Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.
Featured articles are considered to be examples of Memory Alpha's best work and are showcased on the main page. They are especially well-written, informative, and comprehensive articles that cover all available information on a subject. As such, it is crucial that the following policies and guidelines concerning featured articles be observed - as they are intended to maintain adequate standards of quality for the list.
Nominations
Nominating an article
Featured article candidates are nominated on nominations for featured articles.
- Any registered user that has been in existence for at least two weeks and with at least twenty significant contributions may nominate an article, one at a time. Before nominating a second article, the first one must be resolved.
- Before nominating an article, make sure it fulfills the featured article criteria. Consider letting other editors copyedit or comment on the article to make sure that potential flaws are detected and eliminated.
- It is allowed to nominate articles you worked on yourself, just make sure to mark any such nominations as a self-nomination.
- If you nominate an article, you are expected to address valid objections that are raised.
Discussing nominations
- Any registered user that has been in existence for at least two weeks and with at least twenty significant contributions can participate in nominations. You should not vote on an article you nominated.
- Be sure that you are familiar with the entire article before you form an opinion and vote. This is only fair to the writers of the article, as it's likely that several hours' work went into writing it!
- If you approve of an article, write '''Support''' followed by your reasons. The nomination of an article is considered a vote of support unless it's a self-nomination.
- If you have any objections, write '''Oppose''' followed by your reasons. Any objections should be directly related to one or more of the featured article criteria. Objections purely based on personal preference are considered invalid.
- If you want to comment without supporting or opposing, you may do so.
- To withdraw a vote, strike it out (with <s>...</s>) rather than removing it.
- As always, sign your comments (~~~~). This is important to keep track of voting.
Resolving nominations
A nomination can be resolved if it has been inactive for fourteen days, meaning that there were no new votes or work done to resolve objections in that time, or after a total of 6 weeks without any indication of resolution. The following results are possible:
- Less than five votes, whether supporting or opposing: The nomination is considered unsuccessful and removed from the list.
- Five or more votes with objections. The article is considered in dispute, therefor the nomination is unsuccessful and removed from the list.
- Five or more votes without objections or with all objections resolved. The nomination is considered successful and removed from the list.
Any objections to the main page blurb are independent of the article, though a successful nomination can not end until 24 hours after all objections to the blurb are resolved. When a nomination discussion is resolved, it should be placed at the top of that article's talk page; with a link placed in the nomination archive.
Renominating an article
If a nomination has been unsuccessful for whatever reason, the article may be suggested again after a waiting period of four weeks from the date of the initial rejection. Before re-nominating, any unresolved objections that were made during the initial nomination process should be addressed.
Reconfirmations
Ever two years a featured article will need to be brought up for reconfirmation, to ensure it is still an example of Memory Alpha's best work. It is expected that these articles will have undergone revisions over that time to keep them up to date, and it's important to make sure that these revisions have maintained the quality expected of a featured article. Featured articles requiring reconfirmation are listed on the reconfirmation of featured articles page. Articles on the reconfirmation list for more than two years may be removed as a featured article without discussion.
Reconfirmation discussions
- Any registered user that has been in existence for at least two weeks and with at least twenty significant contributions can participate in reconfirmations.
- An archivist may only bring up one article for reconfirmation at a time, and at least one vote needs to be cast. Unlike a nomination, starting a reconfirmation discussion isn't a vote, so you will need to state any preference separately. Starting an early reconfirmation is considered a vote opposing the article though.
- Be sure that you are familiar with the entire article before you form an opinion and vote.
- If you approve of an article, write '''Support''' followed by your reasons.
- If you have any objections, write '''Oppose''' followed by your reasons. Any objections should be directly related to one or more of the featured article criteria. Objections purely based on personal preference are considered invalid.
- If you want to comment without supporting or opposing, you may do so.
- To withdraw a vote, strike it out (with <s>...</s>) rather than removing it.
- As always, sign your comments (~~~~). This is important to keep track of voting.
Resolving reconfirmations
The following three results are possible:
- If support for the article during the reconfirmation is unanimous, independent of the actual number of votes, the current revision of the article becomes the featured revision after fourteen days. This should be done by updating the featured revision ID and date in the {{featured}} template at the bottom of the article.
- Reconfirmations with five or more votes in unanimous support of the article can be resolved after seven days, though the fifth support vote must have been cast at least 24 hours before the reconfirmation is resolved.
- If there is opposition to the article - under the featured article criteria - the reconfirmation process will be resolved according to the featured article nomination policy as if it were a new nomination, meaning that it needs, among other things, five supporting votes and all opposition resolved to be considered successful.
Any objections to the main page blurb are independent of the article, though a successful reconfirmation can not end until 24 hours after all objections to the blurb are resolved. When a reconfirmation discussion is resolved, it should be placed with the nomination discussion on the article's talk page.
Early reconfirmations
If you feel that an article currently listed as a featured article needs to be reconfirmed early, for example because it has been significantly changed for the worst, it should be listed on reconfirmation of featured articles page under "early reconfirmations". Be sure to state the reason(s) why you think the article needs to be reconfirmed early; then add the {{farc}} message to the top of the article and leave an edit summary informing other members that it was listed for removal.
Articles that became a featured article or were reconfirmed in the last six months should not be brought up for reconfirmation without a consensus on the article's talk page first. Frivolous early reconfirmation discussions may be deleted by administrators without notice.
At least one additional vote supporting an early reconfirmation is required (in addition to the original vote) within seven days, and reconfirmations with that vote will be resolved as a standard opposed reconfirmation.