SmashWiki:Consensus

This policy is a current proposal. Consensus is still needed before this can be accepted and implemented. Please use the talk page to discuss this page.

SmashWiki is a community effort, and as such, large changes that take place on the wiki should be left up to our editors in a consensus-based voting structure. Without consensus, such projects would be molded into the ideals of one or two editors.

What is considered a consensus?

A consensus is an agreement between the majority of a party (in this case, our editors) that permits an action to take place. In SmashWiki's case, however, consensus is not purely determined via vote count. Instead, the dispute should be evaluated in an unbiased fashion to determine which "side" of the debate has the strongest arguments.

Some disputes may require a stronger consensus than others. Requests for adminship, for instance, will require a much more in-depth consensus than a simple article move would. Such disputes will also most likely be left open to vote for longer, as to be absolutely sure that everyone has had their say in the most important matters concerning this site.

What happens when a consensus cannot be reached?

If it appears that neither side of a debate cannot agree or compromise with the other, and their arguments are evaluated at about the same strength, the debate is declared "no quorum" and the subject of the debate fails to pass. Beginning a new or similar debate shortly after this occurs, especially if no change in the situation has been made, is generally discouraged, unless a new argument can be presented.

What actions require consensus?

The following actions always require consensus:

• Expanding or contracting the wiki's general scope
• Making or repealing policies
• Making updates, amendments, or major changes to existing policies
• Obtaining adminship or bureaucratship

These actions generally require consensus, but exceptions do exist:

• Merging or splitting articles
• Moving or deleting articles
• Major style changes, especially in templates and MediaWiki
• Removing large chunks of information

These actions generally do not require consensus in most cases, unless the action is directly disputed by another user:

• Removing falsehoods, spelling and grammar corrections, manual of style corrections, etc.
• Removing irrelevant or out-of-scope information
• Adding in-scope information or creating new in-scope articles
• Basic article layout and style changes