Discussions (July 2016)

*A. General
:*1. All major issues must be resolved with discussions in the format outlined in this chapter.
:*2. Discussions outside of the regular discussion thread (such as message walls) 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. Discussions are completely open to all contributors, except if it involves a demotion of suspension of a particular user, in which that case the user in question does not have a vote. They are, however, allowed to comment, ask, and answer questions.
:*4. Anyone can open a discussion at stage one, but only bureaucrats are permitted to open the voting stage.
*B. Types of discussions
:*1. Official Discussions - discussions on policies, procedures, and other major decisions on the wiki are discussed here: ESB:Discussions
:*2. Promotion requests - discussions involving a user requesting additional user rights.
:*3. User Rights Review - discussions to review a promoted users' status after questionable behavior.
*C. Format for Official Discussions
:*1. All official discussions will be conducted in two stages: 1) concern stage and 2) voting stage.
::*a. Stage 1: Concern stage
:::*i. An issue, situation, and/or policy change will be brought up by any user.
:::*ii. All users will be given a chance to voice their opinion on the issue, situation, and/or policy change, without voting.
:::*iii. After ten (10) days of discussion, the concern stage can be closed. If the discussion requires more input, it can remain open for a longer period of time.
:::*iv. If no concerns are brought up after three (3) days, the concern stage can be closed.
:::*v. If no new concerns are brought up after three (3) days since the last concern was resolved, the concern stage may be closed.
::*b. Stage 2: Voting stage
:::*i. Any bureaucrat and the user who opened the discussion are to consider everything that was concluded in the concern stage and create a new updated proposal together, thus concluding the concern stage and starting a voting stage.
:::*ii. All users will be given a chance to vote.
:::*iii. After ten (10) days of voting, the voting stage will be closed.
:*2. Exceptions
::*a. If a discussion requires more input, or contains a series of discussions, the discussion may be open for a longer period of time and close a different way.
::*b. In the case of non-controversial discussions, a proposal may end after 3 days of discussion if both of the following are true:
:::*i. At least four (4) administrators support the proposal.
:::*ii. The discussion has ten (10) supports and no opposition.
*D. Closing discussions
:*1. These policies apply to all discussions unless otherwise stated in those other discussions.
:*2. At the end of the voting stage, in order for a proposal or option to pass, there must be at least a 70% majority in support of the particular proposal.
:*3. If there is not a 70% or more support in favor of the proposal or option, the discussion is concluded to have not passed and the discussion can be closed.
:*4. In the event that a discussion is closed and an agreement is not reached, another discussion may be created for further discussion.
:*5. Any bureaucrat or administrator can close the voting stage, as long as the above procedures are followed.
*E. Post-discussion
:*1. When a proposal passes, the decision is final.
:*2. Unless otherwise stated, the policy change takes effect immediately.