User blog comment:FishTank/Categories and Navigation on Fandom/@comment-33359237-20190824091533/@comment-4522253-20190824185154

There is a difference between what I said and what you interpreted. I did not suggest that those templates not be used. An unobtrusive visual indication (that does not detract from the attention to the good parts in an article) is fine for desktop. If they're classified correctly, they should be hidden on the mobile skin. However, the maintenance category should be hidden and not taking up visual real estate in the category block, nor should it be an easy click away for a casual explorer to see all the flawed articles.

As for whether they're effective in motivating potential editors, the preliminary research suggests that it only does so if the ask / task is clearly defined so that a would-be editor knows exactly what to do.