We've had some previous discussion about a problem our sandbox is currently facing (auto-protection). We then gathered some functional requirements, which I summarize here (I've consolidated some similar ones):
Anybody, including new users, can use the sandbox to post draft questions for review.
Anybody in the community can provide feedback on sandbox questions, and it is easy to do so.
Community members can easily see current sandbox questions without digging through obsolete questions.
Community members can easily tell whether a sandbox question is active or obsolete.
Be just like the regular posting experience.
It's easy for new users to see the feedback others give them about whether the question is ready for the Main site or not.
The impact of the Sandbox is easily visible.
Maintenance of the sandbox can be shared by the community (including protection if applicable).
(Relatively) fast feedback.
The graduated drafts do not take up too much space.
Of the several suggestions we received from a CM, two appear to not have fatal flaws:
Remove auto-protection from our meta. (It has to be all-or-nothing, not just one question.)
Instead of a sandbox question, use a sandbox tag. Each sandbox question is its own meta question, to be archived in some way when resolved.
Other solutions might exist beyond these two.
Finally, there's the status quo -- do nothing, and continue to monitor the sandbox and unprotect it when needed.
What should we do about the sandbox? In your answer, please describe a solution and then assess it against the requirements. In particular, please identify requirements it does not satisfy. It's going to be hard to satisfy all requirements, so we might end up having to decide to sacrifice some less-important ones.
I've provided an answer for the status quo to demonstrate what I'm asking for. That doesn't mean I'm supporting the status quo as the solution; I want us to discuss all the options we think might work.
The sandbox question is again triggering auto-protection with every deletion, so I'm featuring this question in hopes that we can decide what to do before (by default) rebooting it again.
