Template talk:Closed

Proposal to change template text

I'm a big proponent of having a template's action match its name as closely as possible. In this case the current text says "The following discussion is closed and will soon be archived" (when the discussion is not archived). The latter part ("will soon be archived") is problematic. First, it says more than the template's name implies which adds usability issues. But it also specifies that an action (archival) is going to occur; as far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) this template does not prompt bot or any other automatic archival so why the "will soon be archived"? Presumably, it was meant as a note that the discussion could be archived, which is a totally different meaning but I think this is also unnecessary. (The documentation does say that the text changes when the discussion is archived but this is a separate thing.)

If the text were to simply "The following discussion is closed" it would be better but I think it would be better still if we were to also help explain what that means (which I guess was the intent of the current message). So I think

The following discussion is closed. To discuss the same topic, begin a new discussion in a new section.

is close to what we actually want and suggest that as the new phrasing. The link is intended to help the new editors which might be confused about the whole notion of closing the discussion. Jason Quinn (talk) 09:42, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The Template:Closed/sandbox contains a version I know propose to replace the current version. I have also created a Template:Closed/testcases page to see the differences in action. The new default wording strikes "in a new section". I have also modified the code used within the template so that the unnamed parameter is prefixed by "NOTE:" and that the source is a bit more logically organized. Jason Quinn (talk) 13:17, 22 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Jason Quinn: I agree. Apparently a less misleading template exists, but I don't know where it is... Boud (talk) 18:09, 25 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I ~~found~~ didn't find the one I want: Template:Not a forum. I found it the one that I didn't want at Wikipedia:Template_index/Talk_namespace. Boud (talk) 18:11, 25 July 2022 (UTC) Nope. Boud (talk) 18:14, 25 July 2022 (UTC) clarify Boud (talk) 18:25, 25 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]