Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/Draft

The only regularly scheduled elections are to fill bureaucrat seats, with a term length of 6 months. The process here is an advisory election based on approval voting mixed with disapproval voting. Any special elections or elections with deviations from these rules should first have an explicit community consensus.

Stage 0: Preparation
An election subpage should be created (by anyone) at Guild_Wars_Wiki:Elections/_ , e.g. "Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-06 bureaucrat election". This subpage should be added to the list at the bottom, and should contain the following information before any stages start:
 * The number and types of positions to be filled.
 * Starting and ending term dates for each position.
 * The rules used in the election (generally a link back to this page and explanations of any deviations).
 * A list of stages, with start and end dates/times for each.
 * A section titled "List of candidates" (initially empty). This list is to be kept in alphabetical order.

All dates/times should be given in UTC (and interpreted as UTC if left ambiguous). Whenever a stage end date is changed to arrive sooner (through consensus), it should generally be set at least 3 days later than the time of that decision.

Stage 1: Nominating candidates
Any registered user may be nominated as a candidate by creating a candidate subpage at Guild_Wars_Wiki:Elections/ /  and adding a link to the list on the election subpage. Self-nominations are allowed. The form and updating of this page is mostly up to the candidate, and might contain a candidate statement, Q&A, etc. General discussion should go on its talk page.

These are not allowed (and should be removed):
 * IP accounts running as candidates
 * New candidates after this stage

Candidates who are nominated by another user are urged (but not required) to indicate a clear acceptance or declination before stage 2.

This stage should normally be set to last 7 days.

Stage 2: Voting
Regular editors who have made at least 100 edits (excluding the Guild and User namespaces and discussion pages) under a registered account can add one approval vote or one disapproval vote for each candidate they support by signing their name on candidate subpages. Signatures should form a list within a section named "Supporting votes"/"Opposing votes" (to be created if necessary) at the end of each candidate subpage.

These are not allowed (and should be struck out or removed):
 * General comments (whether supporting/neutral/opposing..keep these to the talk page)
 * Duplicate votes
 * Votes from IP accounts
 * Votes from registered user accounts that have not made more than 100 edits before this stage.
 * Proxy votes (your vote submitted by a friend, etc).
 * Votes made before or after this stage
 * Votes of partial support

All other votes are generally allowed. These are also explicitly allowed:
 * Voting for yourself (if otherwise eligible).
 * Users changing/withdrawing their own votes during this stage (but not after).

The basic support one can give directly to a candidate is to sign a vote onto the candidate's subpage (and perhaps give a convincing positive argument on the candidate's talk subpage). To directly oppose a candidate, one can file an opposing vote and give a negative argument on the candidate's talk subpage (but avoid personal attacks; consider simply giving links to evidence, if necessary).

This stage should normally be set to last 7 days.

Stage 3: Deciding winners
The community decides the winner(s) through discussion and consensus on the election talk subpage, based on the guideline that every regular user (that also meets stage 2 criteria) should have relatively equal weight in the voting process and the general metric to be used is the amount of support minus the amount of opposition. Both the total count and ratio of support/oppose votes should not be considered factors (e.g. a candidate who receives a support to oppose ratio of 5:1 could still lose to a candidate with a ratio of 2:1). The winner needs to have a "positive vote balance", that is, more supporting than opposing votes. If no candidate achieves a positive vote balance, a new vote is called immediately, starting at stage 0. Only if no new candidates enter the election, the positive vote balance requirement is lifted.

This stage should normally be set to last 7 days.

Stage 4: Final judgment
If consensus has been reached, there is no significant activity in this stage. Otherwise, the list of potential winners is immediately passed to ArenaNet, who will review the results and make the final judgment naming the winner(s) before the end of this stage.

This stage should normally be set to last 3 days.

Current open elections

 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-07 bureaucrat election

Closed elections

 * Project:Elections/2007-06 bureaucrat election