RationalWiki:Articles for demotion

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There is 1 page marked for demotion: 2021 U.S. coup attempt

Some articles here are good. Like, really good. So good, you want others to know how good they are. Others were once really good, and now... not so much. If you believe an article is worthy or no longer worthy of a Silver or perhaps even Gold brainstar, you can place it on this page, where it will be promptly ignored carefully considered by the Mob.

The only rule we seem to agree upon is "Thou Shalt Use Common Sense", but in general...

1. Add the {{Article for demotion}} (or just {{afdem}}) template to the top of the article you wish to demote
2. Click on the relevant redlink at the top of the article's page, add {{subst:Template:Article for demotion discussion starter}} at top.
3. Add {{RationalWiki:Articles for demotion/"ArticleName"}} to the top of this page
4. Give the cabal (there isn’t one) enough time to recover from our hangovers come to a consensus.
5. After the voting is more or less settled, move {{RationalWiki:Articles for demotion/"ArticleName"}} to a proper place in the vault, and add the result to the title.
6. Remove the template from the article itself. If the article has been approved for demotions, you may have the dishonors.

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To judge whether an article is suitable for demotion, see: Article rating.

2021 U.S. coup attempt | Result: ?

2021 U.S. coup attempt (edit|talk|history|protect|delete|links|watch|logs) – (View discussion)

Proposal

1. This important article is a bit of a mess. It is also a bit outdated, has some foul language (which arguably counts as snark), direct Twitter links, and even bare links. Unless someone fixes it, I think we should promote it to bronze. GeeJayK^{Where all evil dwells} _{Where every lie is true} 13:50, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

   Is snark not allowed in high-quality pages? ミ★ LunaAHHHHH 03:07, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

   Not only is it allowed, I would think it's encouraged so long as it's actually funny and otherwise meets purpose. Chillpilled (talk) 12:27, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

2. Antares (talk) 03:01, 1 March 2025 (UTC)
3. KaDaShOvA (talk) 22:35, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

Status quo

1. I fixed the links. As far as updating, I see the outline as:
   • Total number of convictions, with date of last known J6 arrest,
   • 2024 election results
   • Threats against J6 committee and prosecutors by Trump and Kash Patel
   • Biden's rather limited scope of pardons for J6 committed and prosecutors
   • Jack Smith's wrapping up of the prosecution against Trump's coup attempt
   • Trump's promise to pardon the "non-violent" convicted coup participants, followed by him pardoning them and all the violent ones.
   • List of coup participants subsequently arrested or killed for doing more violent shit (Tarrio, that asshole in Iowa, others?)
   • Senate Republican rubber stamping of Patel and election deniers during confirmation hearings

   Anything I missed? Bongolian (talk) 18:50, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

   Don't forget the assholes arrested for child sexual abuse violations soon after being pardoned. Antares (talk) 19:28, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

   I don't think I had read about them, but worth including. Bongolian (talk) 19:35, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

   Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising given the QAnon baseless claims of child sex abuse conspiracies, and the psychologically projective tendencies of the whole MAGA movement ("Given the blanket pardon for his role in the riot, his lawyer may argue that the child pornography the police found cannot be used in court, as it is connected to January 6.").[1] Bongolian (talk) 19:41, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

1. I don't see anything in RationalWiki:Article_rating to justify demotion, but a rewrite would be good. I especially recommend boiling down the introduction into one paragraph because its not 2021 any more and Wikis are global and if you are reading this from Turkey or Egypt "oh, the Americans had a shambolic coup too but it failed but they reelected the guy anyways" is 90% of what you need to know. Polydamas (talk) 15:49, 4 May 2025 (UTC)