User:Sdkb/sandbox/next April

If you are not me, go away, this is not for your eyes! – {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk

Ideas

Declare a COI with Cool (aesthetic); use {{If April Fools|{{Tmbox |type = notice |image = [[File:Ambox warning blue.svg|40px|alt=Blue alert icon.]] |text = [[Special:ListUsers|All Wikipedia editors]] may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of this article. Relevant policies and guidelines may include [[Wikipedia:Conflict of interest|conflict of interest]] and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view]].{{April Fools}}}}}}
AfD Controlled-access highway as antithetical to our open access ideals
ITN a distant past event
Declare boldly that external links were modified in past, now a recurring subscription

Drafts

For WT:CS1, heading "URL status language change request"

I find the use of |url-status=dead to describe link rot overly morbid. Wikipedia citations depend on countless sadly defunct links, and we owe it to these dearly departed URLs to describe them in a more dignified manner. Personally, if I were an expired website, being called "dead" wouldn't exactly make me eager to come back. Frankly, our current terminology borders on an insult to the memory of every formerly living creature in history.

So if the parameter language must be changed, that begs the question, to what? |url-status=resting in peace might not accurately describe links that have met more violent fates, and |url-status=pushing up the daisies is starting to get a little clunky. After much thought, I've decided that |url-status=dodoesque is the way to go.

Of course, this change will involve modifying a few million articles, which can be achieved easily via bot. Some might object that such edits would be cosmetic, to which I'd respond that bestowing dignity on links that have rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible sometimes requires cosmetic treatment. Also, it presents us with an opportunity to beautify watchlists via visually pleasing edit summaries, such as those containing bird emojis to embody the dodo spirit.

I'm eager to get started, and given the lack of visible change to readers the potential for disruption seems minimal, so I'm contemplating bold implementation. But I figured I'd offer a 24-hour opportunity for you wizened souls to comment, just in case any of you has an idea for even better wording. ~~~~^[4-1]