Discussions (2019)

===Article X: Discussions===
This article was revised at convention on April 12, 2019.
*A. General
:*1. All additions or changes to rules, policies, guidelines, and granting of additional user rights must be discussed and voted upon with an official discussion.
:*2. Discussions outside of the designated discussion areas such as message walls and forum threads are not valid places to make major decisions and/or policy changes. They can be used to bring up important issues that can be put up for official discussion, as long as they follow the rules.
:*3. Official discussions regarding additions or changes to the rules must done through the amendment process of the rules outlined in Article XXV [LINK].
:*4. Official discussions regarding new policies may be done so at ESB:Proposals, as long as it does not conflict with the Rules. All new policies shall be placed at ESB:Policies and may be integrated with the Rules during a convention. Those new policies may be modified through a Proposal as long as it is not yet part of the Rules.
:*5. Official discussions regarding changes to guidelines must be done so in the form of a proposal (at ESB:Proposals) and must follow the procedures outlined in Section B of this article. Any other official discussion not related to changes to policies, guidelines, and granting of additional user rights may be conducted in the same manner.
:*6. Official discussions regarding granting of additional user rights must be done so in accordance with Article X.
*B. Format for official proposals
:*1. General
::*a. All official proposals are to be conducted at ESB:Proposals
::*b. Anyone can start a proposal at stage one, but only assistants, administrators, and the user that started the proposal are permitted to open the voting stage.
:*2. All proposals will be conducted in two stages: 1) concerns stage and 2) voting stage.
::*a. Stage 1: Concerns stage
:::*i. Any user may present a valid proposal for the community to discuss.
:::*ii. Proposals must remain open for a minimum of seven (7) days and may be open for a maximum of fourteen (14) days.
:::*iii. Concerns may be marked resolved by an assistant, an administrator, the author of the concern, or the author of the proposal and may be remarked as unresolved by an administrator or assistant.
::*b. Stage 2: Voting stage
:::*i. Any administrator, assistant, or the author of the proposal are to consider everything that was concluded in the concerns stage and create a new updated proposal together, thus concluding the concerns stage and starting the voting stage.
:::*ii. After seven (7) days of voting, the voting stage will be closed.
:*3. Exceptions [moved below and reworded]
:::*a.iii. If further discussion is required, or is a series of discussions, the proposal may be open for a longer period of time and close a different way.
::*b. The author of a proposal may withdraw their proposal at their sole discretion.
::*c. If a proposal is redundant with a recent proposal or if a proposal is created that is considered unnecessary but is not withdrawn, it may be closed by a majority vote of all bureaucrats, who can decide the outcome.
:::*e.iv. If a proposal requires a template or coding to be developed, it must be part of the proposal or added before the concerns stage ends or it will be closed before it goes to voting.
:*4.3. Closing proposals
::*a. At the end of the voting stage, in order for the proposal to pass, a 70% majority in support of the particular proposal is required, not counting neutrals. Otherwise, the proposal fails to pass.
::*b. If a proposal closes and an agreement is not reached, another proposal may be created for further discussion.
::*c. Any bureaucrat or administrator can close the voting stage.
:*4. Exceptions
::*a. The author of a proposal may withdraw their proposal at their sole discretion.
::*b. If a proposal is redundant with a recent proposal, it may be closed by a majority vote of all bureaucrats, who can decide the outcome.
::*c. If a proposal is considered unnecessary, it may be closed by a majority vote of all bureaucrats.
::*d. If a proposal reverses or conflicts with a recent decision, it shall be deemed as invalid, unless three (3) months have passed since the conclusion of the previous proposal. This rule may be waived by a majority vote of the administration.
:*5. When a proposal passes, the decision is final. Unless otherwise stated, the policy change takes effect immediately.