1. What goal does the -ARC / Archived designation have nowadays, and what other methods do we have to achieve the same goal, if any?
Right now, it's a placeholder for a staff project put on ice years ago, which I dislike.
2. What rules and exceptions do we have for Archived SCPs specifically?
That we can't delete the existing ones unless Admins & Rewrite approve (MAST also needs to be aware, IDK about if they get an approval say), possibly followed by a staffwide vote. (I would need to spend more time investigating to give the exact details.)
3. Do we want to get rid of the designation?
Yes.
4. Do we want to get rid of the articles?
Yes and no.
Since about 2014, staff have had the project of ensuring that all ARCs are rewritten or merged with their parent articles (or combining the text with the articles that rely on their content to exist), with the goal of eliminating all ARCs within one to two years.
This project was led by Rewrite in collaboration with vet admins & other users who could provide historical context on why these articles mattered back then, and why they do or don't now, and therefore assist with rewrite direction.
This project got flattened by staff turnover and burnout killed it. This happened while I was still an active admin, and I was too burned out to suggest anything different at the time.
I support restarting this project with the same goal.
A deadline of 1 year is not unreasonable at all, assuming that an appropriate team does their due diligence to solicit rewrites.
Especially if staff can be free now (as we were not before) to combine the text with the articles that rely on it, whether as an addendum linked only in the reliant articles, or merged with the text of its "surrogate parent".
This would help alleviate any chaos or unintended consequences resulting from deleting articles that were once influential and still are to a certain audience.
This seems to be the project that carries the least risk of harm. It allows the chance to preserve some form of these pieces of site history that influenced fiction significantly enough that staff of the time chose to keep 'em.
And if that influence has ceased to be relevant… then they'll still go away.
This offers a balance of improving the quality bar on the site while mitigating upsetting readers unnecessarily.
I'm happy to attempt to help with such a project, whether by consulting or contributing fiction. (though not until at least mid-Jan lol. we all know what my first priority is…)
Rewrite commissions can be done as Staff threads on O5 and the forums for visibility, if desired.
Reposting or moving text can be done with Rewrite collabing with vet admins, as planned before. (So can some rewrite commissions.) This could be accomplished within the next month!
I strongly support removing prominent links to the ARC page, as soon as possible.