Discussions (2018)

==Article VII: Discussions==
*A. General
:*1. All major issues such as changes to policies, guidelines, and granting of additional user rights policy changes, promotion requests, and other decisions must be resolved 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 changes to policies and 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.
:*4. 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 created and discussed here: 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. An issue, situation, and/or policy change will be brought up by any user. Any user may present a valid proposal for the community to discuss.
:::*ii. All users will be given a chance to voice their opinion on the issue, situation, and/or policy change, without voting.
:::*iii. After seven (7) days of discussing the proposal, the concerns stage can be closed. If the proposal requires more input, it can remain open for a longer period of time. [reworded into ii. below]
:::*ii. Proposals must remain open for a minimum of seven (7) days and may be open for a maximum of fourteen (14) days.
:::*iv. If no concerns are brought up after three (3) days, the concerns stage can be closed early.
:::*v. If a comment is made on the proposal, it can be marked as resolved by an assistant, an administrator, the user who brought up the concern, or the proposer. [reworded into iii. below]
::::*a. If a user resolves a concern that lacks a final verdict, an administrator or assistant may unresolve the concern.
:::*iii. Concerns may be marked resolved by an assistant, an administrator, the author of the concern, or the proposer and may be remarked as unresolved by an administrator or assistant.
:::*vi. If the originator of a concern marks a concern as resolved and all other concerns, if any, have been resolved, the concerns stage may close as long as three (3) days have passed since the proposal was started.
::*b. Stage 2: Voting stage
:::*i. Any administrator, assistant, or the proposer 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 a the voting stage.
:::*ii. All users will be given a chance to vote. [redundant with voting article]
:::*iii. After seven (7) days of voting, the voting stage will be closed.
:*3. Exceptions
::*a. 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. In the case of proposals with overwhelming support, a proposal may end after three (3) days of discussion if both of the following are true:
:::*i. A majority of administrators support the proposal.
:::*ii. The proposal has 90% or more participants in support.
::*c. In the case of proposals with overwhelming opposition, a proposal may end after three (3) days of discussion if both of the following are true:
:::*i. A majority of administrators oppose the proposal.
:::*ii. The proposal has 75% or more participants in opposition.
::*d.b. The author of a proposeral may withdraw their proposal at their sole discretion.
::*e.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.
::*f.d.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. Closing proposals
::*a. At the end of the voting stage, in order for a the proposal, or option, to pass, there must be at least a 70% majority in support of the particular proposal is required, not counting neutrals. Otherwise, the proposal fails to pass.
::*b. If there is not a 70% or more support in favor of the proposal option, the proposal is concluded to have not passed and the proposal can be closed.
::*c.b. If a proposal closes In the event that a proposal is closed and an agreement is not reached, another proposal may be created for further discussion.
::*d.c. Any bureaucrat or administrator can close the voting stage, as long as the above procedures are followed. [last part makes it too wordy]
:*5. Post-proposal [combining these into one line]
::*a. When a proposal passes, the decision is final.
::*b. Unless otherwise stated, the policy change takes effect immediately.
*C. Format for promotion requests
:*1. Refer to the promotions policy for specific procedures on those discussions.