On Wookieepedia, consensus determines site-wide policy and procedure, as established by the Wookieepedia community. All Wookieepedians are required to adhere to consensus rulings. Attempts by any individual to violate or counteract consensus without community support will be considered vandalism/disruption and may be met with administrative sanction.
Consensus is achieved through certain community votes designed to determine a set course of action for the entirety of Wookieepedia. Only eligible Wookieepedians may contribute a vote in these forums. The following voting measures are subject to Wookieepedia consensus rules:
- Consensus track
- Trash compactor
- Mofference
- Wookieepedian of the Month
- Certain article talk-page votes, which may be held on a case-by-case basis to determine such particulars as an article's main infobox image
In order to overturn a previous consensus resolution, a renewed vote must be held with a voter participation equal to or greater than the original discussion. Note that this does not apply to modifications of a previous resolution, which is defined as any change to an existing policy that is not a straight repeal.
Rules
For consensus to be achieved, a minimum of ten eligible Wookieepedians must contribute a vote on a given forum. The following voting ratios must be satisfied to achieve consensus:
- Forums with 10-16 votes require a 3:1 ratio
- Forums with 17-24 votes require a 5:2 ratio
- Forums with 25 or more votes may pass with a 2:1 ratio
In certain instances, consensus may be achieved through a simple majority vote, also commonly called a plurality vote. This is typically done when a given issue has already reached consensus but still requires further procedural clarification through a secondary vote, as exemplified here. Plurality votes are still subject to the ten-voter minimum for consensus and may only be undertaken with no objections from the administration.
Closing a consensus forum
Two weeks is provided as the standard time frame for a consensus vote, although a forum may be closed early in the instance that a clear consensus is achieved:
- Snowball: A vote may be closed after seven days if the votes overwhelmingly support one option
- Curb Stomp: A vote may be closed after five days if one option achieves 20-0 support
A consensus vote may be closed as no consensus if the vote has been open for two weeks, its forum has not been edited by a vote-eligible Wookieepedian for at least five days, and it has yet to achieve consensus. This indicates that a community agreement has not been reached. If, after two weeks, a user is continually "bumping" a live forum that has not achieved consensus and has no ongoing germane discussion, the forum may be closed to prevent an endless filibuster.
For forums with multiple votes, each individual section or vote may be closed independently of other ongoing votes within the same forum.
Consensus forums may only be closed by a Wookieepedia administrator, although administrators who have been heavily involved in a particularly contentious forum are advised to refrain from closing its vote(s), as doing so may be regarded as bad practice. Nevertheless, all consensus closings fall under administrative discretion. Once a forum is closed and consensus is achieved, the administration is responsible for executing any new site changes.
In particularly difficult cases where the interpretation of consensus is unclear or disputed, final determination falls to the Wookieepedia Bureaucrats, who may opt to bequeath this responsibility to the rest of the administration on a case-by-case basis.
Modifying discussions
Once a proposal is offered in a consensus forum, it must remain unchanged following the commencement of voting, unless:
- All users who have cast votes prior to the desired change to be included are directly contacted, or the alteration to the vote is rendered invalid; or…
- Individual amendments are drafted to alter the topical vote; these must pass separately within the same consensus forum and adhere to rules of consensus
Exceptions to this include minor wording or punctuation changes that do not alter the intended approved meaning of the vote but are done for clarity when incorporating them onto policy pages.
