Wiki governance and voting policy

Wikis are governed (or managed) by bureaucrats, administrators or any other designated group with similar functions. Wikis on Miraheze generally function by the principle of community consensus. Miraheze holds the attitude that wikis are not owned by any user, but by their community.

Bureaucrats, administrators or any other designated group with similar functions must not take actions that are clearly arbitrary, unfair and for which no reason is given.

Personal wikis
In the following situations, the principle of community consensus is not applicable and the user who requested the wiki is solely responsible for governing their wiki: The above list is representative but not exhaustive of all things which might be considered 'personal wikis'. Steward discretion shall be used in assessing wikis that do not fit into the stated examples.
 * Private personal wikis wholly or substantially about the user who filed the original request.
 * Public personal e-portfolio.
 * Curriculum vitae (résumé).
 * Blog.
 * Other narrowly construed wikis with a similar purpose.

Voting
A vote by a user who is clearly not genuinely connected to the wiki's community is to be weighed less than other votes.

This is to be interpreted narrowly. The presumption is that a user is connected to a wiki's community.

Examples of a user who is clearly not genuinely connected include but are not limited to: a user who has a very small amount of meaningful edits on the wiki, a user who very recently attached their account on a wiki, a user whose edits are clearly made to escape this provision.

An example where 'weighed less' would apply is a permission request or a proposal in which the supporting majority are overwhelmingly user accounts which joined in the last few hours, while long-time community members are uniformly opposed. Despite majority support, the proposal/permission request would be unsuccessful because the majority clearly does not represent the established community.

Canvassing
The following actions are prohibited in regards to any request requiring community vote:
 * Privately asking individuals or groups of users to support or oppose a request is prohibited.
 * Asking a large number of users who are not affiliated or genuinely connected to the wiki's community to vote on any request is not allowed.
 * Offering, promising, or giving advantage/preferential treatment in exchange for a Support or Oppose vote is prohibited at all times and regardless of venue.

Voting on a request without disclosing private attempts to sway your vote (as defined in the above canvassing prohibitions) will result in your vote being struck through and not counted towards final consensus. Depending on severity/frequency, Stewards may take additional action in line with related conduct policies. Disclosure can take place either publicly on your vote or privately to Stewards (or T&S channels in the case of threats), as needed.

Once a request is open for voting, public and explicit asks for votes of support or opposition are prohibited. This prohibition is not venue-specific (e.g. on-wiki vs discord) but should not be read as a prohibition of good-faith debate on the merits of a request in public venues.

Examples of acceptable speech in public channels include:
 * "I think proposal A is pretty great because of X, Y and Z" (general statement of support)
 * "I dislike proposal A, I think it's overreaching and I hope folks vote it down" (implicit ask for opposition but within bounds)
 * "What do you think about amendment B to proposal A? I think it might need some changes but want to get other folks' opinions." (general debate on particulars, not a call to action)
 * Placing a message on one's talk page asking for participation on a request, e.g. "I'm running for Wiki Creator, please provide your feedback!" (explicit ask for neutral participation)

Examples of prohibited speech include:
 * "Support (or oppose) Proposal X! Vote here now!" (explicit ask for a vote)
 * "I dislike proposal A, I think it's overreaching and folks should vote to oppose it now" (explicit ask for opposition)
 * "You should all support this proposal, otherwise you're going to lose your rights!" (explicit call to action, albeit using less-direct language)
 * Placing a message on one's personal talk page asking for support or opposition to a request, e.g. "I'm running for Wiki Creator, please add your vote of support to appoint me here!" (explicit ask for partisan support)

Policies
All wikis are governed by Global policies and any local policies or practices that violate global policies are not allowed. This includes local policies that adopt lower standards than ones contained in global policies.

In most cases, local administrators and bureaucrats are responsible for ensuring that global policies are being respected on their wikis. Stewards and, in some cases, other global groups, are also responsible to ensure that global policies are being respected across Miraheze.

This policy imposes certain minimum standards, but wikis are encouraged to develop their own policies and may provide higher standards than those contained in this policy.

Background

 * Requests for Comment/Wiki governance and local elections (created) (April 2023)