Wikipedia:Requests for comment

Requests for comment (RfC) is a process for requesting outside input concerning disputes, policies, guidelines or article content. RfCs are a way to attract more attention to a discussion about making changes to pages or procedures, including articles, essays, guidelines, policies, and many other kinds of pages. It uses a system of centralized noticeboards and random, bot-delivered invitations to advertise discussions to uninvolved editors. The normal talk page guidelines apply to these discussions.

Before using the RfC process to get opinions from outside editors, it's often faster and more effective to thoroughly discuss the matter with any other parties on the related talk page. Editors are normally expected to make a reasonable attempt at working out their disputes before seeking help from others. If you are able to come to a consensus or have your questions answered through discussion with other editors, then there is no need to start an RfC.

If a local discussion does not answer your question or resolve the problem, then some other forums for resolution include:

For a more complete description of dispute resolution options, see the Dispute resolution policy and the list of noticeboards.

The use of requests for comment on user conduct has been discontinued. In severe cases of misconduct, you may try . If the dispute cannot be resolved there, then arbitration may be warranted as a last resort.

The list of RfC categories is in the adjacent table.

Below is an example of how a new RfC appears while you are editing the talk page. You can copy and paste this example, but be sure to change the wording to reflect your particular topic (for example, the "hist" category may need to be changed). A signature ("~~~~") or at least a date ("~~~~~") is required. After you have inserted text similar to this into the talk page, you must save the page.

Consider creating a subsection, after your signature, called (for example) "survey," where people can support or oppose, and a second called "threaded discussion," where people can discuss the issues in depth. This will make the RfC easier to close. It might look like this:

Other styles can be seen at .

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