Proposal to remove date autoformatting Dear contributors MOSNUM no longer encourages date autoformatting having evolved over the past year or so from the mandatory to the optional after much discussion there and elsewhere of the disadvantages of the system Related to this MOSNUM prescribes rules for the raw formatting irrespective of whether a date is autoformatted or not MOSLINK and CONTEXT are consistent with this There are at least six disadvantages in using date autoformatting which I ve capped here Removal has generally been met with positive responses by editors If anyone objects to my proposal to free the dates of autoformatting in the main text in a day or two on a trial basis please say so below The original input formatting would be seen by all WPians not just our millions of readers it would be plain unobtrusive text which would give greater prominence to the high value links Critically since I m an FAC reviewer I want to state in unequivocal terms that if contributors object this will have absolutely no bearing on my review or declaration at FAC I m proposing the action because FAC is an influential process not because nominators might feel under obligation in this respect they shouldn t