Project:Policies and guidelines/Voting and consensus

The preferred way to take decisions on this wiki is through consensus. This applies to content decisions, decisions about the sanctions to apply to a user, changes to guidelines and policies, changes to wiki functionality or configuration, and any process consisting in the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. The choice of which decisions to take on this wiki should ultimately be in the hands of the wiki's community.

Consensus is reached when the involved editors agree on a particular decision. Consensus in this instance does not refer to majority or unanimity, and it is not reached through a vote. Editors must take into account the legitimate concerns of other editors about a decision, and only such concerns are taken into account when determining whether consensus has been reached

Decisions that are trivial or unlikely to be controversial may be taken by anyone with the ability to apply them. An administrator, for example, may block a user who has vandalized articles for a reasonable period. Similarly, a user may rename a page to fix an unintentional spelling mistake without having to go through any process.

Consensus can be reached in a discussion on the forum, in a talk page, or on a message wall. The discussion can be closed when consensus is reached by a reasonable number of editors. What consensus was reached, if consensus was reached at all, is determined by the user who closes the discussion; this person can be any editor, but it should generally be an administrator. The person closing a discussion does not have to consider the discussion as a vote. It should reflect on applicable guidelines and policies and should consider the concerns raised during the discussion. This should not depend on the opinion of the user closing the discussion; for this reason, controversial discussions should only be closed by an uninvolved user such as an administrator.

Consensus is not the same thing as voting, but voting may be utilized to help determine consensus. Administrators use polls to receive feedback on proposed changes to wiki policies. Polls are not a replacement for discussions. When voting, editors should explain why they voted they way they did; editors can also offer alternative solutions. The administrators will then take the poll results and corresponding discussions to modify the proposed policies until consensus is reached. If consensus cannot be reached, the administrators will use the feedback from the poll/discussions and the necessity of the policy to determine how and if the policy should be implemented.