Proposals can be new features, the removal of previously-added features that have tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action is taken.
Voting periods last for two weeks, but can close early or be extended (see below).
Any autoconfirmed user can support or oppose, but must have a strong reason for doing so.
All proposals must be approved by a majority of voters, including proposals with more than two options.
If you would like to get feedback on an idea before formally proposing it here, you may do so on the proposals talk. For talk page proposals, you can discuss the changes on the talk page itself before creating the TPP there.
If someone has an idea about improving the wiki or managing its community, but feel that they need community approval before acting upon that idea, they may make a proposal about it. They must have a strong argument supporting their idea and be willing to discuss it in detail with other users, who will then vote on whether or not they think the idea should be implemented. Proposals should include links to all relevant pages and writing guidelines. Proposals must include a link to the draft page. Any pages that would be largely affected by the proposal should be marked with {{proposal notice}}.
Rules
Only autoconfirmed users may create or vote on proposals. Anyone is free to comment on proposals (provided that the page's protection level allows them to edit).
Proposals conclude at the end of the day (23:59) two weeks after voting starts (all times GMT).
For example, if a proposal is added at any time on Monday, August 1, 2011, the voting starts immediately and the deadline is two weeks later on Monday, August 15, at 23:59 GMT.
Users may vote for more than one option, but they may not vote for every option available.
Every vote should have a strong, sensible reason accompanying it. Agreeing with a previously mentioned reason given by another user is acceptable (including "per" votes), but tangential comments, heavy sarcasm, and other misleading or irrelevant quips are just as invalid as providing no reason at all.
Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. Voters can remove or rewrite their own vote(s) at any time, but the final decision to remove another user's vote lies solely with the wiki staff.
Users can also use the comments section to bring up any concerns or mistakes in regards to the proposal itself. In such cases, it's important the proposer addresses any concerns raised as soon as possible. Even if the supporting side might be winning by a wide margin, that should be no reason for such questions to be left unanswered. They may point out any missing details that might have been overlooked by the proposer, so it's a good idea as the proposer to check them frequently to achieve the most accurate outcome possible.
If a user makes a vote and is subsequently blocked for any amount of time, their vote is removed. However, if the block ends before the proposal ends, then the user in question holds the right to re-cast their vote. If a proposer is blocked, their vote is removed and "(blocked)" is added next to their name in the "Proposer:" line of the proposal, which runs until its deadline as normal. If the proposal passes, it falls to the supporters of the idea to enact any changes in a timely manner.
Proposals cannot contradict an already ongoing proposal or overturn the decision of a previous proposal that concluded less than four weeks (28 days) ago.
If one week before a proposal's initial deadline, the first place option is ahead of the second place option by eight or more votes and the first place option has at least 80% approval, then the proposal concludes early. Wiki staff may tag a proposal with "Do not close early" at any time to prevent an early close, if needed.
Tag the proposal with {{early notice}} if it is on track for an early close. Use {{proposal check|early=yes}} to perform the check.
Any proposal where none of the options have at least four votes will be extended for another week. If after three extensions, no options have at least four votes, the proposal will be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
If a proposal reaches its deadline and there is a tie for first place, then the proposal is extended for another week.
If a proposal reaches its deadline and the first place option is ahead of the second place option by three or more votes, then the first place option must have over 50% approval to win. If the margin is only one or two votes, then the first place option must have at least 60% approval to win. If the required approval threshold is not met, then the proposal is extended for another week.
Use {{proposal check}} to automate this calculation; see the template page for usage instructions and examples.
Proposals can be extended a maximum of three times. If a consensus has not been reached by the fourth deadline, then the proposal fails and cannot be re-proposed until at least four weeks after the last deadline.
All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of an administrator, the proposer can ask for that help.
After a proposal passes, it is added to the appropriate list of "unimplemented proposals" below and is removed once it has been sufficiently implemented.
If the wiki staff deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to cancel it at any time.
Proposals can only be rewritten or canceled by their proposer within the first four days of their creation. However, proposers can request that their proposal be canceled by a staff member at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it. Please note that canceled proposals must also be archived.
Unless there is major disagreement about whether certain content should be included, there should not be proposals about creating, expanding, rewriting, or otherwise fixing up pages. To organize efforts about improving articles on neglected or completely missing subjects, try setting up a collaboration thread on the forums.
Proposals cannot be made about promotions and demotions. Staff changes are discussed internally and handled by the bureaucrats.
No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.
Proposals must have a status quo option (e.g. Oppose, Do nothing) unless the status quo itself violates policy.
Basic proposal formatting
Copy and paste the formatting below to get started; your username and the proposal deadline will automatically be substituted when you save the page. Update the bracketed variables with actual information, and be sure to replace the whole variable including the square brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information" and not "[This is the inserted information]". Proposals presenting multiple alternative courses of action can have more than two voting options, but the objective(s) of each voting option must be clearly defined. Such options should also be kept to a minimum, and if something comes up in the comments, the proposal can be amended as necessary.
===[insert a title for your proposal here]===
[describe what issue this proposal is about and what changes you think should be made to improve how the wiki handles that issue]
'''Proposer''': {{User|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}}<br>
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 GMT
====[option title (e.g. Support, Option 1)]: [brief summary of option]====
#{{User|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} [make a statement indicating that you support your proposal]
====[option title (e.g. Oppose, Option 2)]: [brief summary of option]====
====Comments ([brief proposal title])====
Autoconfirmed users will now be able to vote on your proposal. Remember that you can vote on your own proposal just like the others.
To vote for an option, just insert #{{User|[your username here]}} at the bottom of the section of your choice. Just don't forget to add a valid reason for your vote behind that tag if you are voting on another user's proposal. If you are voting on your own proposal, you can simply say "Per proposal".
Talk page proposals
Proposals concerning a single page or a limited group of pages are held on the most relevant talk page regarding the matter. All of the above proposal rules also apply to talk page proposals. Place {{TPP}} under the section's heading, and once the proposal is over, replace the template with {{settled TPP}}. Proposals dealing with a large amount of splits, merges, or deletions across the wiki should still be held on this page.
All active talk page proposals must be listed below in chronological order (new proposals go at the bottom) using {{TPP discuss}}. Include a brief description of the proposal while also mentioning any pages affected by it, a link to the talk page housing the discussion, and the deadline. If the proposal involves a page that is not yet made, use {{fake link}} to communicate its title in the description. Linking to pages not directly involved in the talk page proposal is not recommended, as it clutters the list with unnecessary links.
As highlighted by Magikrazy (talk) in this forum post, the necessity of the {{userspace}} template has come under question. His main concerns are that it seems redundant to hand out when a user overly edits in their userspace, and that the template itself is too wordy and takes too long to get to the point. Baby Luigi (talk) also mentioned that many users with high userspace edits often have it due to experimentation with wiki coding, which is a productive use of editing if it is meant to go onto official articles.
These two reasons is why I propose a restructuring of the userspace template; removing the too many userspace edits reason, and just sending out (in)formal reminders for that instead on a case-by-case basis. I also propose reformatting the template so that it only covers genuine violations of the userspace policy and gets to the point faster. This way, the template won't need to be handed out so liberally, and it will better get the attention of those in violation of the policy.
Proposer: Lord Bowser (talk) Deadline: April 12, 2017, 23:59 GMT
Toadette the Achiever (talk) While it seems detrimental to retire the temple altogether, it also seems pointless to not improve it. Perhaps it should only be issued if A) the user in question makes more than five or six major edits (500 bytes or more) to their userspace, and B) these edits all have little or no relevance to the project (such as, you know, using the wiki as a web host). While the status quo isn't the worst (Bulbapedia, for example, has an even stricter (and maybe an even more "needlessly patronizing") policy on userpages), I'd say it's definitely worthy of improvement.
Magikrazy (talk) Per myself and Baby Luigi in the linked forum thread.
Turboo (talk) - Per all; trimming it down and making it clear when (not) to use it is a needed improvement to the template
Luigi 64DD (talk) Having experienced the overuse of this reminder first hand (although it was overturned by an Admin almost immediately), I agree we need to make more clear what type of situations this reminder should be issued in. Per all.
Leave as is
Wildgoosespeeder (talk) You can say that a userpage is a great place to practice MediaWiki syntax but we should encourage redirecting those people's attention to do that in MarioWiki:Sandbox. Keeps attention off the user namespace. There is a reasonable argument that, in general, Bulbapedia is too strict. In general, I feel that MarioWiki is too relaxed. I think we can find a happy middle ground, but this proposal as it stands right now isn't it.
Comments
@Toadette the Achiever - I don't propose removing it entirely, since it can still serve a legitimate purpose. I just wanted to retool and rewrite it so that it would only be issued in the case of userspace policy violations, and informal reminders being sent out in the case of excess unproductive userspace edits. This would increase to formal reminders and warnings if it persists, similar to the current policy in place. LB (talk • edits • forum) 19:02, 5 April 2017 (EDT)
Something lacking is the link to Special:Editcount. This is clearer than Special:Contributions because one page keeps count of edits while the other lists each edit made by the user. Here's me:
@Wildgoosespeeder - It is important to remember that many users, including yourself and myself, have their own personal sandboxes under userspace, used for things such as template drafts, policy drafts, experimentation, and so on. All of these edits add up on Special:Editcount under the User row. Encouraging people to use the wiki sandbox when you have your own personal one is contradictory and borderline hypocritical. LB (talk • edits • forum) 04:15, 6 April 2017 (EDT)
If anyone was curious, I've created a potential new userspace template on my sandbox. Feel free to comment on anything that should be changed within it. LB (talk • edits • forum) 04:48, 6 April 2017 (EDT)
Damn Wildgoosespeeder, you've got more edits than me :'( @Lord Bowser, that proposed template seems fine. Like Template:Sigfix, the wording around the policy is very general, which leaves it to those who are issuing the reminder to personally advise the user on exactly what they've done wrong (such as excessive userpage edits, creating unnecessary subpages). – Shokora(talk · edits) 08:13, 6 April 2017 (EDT)
I think that number of user space edits alone does not determine whether a user is editing their user space too much. For example, a user may use a sandbox to work on a very big project. This would not be in violation of policy because it is helpful to the wiki. What is not allowed is making a very large number of edits on pages that are not helpful to the wiki, such as a main userpage, while making little to no mainspace edits. I think that the template cloud be rewritten to make that clear, as well as adding detail about other types of userspace violation. --Super Mario Fan 67 (T•C•S) 08:56, 6 April 2017 (EDT)
LB (talk • edits • forum) 19:02, 5 April 2017 (EDT)
