MarioWiki:Proposals

 http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/9/9/17/f_propcopym_9045f2d.png A proposal section works like a discussion page: comments are brought up and replied to using indents (colons, such as : or ::::) and all edits are signed using the code. Signing with the signature code (~) is not allowed due to technical issues.

How To
 * 1) Actions that users feel are appropriate to have community approval first can be added by anyone, but they must have a strong argument.
 * 2) Users then vote and discuss on the issue during that week. The "deadline" for the proposal is one week from posting at:
 * 3) *Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
 * 4) *Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
 * 5) *Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
 * 6) Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
 * 7) At any time a vote may be rejected if at least three active users believe the vote truly has no merit or was cast in bad faith. However, there must be strong reasons supporting the invalidation.
 * 8) " # " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
 * 9) Any proposal that has three votes or less at deadline will automatically be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
 * 10) 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 a sysop, the proposer can ask for that help.
 * 11) Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.
 * 12) There shouldn't be proposals about creating articles on a underrepresented or completely absent subject, unless there is major disagreement about whether the content should be included. To organize efforts about completing articles on missing subjects, try creating a PipeProject.
 * 13) No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
 * 14) If a proposal has more than ten votes, it can only pass or fail by a margin of three votes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and the total number of votes for each option differ by two or less votes (including ties), the deadline will be extended for another week.

The times are in EDT (UTC -4:00), and are set so that the user is more likely to be online at those times (after work/school, weekend nights). If a proposal is added on Saturday night at 11:59 PM EDT, the deadline is the next Saturday night at 8:00 PM. If it is a minute later, the deadline is a day plus 15 hours (Sunday), as opposed to a day minus 4 hours.

CURRENTLY: , 27 2024 (EDT)

Clear Majority Rule
I was looking at the comments of my last proposal and noticed that the proposal itself is a bit controversial. That is why I, Super Mario Bros. am organizing this proposal, which was originally voiced by Walkazo. If it were to pass, this proposal would create a rule that in order to pass or fail, the "winning side" of a proposal (with 10 votes or over) needs to beat the "losing side" of the same proposal by at least 3 votes in order to pass or fail. If it wins or fails with 2 votes or less or ends in a tie, then the deadline will be extended for another week.

Proposers: and Deadline: April 14, 2009, 17:00

Support

 * 1) Per Walkazo's reasons above
 * 2) Per Super Mario Bros.
 * 3) Per Super Mario Bros.
 * 4) - Per my reasons that have been paraphrased above (see below for original version).
 * 5) per all
 * 6) - Per Walkazo. I find the current rule to be rather redundant, anyway.
 * 7) - This proposal is just great! I think we should do the same with the Poll Selection page.
 * 8) - Per all. If only this rule could have existed 2 months ago...
 * 9) - Sounds great, I find it to be cool because some users miss the chance of voting sometimes (reasons: school,problems with internet, lack of time, et cetera) and with the proposal deadline extended, they would have a chance to vote. Plus this would make more users vote when the proposal is extended and we can gather different opinions.
 * 10) - Per all.
 * 11) - Good point; we'll get more opinions in that case.
 * 12) - Per All
 * Per Walkazo. Sometimes which side wins is just a matter of luck (e.g. if it's 13-12). Requiring a greater difference seems reasonable.
 * 1) - Per all, but I think we should include a little addendum (see my comment below).

Comments
What happens if it is still tied or there is no clear majority after another week? --
 * SoS, to answer your question, I don't know. I'm split between letting it pass/fail or marking it as No Conclusion. Which do you think I should do? Then I guess the proposal will have to wait another month (or sixty days if my proposal doesn't pass).

"It seems ridiculous that a change that big passed by a single vote. I've been meaning to propose a new rule saying that if a proposal has more than 10 votes, it can only pass or fail by some sort of margin (maybe by 3 or 5 votes) so that only clear majorities result in changes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and it's a close race (i.e. 13 vs. 14) then the proposal would be extended a few more days (again, 3 might be a good number). That way, we won't have to worry about flip-flopping on issues every month; it also deals with ties, which we don't have any official stance on at the moment." - If you're gonna use my idea, Super Mario Bros., at least have the decency to give me credit, because otherwise it's intellectual theft and if you do it in real life you can get in serious trouble (for example, if you're caught plagiarizing in University you get expelled). -
 * Yes Walkazo, I was actually going to credit you, it's just that I was busy since I have made the proposal, so I am sorry for not doing it sooner. I am not sure if you are interested to hear why, but today was my parent's anniversary and they went out to eat, and I was not at the computer to thank you. But I will credit you in the main part of the proposal. Once again, I'm sorry for forgetting. Plus, I hope it is ok if I put you as one of the proposers.
 * Much better, thank you. -

Son of Suns: The official stance would be to extend the deadline by another week, but the practical thing to do would be that the proposer remove the proposal and rework it, taking into consideration all the arguments for and against it so that they could find a way to appease more Users and reach a clear majority next time (which, as the proposal was removed and not passed or failed, could come at any time without a 30/60 day buffer period). I've found turning all the arguments for and against the proposal into a chart and matching points and counter-points/rebuttals makes it easier to get a clearer idea of which of those arguments are strong and which are weak, and how to address the entire thing more effectively. I know I don't need to tell you how to reason, SoS, but I just thought I'd put my strategy out there anyway. -


 * Technically, "majority" is anything above 50% of the vote. Just throwin' that out there...
 * Yep, that's why we're asking for a "clear" majority. Actually, while we're on the subject of terminology, if you take abstaining Users (who have commented on the proposal but did not vote) into account, it's also possible to end with a "minority" vote. The only Wiki-based example I know of is the First English Name Proposal: the final tally was 14-13, with 2 abstainers, meaning the proposal only passed with 48% support; it beat the 45% opposition, but was not, in fact, a "majority". -

Just to be clear, does it need ten votes total, or ten votes for just one side?
 * Ten total. If the proposal passes, I'll make sure the new rule is written clearly so there won't be any question about what it means. -
 * I'm actually somewhat worried about that... Ten users do often not vote on any given proposal. For example, this one. :O
 * Yeah, but this rule concerns the big proposals more. If there's gonna be a big policy change, people get involved, whereas smaller issues like this aren't consequential to most Users. I've found that these smaller proposals generally accumulate obvious majorities anyway, and if it's close, last minute voters who only sorta cared often flock in and tip the balances rather than risk the possibility of it falling the other way. I also suggested the 10 votes minimum thing because you don't need 3 votes to be a clear majority when the numbers are small: for example, even though a 4-2 tally only differs by 2 votes, at 67% to 33%, it's still clear which side has the community backing. I just think pestering the little decisions with the Clear Majority Rule would be more trouble than it's worth. -

I like the idea, but I see a potential failing: if the proposal is consistently supported by only a one or two vote margin, then it will be hopelessly deadlocked, which is pretty much the same as failing. But that doesn't make sense, because it did get a favorable majority. In this situation, perhaps we could (and I know that this won't always be possible) try to reach some sort of compromise on the issue to circumvent potential logjams. --
 * If an issue is deadlocked, wouldn't it be better to see it rethought than to slip by because of a single vote? If the community is so divided on an issue, there is no right answer. The proposer can take down the proposal and retool it to work for more people, so it'd be more like a rough draft than a failure; the buffer zone is itself a compromise. -

Removals
''None at the moment.

Merge or Delete Demo Articles
I am proposing that we delete or merge articles like The Legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Time. I think that if we keep this article as it is, there will be a whole bunch of Kirby, Zelda, and Metroid game articles. Therefore I am proposing to either merge or delete demo articles.

Proposer: Deadline: April 17, 2009, 20:00

Merge them into one Article

 * 1) - Most of the articles are stubs. This will use up less space here on the wiki.
 * 2) - Merge them in Masterpieces will be much better, they havent got images or category, a total stub
 * 3) - Per. An all-pupose masterpieces article seems about right.

Delete

 * 1) First of all, there never were any metroid or zelda or kirby articles on this site. Second of all, If those pages exist, those pages would be against the rules anyway.

DKC T.V. Show Episodes
Okay, I was looking through the episodes of the old Donkey Kong Country TV series, and 27 out of 40 of the episodes were stub articles. In other words, about 67% of the episodes list were stubs, 33% were exceptional articles (and of that 33%, I think more could qualify for stub articles). What I am proposing is that we merge all the articles into one (of course, the articles that aren't stubs would just be linked to). That would reduce many of the stub articles and boost the quality of Super Mario Wiki up.

Proposer: Deadline: April 19, 2009, 15:00

Merge

 * 1) Per my reasons above.

Leave As Is

 * No, merging some of the articles and leaving others separate wouldn't boost the wiki's quality up. It would make the wiki look rather unorganized. Those stub articles can easily be expanded, and I guess they are more likely to be expanded if they are kept separate.
 * 1) Merging the DKC TV show episodes into one article would mean we also must merge, for example, the SMW TV show episodes into one article, which are quite long enough. Also, most TV show articles are long enough, and merging all episodes of a show into one aricle would probarbly be SO long that it is worth too much KB. Plus, if most think merging the episodes AND the show into one, would be worth too much KB, maybe even some MB, all because it's making too long. Look at the SSBB article, it has already much.
 * 2) - Per the individual up there. It will look bad, its all or none (In few words, NO)
 * 3) I am in concurrence with the above users.

Changes
''None at the moment.

Miscellaneous
None at the moment.