abian added a comment.
For me, constraints should constrain (unless they have the level of
suggestion defined), and exceptions should be exceptional. Those cases where
the number of exceptions ends up skyrocketing are cases where either the
constraints were conceived trying to generalize too small, specific and biased
a set of cases, or there's a broader underlying problem of knowledge
representation that is difficult to address and users choose to add exceptions
to ignore it. The first reason for this task ("Currently the way to store
exceptions is not scalable") is an effect of these problems, and I think we
should solve them instead of thinking of a way to add even more exceptions. The
Property that motivates this task (`P225`) is also mentioned at
Wikidata:2020_report_on_Property_constraints#Exceptions
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:2020_report_on_Property_constraints#Exceptions>
in the context of some of the problems caused by exceptions; see also T244045
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T244045>.
Property constraints are part of the intensional
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensional_and_intensional_definitions>
definition of each Property, and their usefulness lies in the fact that we can
check their consistency with an enumerative definition, of which all uses of
the Property are automatically part. A finite list of current exceptions
override this automatic enumerative definition, but it does so alongside, or
with reference to, the intensional definition, which applies to a generally
infinite number of possible present and future entities. Ideally, the
intensional definition should never refer to the enumeration or vice versa, and
in the case of Wikidata it's worse because these references are not controlled:
as exceptions are implemented now, I can delete a constrained statement and
still have the Item listed as an exception; and, as proposed to be implemented
in this task, I could delete a constraint and still have exceptions to it.
For when there are many exceptions I would suggest either using the
suggestion level or using mechanisms other than standard Property constraints;
luckily, today there are many ways to check compliance with complex rules that
don't involve the Property constraint system.
TASK DETAIL
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T236295
EMAIL PREFERENCES
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/settings/panel/emailpreferences/
To: abian
Cc: abian, ChristianKl, Esc3300, Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE, Aklapper, Bugreporter,
Invadibot, maantietaja, Akuckartz, Nandana, Lahi, Gq86, GoranSMilovanovic,
QZanden, LawExplorer, _jensen, rosalieper, Agabi10, Scott_WUaS, Wikidata-bugs,
aude, Mbch331
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