Thread:Katat0nyx/@comment-15636815-20141221104602/@comment-15636815-20150311091747

Okay, I read you. It took my brain a long time to process that, for some reason, but I finally got it.

To be sure I'm understanding you correctly, you're proposing we write code that looks a little something like this: Then we fix all the steamer pages. Next, we change line #3 from "steam" to "steam or diesel", fix the fossil burners, and so on. Sound correct?
 * 1) If you get a new parameter name, use it.
 * 2) If you get an old parameter name, use it.
 * 3) If you get an old parameter name and the loco type is steam, tell the editor to come out of the Dark Ages.

Assuming the answer is yes, I'd like to expand your idea a bit. Changing "award" to "reward" has consequences that reach far beyond the infobox templates. Therefore, I propose that we follow your piecemeal solution in two major phases. Phase One includes all parameters other than "award". When all of that is done, Phase Two means starting over with the steamers and going down through the entire list again, this time for all parameters. Modifying the categories could be done between the phases, or Phase Two could occur simultaneously with the category project.
 * Category pages must be renamed. Even if that process is mostly automatic, it's our job to make sure the system did it right.
 * Every item assigned to any such category must be reassigned.
 * Headers must be renamed in tables every-fricking-where.
 * Probably more stuff, too.

Just one more thing. You wrote: "Once all the locos are done, remove the old parameters from the template to complete the switch." While I definitely agree that's the ideal scenario, I imagined leaving the "old crap" code in the templates for at least a year after conversion is complete. Even after we bust our asses changing every infobox we have and broadcast to the world that we have a new format, there will be jokers who don't get the word or just don't care and will use old crap, anyway. Though your scenario is a fantastic use of the "old crap" idea, it's not the idea's primary purpose.