Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/draft B

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. 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 below, 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).

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 on the election subpage's list. 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 lasts 7 days.

Stage 2: Discussion only
Discussion continues on the election talk page (regarding the candidates and desired election results) and the candidate talk subpages (for more focused discussion with/about a specific candidate). Note that these discussions are also allowed/encouraged outside of this stage.

If consensus is reached at the end of this stage for filling any seat(s) with specific candidate(s), those results are set and those candidates are omitted from future stages. If this fills every seat, the remaining stages are skipped.

This stage lasts 7 days, and ends 3 days (to validate any consensus) before the start of the next stage.

Stage 3: Voting
Eligible voters may vote once for each candidate by signing their name on candidate subpages. Signatures should form a list within a section named "Votes" (to be created if necessary) at the end of each candidate subpage. Note that each voter can vote for multiple candidates.

Eligible voters are those users with a registered account that has made at least 100 edits, excluding the Guild and User namespaces, within the 6 months before this stage.

These are not allowed (and should be struck out or removed):
 * General comments (whether supporting/neutral/opposing..keep these to the talk page)
 * Votes from ineligible voters, or that are not made from the eligible account (sign in before voting, no proxy votes, too bad if blocked)
 * Votes made before or after this stage
 * Duplicate votes, oppose votes, or partial votes

These are also explicitly allowed:
 * Voting for yourself (if otherwise eligible)
 * Deciding your votes based on comparative preference. For example: If two candidates you both support (or both oppose) are the frontrunners for a seat, you might vote (or withdraw your vote) for only one in hopes of your more preferred candidate winning. Be wary of how exercising your preference may affect frontrunner situations.
 * Deciding your votes based on independent valuations. For example: If two candidates you both support (or both oppose) are the frontrunners for a seat, you might vote for both (or not vote for either) even if you prefer one over the other. Be wary that you would be opting to not exercise your preference between two candidates whenever you don't vote for exactly one of them.
 * Deciding your votes based on your own way
 * Changing/withdrawing your own votes during this stage (but not after)

This stage lasts 7 days.

Stage 4: Deciding winners
The community decides the winner(s) through discussion and consensus on the election talk subpage, based on the guideline that every eligible voter who has edited the wiki regularly at some point within the past 6 months should have relatively equal weight in the voting process. Voters that are technically eligible but would not have been considered a regular part of this wiki's community should be given little/no weight (for example, new users from another forum that met the eligibility requirements just to vote). A consensus of "no winner" for a particular seat is also a possible consideration (for example, if it is agreed that key candidates withdrawing have left the remaining results unreliable). This is a consensus decision about evaluating the results of the previous stage's vote, rather than the general question of whom it is best to elect (see stage 2 for that).

At the end of this stage, if no consensus has been reached or the apparent consensus is objected to (not simply opposed), the list of potential winners is immediately passed to ArenaNet, who will review the results and make the final judgment naming the winner(s).

This stage lasts 7 days, and ends at least 3 days before any term start date.

Current open elections

 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2008-02 bureaucrat election

Closed elections

 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-06 bureaucrat election
 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-07 bureaucrat election
 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-08 bureaucrat election
 * Guild Wars Wiki:Elections/2007-12 bureaucrat election