STOWiki:Policy votes

This page is not an official STOWiki policy. It merely explains the mechanics of creating a policy proposal, and/or starting a policy recall vote. Please see Project:Policy status phases for the actual policy governing policies.

If ever these two pages disagree on something, Project:Policy status phases is the authoritative one.

Proposing a policy
This section explains how to propose a new policy in a clear and concise manner.

Stand-alone proposal articles
Create a new article, e.g. :

Introduction text, if you want to write one === The Policy === Do this, or don't do that... === Reasoning === I feel that this is needed because ....

The page will look something like this:

Introduction text, if you want to write one

The Policy

Do this, or don't do that...

Reasoning

I feel that this is needed because ....

Policy/Proposal automatically places the page in Category:Policy proposals.

Adding to an existing talk page
To add your proposal to an existing proposal's talk page rather than making it a standalone article, follow the instructions for a standalone policy proposal, but do it in the page of an existing policy.

Note however that it becomes much easier to spot new policy proposals up for vote in Category:Votes in progress and Category:Policy proposals if you create a new article rather than just append to an existing talk page. Creating new articles is by far the preferred method of proposing new policy as well as changes to existing policy.

Setting up the voting booth
In the page of the proposal (after your proposal if you wrote it in the talk page rather than standalone), add the following:

Policy/Talk

This will pull in Policy/Vote and create an editable voting booth:

Policy ratification vote


 * Yes :


 * No :

Comments

Policy/Vote automatically places the talk page in Category:Votes in progress.

Since you are the one proposing the policy, you will likely want to follow the instructions that appear to vote in favor of your own proposal.

If your proposal is a stand-alone one, you may also want to insert a  above the voting booth to make it easier to find for people finding your vote via Category:Votes in progress (which points to the talk page rather than the proposal itself).

If you would like to draw more attention to your proposal, you can show it in the community portal by adding it to Project:Community_Portal.

Starting a policy recall vote
If you disagree with an adopted STOWiki policy, you can start a vote to recall it.

In the page of the proposal, add the following:

== Vote to Recall == Your reason for wanting to recall this policy Policy/Recalltalk

This will pull in Policy/Recall and create an editable voting booth:

Vote to Recall

Your reason for wanting to recall this policy

Policy recall vote


 * Keep :


 * Recall :

Comments

Policy/Recall automatically places the talk page in Category:Votes in progress.

Since you are the one proposing the recall, you will likely want to follow the instructions that appear to vote in favor of recalling the proposal.

If you would like to draw more attention to your recall vote, you can show it in the community portal by adding it to Project:Community_Portal.