Task force/Recommendations/Wikipedia Quality 2

Create Senior editor status

Recognition of quality editors as part of the community. This would be a parallel track for users not interested in meta-activity and/or getting a sysop flag. This track will be based on achievements in improving the content quality.

Strategy

The senior editor would be a trusted user, selected for skills and experience, and for commitment to core polices (NOR, NPoV and V-policies). He will have knowledge in at least some area, but this in itself help would not be a criterium, as he is trusted even outside his own area of expertise. He can help with content dispute resolution in problematic articles, regardless of his in-depth knowledge of that particular topic. The senior editor should be considered as a "maintainer" of high-quality content standards.

He is trusted to handle problematic areas, and will be allowed access in situations of restricted access to articles editing.

Key issues

Key issues are the means of selecting these senior editors, this should not be a mere matter of popularity, but a proven track record should be there. This status should, in principle, be worth striving for by anybody, but should certainly not be an empty status symbol (just a box to put on a user page).

Another key issue is extra tools. Awarding only this status, without giving the senior editor any teeth runs the risk of just erecting a figurehead to be shot at. On the other hand awarding extensive extra powers is likely to arouse envy and ill feeling. A minimum extra power would appear to be to allow continued editing of the article in situations of restricted access.

See also