Also, instead of having the whole thing on one page, this portal that you could consider a partial reform of the CL would be spread out across several pages, different types of content going on different pages. See Portal:Avian Hunt for an example; this new portal could have a forum page for article reviews. However, the limits are set so that users who are trying to get their article to Featured or Good status are the focus, not just any old article.
 * 2) *Now, here's my rationale for this. The CL has been unpopular because it's poorly formatted and because people tend not to go out of their way to critique just any old article. However, there is evidence that authors of articles are hungry for feedback. Just check the Fanon Cantina for titles like "Come see my artical". The CL, at the moment, doesn't give much incentive to write reviews, but if a mini-community were sustained and users were able to request feedback, it could work.
 * 3) A place for users to contribute general writing tips and suggestions to help users trying to write an FA. Depending on how well this goes, it could develop into a writing class.
 * 4) Walkthroughs or tools to create articles that fit with the MoS, the GA guidelines, and the FA guidelines.
 * 5) Forums that allow users to discuss ideas for making Good or Featured articles.
 * 6) Wookiee-cookie (or whatever) exchanges, as incentive for helpful reviewing or writing something good. Nix this idea if you don't like it.

Basically, this idea is to expand and reform the Critic's Lounge into a writing center, which is more community-oriented, as opposed to now, where the CL depends on someone with no incentive to review something. I've seen a couple of good online writing class forums that we could model after, none of them Star Wars related. This would be an attempt to solve not just the lack of FAs, but some of the following:
 * 1) Users prematurely trying to Feature their articles.
 * 2) Apathy with the Critic's Lounge.
 * 3) Difficulty finding FA candidates.
 * 4) Crappiness of some articles.
 * 5) Community spirit (that is, lack thereof)
 * 6) It may also help start more collaborative projects, which have a history of either flopping or developing into the most dynamic and impressive articles on the site. Obviously we aim for the latter, but the writing center could diminish the possibility of the former.

Because I realize that we'd hesitate to adopt a radical addition like this, I'll try to draft up what it could look like in the Sandbox. And add examples. This will probably take all day, but I kind of like this idea. Much more than the other ideas I've posted, at least. Would anybody be interested in submitting their articles for voluntary review, voluntarily reviewing submitted articles, or posting writing tips in a center like this? Just for the record, I'd be willing. --C3PO the Dragon Slayer 6,000,000 forms of communication 16:12, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Allow me to point you to the proposed tutorial idea for possible inclusion. Atarumaster88  [[Image:Jedi_Order.svg|20px]] ( Talk page ) 16:36, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Hey, thanks for reminding me of that! --C3PO the Dragon Slayer 6,000,000 forms of communication[[Image:Sabersmilyc3po.jpg|25px]] 17:17, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

This seems more like a solution to the CL problems as opposed to a solution to the FA problems, but I can see where it could crossover and potentially help the FAs. Interesting idea. - Brandon Rhea (talk) (contribs) 17:19, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Okay, I made an example in the Sandbox. --C3PO the Dragon Slayer 6,000,000 forms of communication[[Image:Sabersmilyc3po.jpg|25px]] 15:58, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
 * What does everyone think about this idea? Would anyone be interested in participating in a portal like this? --C3PO the Dragon Slayer 6,000,000 forms of communication[[Image:Sabersmilyc3po.jpg|25px]] 17:31, 24 January 2009 (UTC)