How to deal with a "merge flag" on a Wikipedia article

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  • Elisabeth
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Re: Join us 19-20 March 2017 SuSanA's Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for World Water Day, Around the world, around the clock, together

Dear Chris,

Thanks for keeping a close eye on the Spanish Wikipedia articles! I am only looking at the English ones so far (and every now and again the German ones, but rarely).

Yes, such flags can be set or taken away by any Wikipedia editor. So YOU can voice your opinion on the talk page of the affected articles. You can also simply remove the flags (and put a comment in the summary field when you make that edit). To do so, you need to use the source editor not the visual editor.
The flag looks like this at the very top of the page in the source editor:

{{fusionar a|Baño seco ecológico|ArborLoo|Sanitario ecológico seco}}


To remove it, you would just delete that line. But better than just removing the flag is to enter into a dialogue with the person who added the flag. Please do this on the talk page of the article. It's also good practice to mention the user's name so they get a direct message that they have beem mentioned. You can find out who added the flag on the history page of the article.

I had a look and it is this person who added it 10 days ago:

10:01 2 feb 2017‎ Erik Streb (discusión · contribuciones)


Here is his user page:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usuario:Erik_Streb

(note to users: it is better NOT to use your real name as your Wikipedia name; most people use names that are somewhat related to their real names, e.g. I am user EvMsmile)

It is not a "democractic" decision making process, i.e. there are no votes and majority "wins". It is built on the "wisdom of crowds" and on an effort of consensus building. You will find that most Wikipedians are very open to discussion of these things. If someone has taken an interest in the Spanish Arborloo and UDDT articles then this could be a good sign.

Please let me know if I anything is unclear and needs more explanation?

Do you think you will participate in our edit-a-thon? There will be many different options to participate. Translating articles, like you have done already, will be one option. We will spell out more options next week here on the forum.

Regards,
Elisabeth
Dr. Elisabeth von Muench
Freelance consultant on environmental and climate projects
Located in Ulm, Germany
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
My Wikipedia user profile: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EMsmile
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethvonmuench/
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  • canaday
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How to deal with a "merge flag" on a Wikipedia article

Hi,

There is a flag at the top of the Spanish Wikipedia pages for the ArborLoo, UDDT, and others saying that these should be merged.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArborLoo

I do not agree, as these are different technologies and I would suggest that we should have more tolerence of different ideas. Baño Seco Ecológico is similar to the UDDT, but not the same and, of course, an ArborLoo is very different.

I suggest we keep all of these separate pages and just edit their content and make sure there are adequate links between them.

Who puts these flags? Can they be undone? Can there be some sort of democratic decision-making process.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday
Conservation Biologist and EcoSan Promoter
Omaere Ethnobotanical Park
Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador, South America
inodoroseco.blogspot.com
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