Requests for Comment Policy

Requests for Comment (RfCs) are the mechanism by which the Miraheze community can discuss and vote on global policy proposals as well as other general matters pertaining to the Miraheze community. Requests for Comments are an easy way to gather community feedback and to form community consensus on certain proposals, ideas, and issues. Requests for Comments can be used for a variety of purposes where the community should be consulted.

If the Miraheze community wishes to express a general recommendation, that may be done via a Feedback Requests (FRs) that will take place on the Community noticeboard, these are non-binding expressions of current opinion or of policy. An example of non-binding opinion/recommendation would be to recommend a certain action to be taken by SRE. Feedback Requests may also be used for single-issue policy amendments or clarifications.

Initiating an RFC
Any user may initiate an RFC regardless of what rights or how many edits thay have. However, it is highly recommended to have a co-initiator to before you initiate any RFC.

Drafting
Users are strongly advised to create a draft Request for Comment before publishing it and opening it to a vote. Users can add their draft RfCs under the appropriate section of the Requests for Comment page and ask the community for feedback on Community noticeboard or Community portal depending on whether the RFC has global or local effects. During the drafting stage, there should be minimal discussion about the substantive issues and the focus should be on improving the existing proposals (wording, copyediting, etc.) or adding new proposals.

Adding new proposals to an already initiated RFC
After a Request for Comment has been published and is open for voting, users may add new proposals or amendments to existing proposals. It is however encouraged that this is done during the drafting process rather than once it is open in order to avoid confusion.

Voting in RFC
One must have an account to participate in any RFC whether locat or global. Users may not participate in Requests for Comment with more than a single account, in accordance with the User accounts policy. Anonymous users may not participate in the RFCs and their votes may not be taken into account when determining the consensus.

Users who created their accounts after a Request for Comment has been published may not vote in that Request for Comment. Such users may participate in Requests for Comment by way of comments, but these will not ultimately be taken into account when deciding consensus and will not count as 'votes'.

Closing an RFC
Requests for Comment must generally stay open for at least five (5) days. They can be closed before either if they are out-of-scope, malformed or if it is clear that there is no chance of consensus. A Steward may close it immediately if it is too vague or unclear or if it is opened without having been drafted in advance.

Withdrawing an RFC
The original initiator may not only withdraw a Request for Comment except if there have been no support votes or if all users who expressed support agree with the withdrawal.

Determining consensus
RFCs are not considered to be votes. There is no minimum threshold or support ratio for Requests for Comments. Stewards will use their discretion to decide whether consensus has been reached on a proposal.

Local Meta-Wiki RFCs
Local Meta Requests for Comment will be subject to the same rules as above, except that all mentions of Stewards are replaced by Meta Bureaucrats. Stewards may still close local Requests for Comment in limited circumstances (for example, if a meta bureaucrat asks stewards to close the RFC or if the the local RFC turns out to have global effects). Local Meta RfCs should clearly be identified.