Requests for Comment/User close policy amendments

At the end of 2019 along with other users I proposed the User close policy. The reason for the necessity of this policy was the need to prevent new Miraheze users from attempting to "collecting hats" and wasting the time of the community by having users spend their time opposing and debating requests and waiting until the policy periods for closure were met. Since then from what I have managed to observe the policy has worked relatively well to achieve its goals. Nevertheless there have been some minor issues and some improvements that I wish to address in this small RfC. I am sure that some will think that there are more important priorities than this minor policy but I still believe it is worth applying these minor fixes to it if the community agrees with my justifications.

The first issue is that the policy was written in such a way where it was initially had in mind that it would apply to users with non-advanced permissions only and that the advanced groups would use their inherent discretion to close requests. I have observed that users with advanced permissions have instead been relying on this policy which gives them a more solid justification to close requests. In this sense it would be useful for us to clarify this in the policy.

The second issue is that the policy is too strict in its 3 votes requirement in cases where a user with less than 30 edits makes a request which beyond any doubt has no chance of passing. It sometimes is the case that users request permissions even as their first or second edit on Meta in which case it is evident that we do not need to wait for 3 votes to determine that the request has no chance of passing. The 3 votes requirement is useful in more complex requests where a user does have more edits than 30 but it is still clear that the permission they are requesting is not appropriate for them.

The third issue is that the policy only speaks of Stewards overturning user closes where in fact local groups such as bureaucrats may be the ones who have initial jurisdiction over some requests. The reason why only such groups may overturn closes is to avoid the situation where an edit war would occur over whether a close was justified or not between users. --DeeM28 (talk) 15:53, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Proposal 1
It is clarified that while Stewards and Meta bureaucrats retain their inherent discretion to close requests they may rely on this policy as well.

Support

 * 1)  as proposer. DeeM28 (talk) 15:53, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Proposal 2
In addition to the current policy: Autoconfirmed and confirmed users are allowed to close any request for permissions as unsuccessful (global rights and local rights) if the user in question has less than 30 edits on Meta, they have not provided a valid justification for the request and there aren't any valid (non-sockpuppet/meatpuppet) support votes.

Support

 * 1)  as proposer. DeeM28 (talk) 15:53, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Proposal 3
The penultimate paragraph is amended as follows:

Stewards may overturn any user closes if they believe that they are made in error. Meta Bureaucrats may overturn any user closes which concern local permission requests.

Support

 * 1)  as proposer. DeeM28 (talk) 15:53, 4 April 2023 (UTC)