Wiktionary:Voting policy

This is a Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page. Specifically it is a policy think tank, working to develop a formal policy. Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES.

WT:VP redirects here. If you’re looking for what some online communities call their village pump, see Wiktionary:Beer parlour.

These are the rules concerning votes.

Vote creation

See also: Help:Creating a vote

These are the rules concerning the creation of new votes.

1. Once a discussion has reached a point where a vote is in order, a new voting page should be created using the tools available in Wiktionary:Votes, linked to and from the original discussion, including {{premature}}.
2. Once the vote is ready to start, the voting page should be included in Wiktionary:Votes/Active and then the start and end dates filled.
3. Debate is welcome on these pages.
4. Each vote will remain in the active list for a while after the completion of the vote, at which time it will be archived and listed in the “recently ended votes” section.
5. Votes should not usually be called for on Wiktionary:Votes. They should be the result of prior discussion located elsewhere (the Beer Parlour).
6. Votes should last about a month, usually, or two weeks for bots.
7. Votes should use {{premature}} while working out the particular wording.

Starting the vote

1. At least 7 days should elapse between the vote creation and the actual start, except for votes for granting user rights or a bot flag, which can start immediately after the user accepts.
2. The start of a vote can be postponed as much as discussion requires.

Closing the vote

1. Votes should last about a month, usually, or two weeks for bots.
2. The failure of a vote does not mean that it cannot become a new vote in the future.
3. A vote passes if the ratio of supports to the sum of supports and opposes reaches 2/3 or more, except in the case of votes to remove administrator status, in which case a vote passes if it reaches a simple majority (1/2+1). A vote where that ratio does not reach 50% should be closed as “failed”; a vote that has at least 50% but less than 2/3 should be closed as “no consensus”. Abstentions, votes by ineligible users, and votes cast after closure do not count toward these ratios. Any future vote can override these rules by specific community consensus concerning that vote.

Voting eligibility

For a Wiktionary user to be eligible for voting, the following requirements must be satisfied:

1. Their account’s first edit to English Wiktionary (made locally rather than transwikied from another project) must predate the start time of the vote by at least 1 week.
2. Their account must have at least 50 edits in total to the main, Citations, Appendix, Rhymes, Thesaurus or Reconstruction namespaces on English Wiktionary by the start time of the vote.
3. Only one vote can be made per person. Sockpuppet voting results in a block on all related accounts.

Meaning of consensus for discussions which are not formal votes

Where the consensus of editors is required for discussions other than formal votes at Wiktionary:Votes (for example, in discussion rooms such as Wiktionary:Beer parlour and on discussion pages such as Wiktionary:Requests for deletion and Wiktionary:Requests for verification), the support of at least two-thirds of the editors taking a supporting or opposing stance in a discussion on an issue is a hint for the threshold for consensus, but it is not set in stone. As a result, the consensus determination is somewhat indeterminate and can take into account considerations other than pure tallying. Tallying does play a role.