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Reduce WP:ADVOCACY in Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources

Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources currently contains WP:ADVOCACY for Google/Alphabet Inc, one of the world's most powerful and monopolistic, highly criticised corporations that pays 10s of billions of dollars to try to maintain a monopoly with its criticised search engine. This advocacy is contrary to our mission. Moreover, this advocacy violates the spirit of the Universal Code of Conduct in the sense that it encourages Wikipedians to disclose their personal data, and in some cases puts us at risk of harm. What editorial changes should we make in the module to reduce the level of advocacy, without favouring one particular attempted monopoly and without harming Wikipedians' privacy rights, while helping readers find reliable, independent sources using notable search engines? Boud (talk) 16:44, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Proposed discussion structure: Please add Support or Oppose and arguments for or against the following specific proposals in the sections below, or add additional proposals, so that someone uninvolved can summarise the consensus after a reasonable period of debate.
  1. tech step 1: Add missing engines to the list of available search engines at Module:Find_sources/links, for engines that catalogue high numbers of pages, according to Comparison of web search engines, or are notable scholarly search engines:
    1. Add Qwant
    2. Add Mojeek
    3. Add Semantic Scholar
  2. tech step 2: Add some metasearch engines that respect privacy to the list of available search engines at Module:Find_sources/links
    1. Add Startpage.com
    2. Add one or 3-4 Searx instances such as https://searx.thegpm.org
  3. policy step 1: modify Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources that defines the list of search engines at Template:Find general sources
    1. Replace Find sources: by Use a [[List of search engines|search engine]] ([[Comparison of web search engines|comparison]]) to find sources: (which renders as: Use a search engine (comparison) to find sources:)
    2. remove the general link to Google and replace it by Startpage, Qwant and/or Mojeek and/or [add a proposal]
    3. keep Google Books unless someone can propose a similar equivalent
    4. replace Google News by a link to the Startpage or Searx.thegpm.org news link (needs tech solution for direct URL) and/or [add a proposal]
    5. replace Google Scholar by Internet Archive Scholar and/or Semantic Scholar and/or [add a proposal]
    6. (Other modifications)
  4. (Other)

Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

tech step 1: Add missing engines

Add missing engines that catalogue high numbers of pages, according to Comparison of web search engines, or are notable scholarly search engines. The following should be added to the list of available search engines at Module:Find_sources/links (support/oppose NAME(s) or NUMBER(s) + evidence + reasons):

Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Support Mojeek + Semantic Scholar (proposer) - Both are Wikipedia-notable, reasonably well-established over several years, and no known privacy concerns are listed in their Wikipdia articles. Qwant is more controversial, and despite claiming to protect privacy, there are RSed concerns about privacy. On the other hand, this point is only about adding these search engines to the list available for templates to use, so maybe it should be added anyway. I may update on Qwant after seeing other evidence for/against. Boud (talk) 16:53, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

tech step 2: Add some metasearch engines that respect privacy

The following should be added to the list of available search engines at Module:Find_sources/links (support/oppose NAME(s) or NUMBER(s) + evidence + reasons):

Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Support Startpage + a Searx instance. (proposer) Per the sources in Startpage.com, Startpage has been around for many years, it claims to protect privacy, and there don't appear to be any sources contesting the privacy claims. Startpage does do contextual advertising, so it's not ad-free, but it does not do targeted advertising, so that makes it a lot closer to the spirit of UCOC than Google. Searx: the Searx software package is mature, stable software (available in Debian in the old-old-stable, old-stable, stable and unstable distributions). The practical tech question is whether (i) to list one or a few specific Searx instances (such as https://searx.thegpm.org), or (ii) a list of instances, or (iii) whether Wikimedia community techies should install our own Searx instance. I would tend to go for (i) or (ii), at least in the short term, since (iii) would require waiting for the techie work/server resources to be done. Boud (talk) 17:04, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

policy step: Modifications to Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources

Modify Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources that defines the list of search engines that is used in Template:Find general sources in the following ways (support/oppose + evidence + reasons). Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

3.1: Replace 'Find sources'

Replace Find sources: by Use a [[List of search engines|search engine]] ([[Comparison of web search engines|comparison]]) to find sources: (which renders as: Use a search engine (comparison) to find sources:) Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Remove the general link to Google and replace it by Startpage, Qwant and/or Mojeek and/or [add a search engine]. Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Support removal of Google, with no replacement (proposer). Along with point 3.1, which would link to our NPOV, non-advocating list of search engines, removing Google, with no replacement, would satisfy our desire to help the reader find sources while also avoiding advocacy. Boud (talk) 17:10, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

3.3: Keep Google Books or propose alternative

Keep Google Books unless someone can propose a similar equivalent. Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

3.4: Replace Google News

Replace Google News by a link to the Startpage or Searx.thegpm.org news link and/or [add a news search engine]. Startpage and Searx may need extra tech work since they don't display direct URLs to their news sections. Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Support Startpage and/or Searx (proposer) The influence of any single organisation in the selection of news stories is a particularly sensitive question in terms of biasing Wikipedia content. Startpage and Searx are both meta-search engines, so they will still be affected by Google's selection biases, but they each have their own mixes of sources. Since they protect users' privacy, either (or both) would be better than Google for news. Boud (talk) 17:14, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

3.5: Replace Google Scholar

Replace Google Scholar by Internet Archive Scholar and/or Semantic Scholar and/or [add a scholarly search engine]. Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

  • Comment (proposer) I personally use the Science tab in a Searx instance, but I've proposed several links to Searx above, and having too many links to a Searx instance would be as risky in terms of biasing our source selection as having too many links to Google. Boud (talk) 17:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

3.6: Other modifications

Other changes to the current content of Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources and its template form at Template:Find general sources could be proposed. However, for NYT vs AP, please go to the orthogonal RfC at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#RfC on Module:Find sources - replace New York Times with Associated Press. Boud (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

As an open-ended component of this RfC, feel free to add other (preferably concrete) proposals or 'see also' links.

  • This is an invalid RfC. From Wikipedia:Requests for comment: Keep the RfC statement (and heading) neutrally worded and short. The opening statement isn't even remotely neutral, and the remainder of the proposal is hopelessly complex. I suggest that it be closed, and instead a simple, brief and neutral RfC be started in its place. AndyTheGrump (talk) 18:58, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
    Not bad for an RFCbefore though. Could ditch the tag for now and reopen later. Selfstudier (talk) 19:05, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
    What is non-neutral in the RfC statement? The Wikipedia mission is clear: we are opposed to advocacy. This is not an RfC about whether advocating for a monopoly is advocacy or not. Advertising and advocacy are almost universally considered to be in opposition to Wikipedia's mission. We don't have to have an RfC about whether the sky is blue. The remainder of the proposal gives concrete subquestions on which to work, in order to avoid abstract blabla. There is a minimum of structure in order to have a chance of emergence of consensus on the current text. Wikipedia modules and templates cannot avoid a minimum of structure. That is not hopeless complexity, it is structure. The choices are dictated by the current content of the module. Without structure, we wouldn't have Wikipedia. Boud (talk) 19:32, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
    Sure, but look at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Discussion (Find sources: NYT vs AP) above, dead simple but still going. Selfstudier (talk) 19:39, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
    Boud, I'm not going to argue with you - if you aren't going to close this malformed dogs-breakfast of an RfC yourself, I will find an admin to do it instead. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:42, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
    This doesn't look anything like an RFC. And it's actually advocacy of an anti-GOGGLE position. (Although the ADVOCACY essay likely isn't relevant outside of mainspace.) Just remove the RFC tag, although too complex even for a discussion. O3000, Ret. (talk) 19:59, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

I have removed the RfC tags -- please read through WP:RFC thoroughly (especially its sections WP:RFCBEFORE and WP:RFCBRIEF) before attempting anything like this again. --JBL (talk) 20:02, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Shit, you've beaten me to it.
I removed "RfC" from title so that nobody thinks there is an RfC.
Boud, I second the advice directly above, but I also think you can discuss this but not as an RfC but more as a preparation to it. Szmenderowiecki (talk) 20:08, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

@AndyTheGrump, JayBeeEll, Objective3000, Selfstudier, Szmenderowiecki, and Hobit: The best way that those of you who have suggested that the RfC could be worded in a different way while still being concrete, actionable would be to edit the draft or discuss changes to be made to it. Thanks in advance. :) Boud (talk) 22:34, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

I think we can discuss it here once we started it and, once we are ready, we can start an RfC in a subsection. It would be better for you because a lot more people will visit this page than your draft. But I will post in your draft anyway because I'm not sure everyone agrees.
And btw, good you've listened. Szmenderowiecki (talk) 22:45, 11 November 2023 (UTC)
(ec)On the contrary. Given that the draft entirely failed to even approximate to a proper RfC proposal, the best way would be to start discussion again from scratch, working on the premise that there seems to be something of a consensus at Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion that the present wording needs revision, and that this is best accomplished without engaging in soapboxing about monopolies etc. It seems likely that we can get a general agreement that we should avoid implying that Google is the only option amongst search engines, and that we need to make clear that other options are available in most cases. Given the complexities involved when considering the appropriateness of specific engines in specific circumstances, attempting to find wording for RfC at this stage would seem premature. Start a discussion on the general subject, in a thread that doesn't scream 'advocacy' in the title but instead presents the topic neutrally, and see what people have to say. Few have commented so far, and I suspect that more would do so if they weren't being told in advance how to think... AndyTheGrump (talk) 23:10, 11 November 2023 (UTC)
A good place to start would be noting that WP:ADVOCACY defines its subject as "promot[ing] a person's or organization's beliefs or agendas at the expense of Wikipedia's goals and core content policies, including verifiability and neutral point of view". I do not see how the recommendation of Google in modules or at AfD is harming Wikipedia's verifiability or NPOV. Could you explain, Boud? ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 00:48, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Don't mean to interrupt a response from Boud. Just thought I would mention that ADVOCACY is an essay, not a PAG. Also, I'm not certain that it applies out of mainspace -- which should perhaps be cleared up in the essay. In any case, good question. O3000, Ret. (talk) 01:12, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
I personally feel that there is absolutely no reason it should apply out of article/article talk spaces, but perhaps Boud feels differently. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 01:19, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Google/Alphabet is an organisation that has beliefs and agendas. Its legal aim is to maximise revenue from advertisements. Our verifiability and NPOV depends on where we choose our sources. By promoting Google over other search engines, we are promoting POVs selected by Google as opposed to POVs that other search engines select. The fact that Google/Alphabet paid 10s of billions of dollars to Apple and Samsung in order to convince them to make it difficult for smartphone users to use a search engine other than Google only makes sense if Apple and Samsung consider other search engines to be at least equally good at providing sources that would make their customers happy. Neither Google/Alphabet nor Apple nor Samsung are academic institutions that run transparently, with collegial decision-making university-style or public git repository style about how their algorithms run or how their preferred search engines run, so they are inconsistent with the usual criteria for the search for knowledge. Criticism of Google goes into quite a fair amount of detail of why Google does not neutrally select its sources. Given Google's current power, we are unlikely to completely avoid advocating for Google. But we can reduce our advocacy for either Google or whichever search engines Apple and Samsung presumably would prefer if they weren't paid 10s of billions of dollars. (Even Mozilla is also is paid by Google/Alphabet to make Google its default search engine.)
As for article space vs non-article space, {{Find general sources}} is used on about 868,000 pages; while these are not directly in article space, they affect the content of articles by advising people about where to seek sources. Boud (talk) 01:34, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Kinda hate to disillusion you, but Wikipedia:Nobody reads the directions, so sometimes an editor will toss out a few WP:UPPERCASE claims without knowing what they're linking to. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:10, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
It's true that the essay WP:ADVOCACY suggests that it's mainly about WP:MAINSPACE advocacy, without saying specifically that it's restricted to article content alone. I've edited the draft to clarify that the advocacy is non-mainspace advocacy. It would be hypocritical to advocate for a particular organisation, especially in a way that biases our selection of sources - which affects our core values of verifiability and NPOV - while claiming that we should not advocate for particular organisations in our articles. Google has an agenda that affects our content. Currently we advocate for Google. Boud (talk) 12:44, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Here's a prediction. You carry on with your 'advocacy' soapboxing. People look at your arguments, recognise them as the great-wrong-righting grandstanding they are, and decide not to get involved in pointless diversions when a simple discussion over wording and links without all the waffle would solve things quicker. Nothing gets decided. The issue remains... AndyTheGrump (talk) 13:28, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
When some people are trying to say that the sky is not blue, it's important not to let a reader of the conversation think that there is consensus that the sky is not blue, but is instead the colour of higher frequency optical light that is inevitably scattered down during the daytime on a cloudless day. But I agree that we need to cut through the distractions. Boud (talk) 18:22, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Starting at AfD and continuing here, you have made the following statements:
  • (using Google) puts us at risk of harm
  • one of the world's most powerful and monopolistic, highly criticised corporations that pays 10s of billions of dollars to try to maintain a monopoly with its criticised search engine.
  • it encourages Wikipedians to disclose their personal data
  • would-be totalitarian (though fortunately only authoritarian) organisation
  • Trying to impose that as a unique choice - a totalitarian choice - on the world
  • Text presents a totalitarian point of view - "Thou shalt worship no other search engine than Google!".
  • Google's would-be totalitarian nature
  • "Authoritarian" and "would-be totalitarian" are accurate adjectives in this case.
You have used the words totalitarian and authoritarian seven times each. It sounds like it is you who have an agenda – an anti-Google agenda. Look, if it makes sense to add to the Find Sources template, why not? But, it should be based upon our evaluations of their usefulness, not on some personal dislikes about the source's corporate activities (which I also despise). As I said at AfD when this began, throwing contentious political terms in likely makes editors' eyes glaze over. Which is to say that I totally agree with what AndyTheGrump said above. O3000, Ret. (talk) 14:19, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
We cannot know the usefulness of Google sources, because the agenda is done by secret algorithms and secret committee and board meetings at Google. Meta-reviews, which in some sense are what we do for articles, depend on the quality of the selection of sources. Cochrane meta-reviews are obliged to detail exactly how the sources were selected. In Wikipedia, we do not (and cannot) require editors to say how they searched for sources, but we can reduce our advocacy for particular organisations that have opaque ways of selecting sources, or at least diversify our advocacy. Repeating arguments that appear to have been missed or misunderstood is me being patient, not "having an agenda". As stated on the talk page of the draft, I quite deliberately did the best to avoid my own biases by including search engines that are objectively useful and independent of Google, but that I personally do not find useful. I also strongly recommend that you look at the Wikipedia article political science: the adjectives that I have used are not my invention ("would-be" is not a standard term, but the equivalent type of nuance is common), and they are used in numerous peer-reviewed publications. They are objective terms that can be supported or refuted by evidence. The links to Wikipedia pages are to NPOV-ed articles that have survived the usual Wikipedia public peer-review procedures; the titles and section titles are not mine. Boud (talk) 18:22, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
On the contrary: We can know the usefulness of Google Search, because editors can tell us whether they find it useful. Useful is not a synonym for transparent. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:40, 13 November 2023 (UTC)
What Wikipedians perceive individually as useful overlaps with, but is not the same as, what is useful for Wikipedia. The search engines we use have search engine bias and some of them have customised results and filter bubbles. Knowing these biases and filter bubbles is difficult; in this sense, knowing the usefulness of Google searches is not impossible, but is a difficult field of research. Boud (talk) 01:59, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
(after edit conflict) We are not talking about the content of the encyclopedia, but a tool that may help editors to find sources. I personally find Google Books and Scholar very good for this purpose, with News less good and a general web search (anyone's general web search) hardly at all. It should stick to what is actually used by most people. In the English-speaking world Google seems to be the most used search engine, whether one likes it or not, just as Windows is the most used operating system. There is no advocacy involved in saying this. Phil Bridger (talk) 14:29, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Your personal perception of usefulness does not change the fact that Google has an agenda and that we advocate for Google; and it does not make Google's selection unbiased. (As for operating systems, as far as I know, Google uses Debian GNU/Linux, Facebook uses Fedora GNU/Linux, and most servers use one or another GNU/Linux distribution; smartphones mostly use Android with a Linux kernel or Darwin/XNU (which is UNIX certified); and Wikipedia runs on Debian. MS only dominates the PC market.) Saying that Google is popular is not advocacy: I agree. Saying on nearly a million pages that people should primarily use Google is advocacy. Boud (talk) 18:22, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
In going for brevity I omitted the all-important qualification that Windows is the most used operating system on home PCs in the English-speaking world. I apologise. The rest of my post stands as written. Phil Bridger (talk) 18:36, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

New proposal for the initial statement:

In the Find sources module and in the {{Find general sources}} template, should we balance the non-mainspace advocacy recommendations for any particular search engine(s) or meta-search engine(s), with the aim of diversifying the selection biases in finding sources and for encouraging Wikipedians to protect their privacy? If yes, then what changes should be made?

Boud (talk) 18:40, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

Done. There is no advocacy in the Find Sources template. O3000, Ret. (talk) 19:01, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Considering that most of the people in this discussion have disagreed with the salient points of that, how about Should we consider that the use of Google in the Find sources module and in the {{Find general sources}} template violates WP:NOTADVOCACY or WP:NPOV? I mean, that's if you want to form a consensus. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 19:02, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
I don't see the point - that version would be unlikely to lead to concrete, actionable changes and the conclusion would be more or less foregone. WP:ADVOCACY tends to focus on the mainspace content rather than the common-sense meaning of how we actually select the sources used for mainspace content, so debating that would get into WP:WIKILAWYERING about how to interpret the essay. As for Google selection violating NPOV, we don't have good data about the details of its selection, so we can only make the reasonsable expectation that the selection biases NPOV, which is not quite as strong as violating it. In any case, it would be unclear what the result of a hypothetical "yes" consensus would be: I fail to see any chance of a consensus to completely remove Google from the module + template.
Regarding consensus, the consensus to be sought is among the people in the future who may participate, not just those most active right now. Several people have already said that they are interested in diversifying the current list.
How about if we replace non-mainspace advocacy by recommendations, since people are uncomfortable stating that advocacy is advocacy? Boud (talk) 19:28, 12 November 2023 (UTC) (I made this v2.) Boud (talk) 19:31, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
Do try and click on links, instead of assuming you know where each one goes (see WhatamIdoing's relevant comment above). I would also suggest being less condescending, as that may put off "the people in the future who may participate", along with, well, myself. Best wishes with your proposal, ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 20:01, 12 November 2023 (UTC)
I don't like the wording that runs "with the aim of diversifying the selection biases in finding sources and for encouraging Wikipedians to protect their privacy". In particular, this meant to prioritize these over everything else, but it does not say what any of those other things are. It's rather like saying "You support motherhood, apple pie, and the flag, right"? and then finding out that the guy's emptied your bank account, burned your house to the ground, and stolen your dog, because, hey, you said you support motherhood, apple pie, and the flag, but not money, housing, and pets.
I think in this case, the request is: Could we please link to search engines with transparent algorithms and decent privacy practices instead of search engines that are more likely to find relevant results?
I say this as a person who primarily uses the privacy-oriented DuckDuckGo, and who also fairly often gets inadequate or incorrect search results from it, and switches to Google to find the thing that I need. DuckDuckGo is usually sufficient, but not always. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:57, 13 November 2023 (UTC)
DuckDuckGo as a default with Google as a backup is what I used to do, not so long ago. Now I generally use Startpage + Searx (roughly equally) with DuckDuckGo as a rare alternative. In any case, my own preferences are not the issue here. Back to the question of the RfC statement/question.
I don't understand why diversifying ... encouraging would be interpreted as instead of. "Diversify" says nothing about what sort of compromise to choose: it does not exclude any search engine completely; "encourage" does not necessarily mean excluding any particular privacy-violating search engine either. To continue with your analogy, once someone says "Yes" to "motherhood, apple pie, and the flag", that same someone gets to answer the If yes, then what changes should be made?" question, to give his/her proposal of how to balance motherhood, apple pie, the flag, money, housing and pets. Boud (talk) 20:04, 13 November 2023 (UTC)
Because, realistically speaking, if people were to express support for "diversifying the selection biases in finding sources and for encouraging Wikipedians to protect their privacy", I expect you to turn up the next day insisting that we have an RFC-backed mandate to remove links to Google, because in your opinion retaining a link to Google would not be consistent with support for "encouraging Wikipedians to protect their privacy". WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:29, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
I see your point, but I guess we disagree on interpreting encouraging ... to .... For me, this is not as strong as insisting that .... Anyway, the encouraging ... to ... wording is no longer in the draft. Boud (talk) 19:07, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Any objections to the current draft RfC at User:Boud/sandbox/draft RfC Reduce advocacy in Find sources Module? Boud (talk) 20:55, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

I think the question is still non-neutral. How about: "In the Find sources module and in the Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL template, should we diversify our recommendations for specific search engine(s) or meta-search engine(s)?" Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 21:00, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
My opinion is to simply go with:
Hey there, here are three options of the template:
Option 1. Leave as is
Option 2. A position we can hash out here for now in broad strokes, and which we haven't yet
Option 3. Boud's original proposal
We should cut on the demagoguery that RfCs like these will inevitably attract, so one RfC only, limited options, in the worst case we may add some articles one by one.
For me, singling out NYT is ridiculous, but AP only isn't the way to go. We could instead link to our articles called Newspaper_of_record#Selected_existing_examples and News_agency#List_of_major_news_agencies, with a link to WP:RSP and advice on WP:RX just in case. Szmenderowiecki (talk) 21:48, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
@Firefangledfeathers: I've updated the first question to match your version but kept in the second question, and haven't changed the Additional comments below first statement and timestamp. I kept the second question to make clear that anyone answering "yes" is expected to give concrete suggestions of changes. The additional comments are also aimed to help focus the "yes" answers on making concrete suggestions, with arguments/evidence. Boud (talk) 22:29, 15 November 2023 (UTC) (separate responses) Boud (talk) 22:41, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
@Szmenderowiecki: There is currently no Option 3, because the requirements of neutrality required me to not make a specific overall proposed change. I don't see much point having an RfC that has Option 3 Boud's one-against-all option in opposition to Option 2 a community rough consensus option :). If you can facilitate a discussion to develop an Option 2, then Option 3 as Other alternatives would seem better to me, although it would be clearly harder to summarise by the closer if Option 3 was the option best supported by arguments. Boud (talk) 22:41, 15 November 2023 (UTC) (clarify Boud (talk) 12:34, 16 November 2023 (UTC))
WP:RFCNEUTRAL does not require you to hide your goal or to make only vague proposals. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:31, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

I don't see any work done on Szmenderowiecki's alternative with a specific "Option 2", but we already had changes to the RfC draft by Firefangledfeathers, which were implemented on the draft, and we've had further simplifications by whatamIdoing, giving the current draft RfC of

{{rfc|policy|tech}} The {{Find general sources}} template produces this list of search options: "Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL". Should we change the items in the list? If yes, then what changes should be made? ~~~~

with Additional comments below first statement and timestamp.

We seem to have rough (not full) consensus. Any objections to proposing this as an RfC here on WP:VP/PR? Boud (talk) 21:09, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

As I said, I hate open-ended questions, but it's a much better RfC question than you asked originally, so if others think it's OK to start such a question, it's fine. It's that my understanding of VPR/VPP is that you have something concrete to propose and then you vote on change/no change. If your proposal is just "let's do something but I don't know exactly what", then it belongs to the idea lab.
Regardless of all of the above, it's a good question and it's great you have broached this topic. I will definitely have something to say, as I hope will many others. I definitely am not holding you from starting this RfC, but you have been warned.
Also, wait a sec and I will post what I see to be the template I think I would definitely use. Szmenderowiecki (talk) 22:05, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
Find your source
The Wikipedia Library offers wide access to scholarly articles and academic books for eligible users.Explain who is eligible
Consider also using:
Fellow Wikipedians can help you find what you were searching for if you still cannot.
Without the comments, it looks like this:
Find your source
The Wikipedia Library offers wide access to scholarly articles and academic books for eligible users.
Consider also using:
Fellow Wikipedians can help you find what you were searching for if you still cannot. Szmenderowiecki (talk) 23:08, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
Thanks for letting this proceed and for the warning. A flaw in your specific proposal is that the template is currently used as a very compact, single-line (depending on browser width) guide to sources; I think that people would prefer any replacement to also be very compact. Boud (talk) 12:48, 25 November 2023 (UTC)
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