Forum:Article Expiration Template

or for auto expiration after x months from last edit...

(expires article after 1 month)

I was thinking about creating this template to keep track of articles that may need to be updated in the future but we can't always remember. The simplest explanation is we can add this template to articles we know will need to be updated for Star Trek (film) and we'd add...

or if an actor is updated with words like to appear in or in the upcoming film or just needs to be updated often - we could had the template like this (3 months from last edit)

Realworld example (i guess) User:Morder/TestExpiration

...or something to that effect. This could also be useful for other things such as updating bio information on actors. You could add the expiration say a year later under the category of Category:Filmography Update or whatever and then someone could browse the category once in a while and update the articles (if they need to be) with the most current information. Then update the template again to increase the timeout - if the actor is very active it could have a shorter timeout for checking. Anyway - it's an idea. I look forward to hearing your criticisms on my suggestion :) &mdash; Morder 06:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I demand that someone comment on this NOW! For every hour that no one comments, a newborn puppy gets measles! Hahahahaha!! --From Andoria with Love 03:07, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * (Ten hours later) That's a lot of puppies with measles, folks. You people sicken me. --From Andoria with Love 13:13, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Poor puppies! Anyways, I like the idea. If it was just presented for the new movie, I'm not sure I would have liked it, however using it for the actors opens up the useability of it. Willie LLAP 13:49, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * where can i get at all those measlepuppys? i need to make some good skewersnack76.254.86.13 22:18, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

yes, all of this is very constructive. Thanks phreak. :) &mdash; Morder 22:24, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I personally think this could be a pretty good idea. It can help us keep track of articles that need to be updated. There are many actor's pages out there that need constant updating; hard to keep track of them all. Oh, and 76.254.86.13 -- I'm afraid all the "measlepuppys" had to be put down, so they're not as fresh as they used to be. Still want them? :) --From Andoria with Love 17:06, 3 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I like the general idea, although I think the process could be automated further. For "events" like the upcoming new movie, with a predefined timestamp, it's fine as it stands. For actor pages, a similar template could make use of the REVISION* magic words (see ) to automatically compare the CURRENT timestamp against the timestamp of the last edit (+X months). That way, we wouldn't even need to think of updating the template every time the article gets changed. -- Cid Highwind 08:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I'll see if I can implement both :) &mdash; Morder 09:01, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Updated. &mdash; Morder 10:23, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Very nice. The only thing I'd like to see added would be a standard category for all pages using this template. This category should then make use of the HIDDENCAT feature, so that the categorization won't appear on all article pages. I added this feature as "Category:Memory Alpha Article using expiration template" to the above code. Naming up for discussion, but otherwise, it seems good to go? -- Cid Highwind 13:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I found a bug...gotta fix that first...&mdash; Morder 21:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Could this be combined with a bot to auto remove templates? - 21:07, April 23, 2010 (UTC)

Template removal isn't quite what this should be combined with as this isn't only for template removal but for general knowledge to update an article that might need it. It might be possible but it's not a good idea since people should look at articles that might be expired. &mdash; Morder (talk) 21:17, April 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * I was actually thinking more about this possible application, as opposed to the general use. - 21:36, April 23, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I knew what you were talking about. The problem I see is that people might ignore the point of this template if they think a bot might take care of it, and then there'd be no real point to this template at all. If they have to check the page anyway to see what to update they might as well remove the template by hand at that point. &mdash; Morder (talk) 21:38, April 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I see your point there, and after thinking about it, not too hard mind you, it would make more sense to add something directly to the code of those templates that's similar to this if we decided to go that route. Might be worth looking into after seeing how this works out. :) - 21:55, April 23, 2010 (UTC)

Possibly...seriously though, I think the admins should be a little more diligent in their administration of this site (not that we're all doing a terrible job). The example that brought this up again could have just been taken care of if the user who added it made a note somewhere and just took care of it. So I don't think it's necessary and it's more work to remember to even add the expiration information for something like that... :) &mdash; Morder (talk) 22:07, April 23, 2010 (UTC)