Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Rules: Difference between revisions
Create proposed voting rules page (proposal, to be adopted): eligibility, secret ballot, quorum, election committee, verification, challenges |
Category cleanup: remove Category:Migration June 2026 (founder order 2026-09-03) |
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{{KidsIntro|A vote is only fair if the rules are clear before it starts: who can vote, how long it lasts, who counts | {{KidsIntro|A vote is only fair if the rules are clear before it starts: who can vote, how long it lasts, who counts, and what to do if the count is disputed. WikiDeal lists these rules for rare votes.}} | ||
{{ExpertIntro| | {{ExpertIntro|These rules would apply only when a decision reaches a formal vote; most are settled earlier by lighter tools, with voting reserved for high-stakes questions in the spirit of the Swiss popular initiative. Proposed procedure, adapted from Wikimedia and Debian: one user one vote, secret ballots for people, quorum, independent committee and verification, challenges via arbitration. Status: proposal, first hypothesis.}} | ||
__TOC__ | __TOC__ | ||
= Proposed voting rules = | = Proposed voting rules = | ||
''Status: proposal, to be adopted. These rules are a first hypothesis, adapted from the documented experience of the Wikimedia and Debian communities (see the [[Gov/en/Portal: | ''Status: proposal, to be adopted. These rules are a first hypothesis, adapted from the documented experience of the Wikimedia and Debian communities (see the [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Research|research page]]). They are intended to be validated by the founding steering committee and then by the community through a [[Market/en/Portal:Soft-Transmission/Main|soft transmission]].'' | ||
<span id="when-a-vote"></span> | |||
== When a formal vote is warranted == | |||
These rules describe how a vote would run, not when to vote. The initial hypothesis of this portal is that most decisions never reach a ballot: they are settled by direct action, by a simple revert when a contribution can be undone, or by discussion when a revert is contested. A formal vote is reserved for questions that discussion could not settle and whose stakes, expressed by the number of people who raise them, call for a broadly supported decision (see the [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Main#ladder-of-tools|ladder of decision tools]] and the [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Main#stakes-by-popular-voice|Swiss-inspired expression of stakes]] on the portal main page). | |||
<span id="eligibility"></span> | <span id="eligibility"></span> | ||
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The starting point is the principle of [[Gov/en/Portal:Institutions/Governance|one user, one vote]]. To keep elections meaningful and resistant to fake accounts, the initial hypothesis adds light eligibility requirements, similar in spirit to those used by Wikimedia elections: | The starting point is the principle of [[Gov/en/Portal:Institutions/Governance|one user, one vote]]. To keep elections meaningful and resistant to fake accounts, the initial hypothesis adds light eligibility requirements, similar in spirit to those used by Wikimedia elections: | ||
* holding at least one membership at the time the vote is announced; | * holding at least one active subscription (a paid membership fee) at the time the vote is announced; | ||
* a minimum account age or a minimum record of activity on the platform, defined in advance for each vote; | * a minimum account age or a minimum record of activity on the platform, defined in advance for each vote; | ||
* one ballot per person, whatever the number of | * one ballot per person, whatever the number of subscriptions held. | ||
In practice, a person holds one general WikiDeal membership; joining one or more [[Gov/en/Portal:Community/User-Groups|user groups]] on top of it does not add ballots. User groups themselves can reuse the same decision mechanism for their own internal decisions. | |||
Exact thresholds would be set by the election committee and published with each vote announcement. | Exact thresholds would be set by the election committee and published with each vote announcement. | ||
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The initial hypothesis distinguishes two regimes: | The initial hypothesis distinguishes two regimes: | ||
* '''Elections of people''' (committees, arbitrators, future bodies) would use a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot secret ballot], so that nobody can be pressured or rewarded for their vote. Wikimedia runs its secret ballots with the SecurePoll extension; WikiDeal | * '''Elections of people''' (committees, arbitrators, future bodies) would use a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot secret ballot], so that nobody can be pressured or rewarded for their vote. Wikimedia runs its secret ballots with the SecurePoll extension; WikiDeal plans to evaluate the same family of tools, exclusively free software, in line with the project's [[Gov/en/Portal:Legal/Free-Licensing|free licensing rule]] (the WikiDeal software stack itself is published under the GNU Affero GPL). | ||
* '''Editorial and procedural decisions''' on shared content would remain public, in the wiki tradition of open discussion and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making consensus], where positions are signed and arguments matter more than counts. | * '''Editorial and procedural decisions''' on shared content would remain public, in the wiki tradition of open discussion and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making consensus], where positions are signed and arguments matter more than counts. | ||
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== Announcement and duration == | == Announcement and duration == | ||
Every vote would be announced in advance on the platform, with the question, the options, the method used ([[Gov/en/Portal: | Every vote would be announced in advance on the platform, with the question, the options, the method used ([[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Methods|see methods]]), the eligibility rules and the calendar. The initial hypothesis is a minimum announcement period of X weeks and a minimum voting period of X weeks, so that occasional users have a real chance to participate. The value of X is deliberately left open: two weeks for each period is a plausible figure, drawn from the practice of Wikimedia elections, and is given here only as a working hypothesis, not as a decision. | ||
<span id="quorum"></span> | <span id="quorum"></span> | ||
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These rules would themselves be adopted by vote: first a validation by the founding steering committee, then a confirmation by the community once the [[Market/en/Portal:Soft-Transmission/Main|soft transmission]] makes it possible. Until then, this page remains a documented proposal. | These rules would themselves be adopted by vote: first a validation by the founding steering committee, then a confirmation by the community once the [[Market/en/Portal:Soft-Transmission/Main|soft transmission]] makes it possible. Until then, this page remains a documented proposal. | ||
'''See also:''' [[Gov/en/Portal: | '''See also:''' [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Main|Voting at WikiDeal]] · [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Methods|Voting methods]] · [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Research|Voting research and experience]] · [[Gov/en/Portal:Voting/Condorcet-History|Condorcet history and results]] · [[Gov/en/Portal:Meta/Licensing-and-Credits|Licensing and credits]] | ||
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