The 'Shroom:Issue XXXIX/Poll Chairperson election

Poll Committee Chairperson Election

Sunday, 23 May 2010, a proposal concerning several changes in our current Main Page was accepted by the community and passed. This proposal can be viewed here.

One point this proposal addressed was the creation of a Poll committee, a selected group of users to create and select polls to feature on the Main Page. The members of this committee are meant to be selected by a person in charge of the committee, the Poll Committee Chairperson, who shall be elected by the community. This election will take place on this page

What does the Chairperson do?
As the person in charge of the Poll Committee, the Chairperson holds several responsibilities. The essential obligations of the Chairperson are listed below.

The Poll Committee Chairperson...
 * ...needs to select six users who will, together with the Chairperson, form the Poll Committee. These six users should be trusted members of the community.
 * ...needs to select one of these six users to be their surrogate. The surrogate will replace the Chairperson in case they are not able to hold their position anymore.
 * ...should suggest, discuss, and vote on polls in a sub-forum exclusively for the Poll Committee. These polls should be appropriate and not be detrimental for the Mario Wiki's reputation. A forum account is required for the position of the Chairperson, as well as for every other member of the committee.
 * ...should be active. They should be able to cast a vote every two weeks. If a decision cannot be made, the Chairperson holds the right to abstain from voting (the committee needs to be informed of this abstain however). Repeated failure to cast a vote or abstain might result in a loss of the chair position.
 * ...holds the right to suggest the dismissal of a certain committee member if said member does not uphold their responsibilities properly. A vote among all committee members will then commence. If three other members agree with the suggestion, the member in question will be dismissed. The Chairperson then has to select another user to take their place.
 * ...will keep their position for one year, provided that nothing out of the ordinary happens. After that period, a new Chairperson will be elected. The old Chairperson holds the right to attend this election as a candidate once again and thus has the chance to be elected for another year.

If you think you might be a suitable candidate for this position, you can enter this election as a candidate.

How do I become a Chairperson?
To become the Poll Committee's Chairperson, you need to be elected by the Mario Wiki Community. For this matter, you can campaign in the election below. You can join the election as a candidate at any time, except if the election reaches Overtime. If you are interested, follow these steps to nominate yourself:

===Your Name=== Your reason why you should become the Chairperson

Votes

 * You can enter the election by filling out this form and posting it below. New campaigns go to the bottom of the page.
 * You can only nominate yourself. Entering someone other than you in this election will not be tolerated.
 * Make sure your campaign has reasonable grammar, so people can understand what you are trying to say.
 * After your campaign is set, people might add their votes to the Vote section of your campaign. As a user of the Mario Wiki, you have a vote as well, and you are allowed to vote for yourself.
 * If you have the most votes by the end of the election, you will become the new Chairperson. If there is a tie by the end of the election, it will continue between the candidates with the highest amounts of votes for one week. This procedure is called Overtime. If there is still a tie by the end of the new deadline, the election will once again be extended by one week. Overtime continues until one candidate has the highest amount of votes.
 * Please take this matter seriously! Joke campaigns and profanity will be removed without warning. Additional steps might be taken against violators of this rule.

How do I vote here?
You can vote by going to the Vote section of a campaign and add this form to it. Remember to replace “Name” with your actual user name. # Alternatively, a user may cast an anonymous vote by using the form below. Note that people may see who voted anonymously when viewing the page history. You can only vote for one person at a time. If the election reaches Overtime and your candidate gets eliminated, you can cast another vote for the remaining candidates if you like.
 * 1) X

If there are still questions left, feel free to ask one of Mario Wiki's admins.

It is currently , 28 (EST/EDT) This election ends July 13th 20:00 (EST/EDT)

Qualifications
Hey, SMB here. Um... Not exactly sure how to start out with this. Well, to start with, I am a MarioWiki staff member. To be more specific, I am:
 * An Awards Committee member.
 * The owner of #mwchat, the MarioWiki's off-topic chat project.
 * A Core 'Shroom Staff member (I started out in the Core Staff as the Music & Artwork Team Director, and then I moved on to be the Pipe Plaza Team Director. I also filled in as Fake News Team Director for one issue).
 * A Wiki Patroller.

I'm also a staff member on other sites as well...
 * NIWA
 * Forum Administrator
 * Userpedia
 * Director of The Disconnected (as well as former Sub-director).
 * Former Chat Operator
 * Former Wiki Patroller and former Wiki Sysop.
 * Forum Global Moderator
 * UnMarioWiki
 * Chat Owner
 * Wiki Sysop
 * Wiki Bureaucrat
 * Forum Administrator (and owner).

As shown, I have experience as a staff member of the MarioWiki and its extended community. In response to the qualifications that the Chairperson must have:
 * I am already considering who to choose for the committee if I win so that it is not a last minute decision that I will have to make. I will make sure that these users are respected and trustworthy members of the MarioWiki community that can make good decisions and that can add great things to the committee.
 * I have already contacted the person who I feel should be my surrogate and assist me with making executive decisions for the committee, and he agreed to serve as (what I'd like to call) Vice-Chairman if I win. He is a respected member of the Super Mario Wiki and its forums; as well as most of its extended community. My candidate for Vice Chairman is listed below. I am confident that he is the most qualified candidate to be my successor if in any case I must resign.
 * I have an account on the forum and am an active member there.
 * I'd be sure to actively take part in discussions pertaining to poll selection.
 * Although I'm sure that whoever I select to be in the committee will be responsible members; if, for whatever reason, I must let one of my members go, I'll be sure to nominate a candidate that is just as able or would be better suited to be in the committee.
 * I will try my best to run the Poll Selection Committee well and to keep everybody's opinions to mind when voting or making decisions.

Vice-Chairman Candidate: Stooben Rooben
And my nomination for being my surrogate and second-in-charge of the Poll Committee is Stooben Rooben. Stooben has been a well-established and respected member of our community for about two or three years. His responsibility and hard work (as well as his care for the Super Mario Wiki, its affiliates, and the members of the communities of these sites) has brought him into many positions of responsibility and authority. His kindness towards members of the community and his fairness in enforcing rules has brought many to become friends of his and him being dubbed as "the kindest user" by many. I feel he is qualified for this position because he is perhaps one of the best examples of what a good, contributive member should be.

Some of his qualifications are:
 * Super Mario Wiki
 * One of the Awards Committee Directors
 * Chat Operator and second-in-charge of #mwchat, the MarioWiki's off-topic chat project
 * Before the polls were originally removed in 2009, he was in charge of adding polls to the Main Page when voting was public.
 * Director of The 'Shroom
 * Wiki Sysop
 * Wiki Bureaucrat
 * He is second-in-charge of the forum, and is the head moderator when Porplemontage is not around.
 * NIWA
 * He is the head representative of the Mario Wiki at NIWA
 * Forum Administrator
 * Userpedia
 * Former director of The Disconnected
 * Owner of #userpedia, Userpedia's chat room
 * Wiki Sysop
 * Wiki Bureaucrat
 * Former Steward
 * Administrator and owner of the Userpedia forum
 * UnMarioWiki
 * Former Sysop
 * He also owns his own forum, Xephyr.

I'm sure that I've missed a few in my list above, but what is shown should show that he is qualified for being Vice-Chairman.

Qualifications
Well, I have no idea how to format an election so I'm just going to guess at it. This election is for the head of the newly made Poll Committee so I’ll outline the different areas of need for this position: leadership (duh), knowledge of Mario, responsibility, activity and the ability to yell at workers.
 * Leadership
 * Well, let’s see, I’m currently the steward (head) of the wiki Userpedia, the wiki about users of the MarioWiki. Join now and get a free cookie!
 * I am a global moderator on the Userpedia Forums.
 * I am a member of the 'Shroom's Core Staff.
 * I am on the Awards Committee for the upcoming Mario awards.
 * Knowledge of Mario
 * I have been a member of the Mariowiki for over one year and have absorbed much information since then.
 * I have just over 7,000 contributions to the Mariowiki (just under 5,000 of them to the mainspace).
 * I have many Mario games and the ones I don’t have, I have read about.
 * Responsibility
 * I have had sections for The Disconnected and The ‘Shroom for a long time now and I have not missed any issues as long as I had any possible way to make them (and even then I told someone about it).
 * If I am ever going away from internet access, the first thing I do is ditch my responsibilities. I know that doesn’t sound good but it is actually a good thing; I tell at least one person that I will not be able to do anything (most of the time more than one).
 * Activity
 * See above for the comment about being active for over a year.
 * I respond to almost all discussions about anything that has to do with one of my responsibilities.
 * I am always on chat when I’m online and then I’m in 8 channels to do with different things that I have a responsibility towards in case there’s any discussion to do with that.
 * I make a point to come on at least once every day and then I respond to things in the forums, talk in chat and edit the wiki.

Let’s see, I think that outlines everything! OK, questions – Comments section, votes – Votes section and finally...vote for me!