The Sims Wiki:Voting policy

The Sims Wiki has adopted this voting policy to govern official votes, or other methods for determining community support, on The Sims Wiki.

Use of voting
Consensus, rather than voting, is always the preferred method of reaching a decision. Voting as a means to determine consensus for a decision should be avoided unless a resolution is necessary and consensus fails to develop. If a vote must occur, it should be held only after significant time has passed for all viewpoints to be taken into account.

Voting requirements
In order to participate in a vote, users must:
 * 1) Be a registered and non-blocked member of The Sims Wiki
 * 2) Have at least one edit on the wiki
 * 3) Sign their vote correctly with four tildes ( ~ ) or a proper signature template

If a user is blocked after voting begins, the user's vote should be discarded if the block is set at one month or longer, or indefinitely, or if the user was blocked specifically for tampering with an official vote or use of a sock puppet. Only an administrator may discard votes.

Starting a vote
Users may start a vote only if they meet all the voting requirements, and have been engaged in the discussion where the vote is to take place. This requirement does not apply if the user initiating a vote is a neutral administrator.

Voting procedure
Any user meeting the requirements above may initiate a vote on a matter that has failed to garner consensus. All votes must clearly state the question or questions being voted on, all the eligible options for vote, the method of voting, and the duration of the vote (preferably using Countdown)

The exact method of voting is left in the hands of the user initiating a vote. However, the method chosen must be fair, unbiased towards one particular resolution, and suitable for the questions being voted on and the options available. Additionally, all votes must have a defined duration, and that duration may not be less than five days. Users wishing to start a vote may wish to (but are not required to) consider consulting with the administrators beforehand to ensure that the vote method they choose is valid and effective for the situation.

Votes which fail to adhere to this rule may be closed early, nullified or modified as needed by the administrators.

Prohibited methods
The user starting a vote has leeway to determine the proper method for voting on a particular issue. However, the following methods are expressly prohibited:
 * Setting a vote duration of less than five (5) days
 * Holding a vote on the IRC Channel, Chat, or at another location outside The Sims Wiki
 * Conducting a vote using the wiki Poll feature

Unanimous consent
Any user who meets voting requirements may propose unanimous consent to adopt a matter that is either under discussion or that might be placed under discussion. The proposal for unanimous consent should include a description of what is being consented to. Unanimous consent may be requested at the beginning of a discussion, or during discussion on a particular matter.

Once unanimous consent is requested, any user meeting the voting requirements may object to consent. When objecting, the user should include a brief explanation of why they are choosing to object; users do not need to object to the matter under discussion itself in order to object to the use of unanimous consent. If any eligible user objects to unanimous consent, then unanimous consent fails and the proposal is discussed and handled through the normal discussion, consensus and/or voting processes. If no user objects to a request for unanimous consent within five days, then the matter being considered is deemed to have received community consensus and is adopted.

Unanimous consent may only be requested once for a particular matter under discussion, and may not be requested if users demonstrate opposition to a proposal in the discussion. Discussions in progress may continue while a unanimous consent request is being considered. Requests for unanimous consent may not be made in user rights request/nomination discussions.

Extent of policy
This policy applies only to discussions and/or votes conducted in order to reach an official community decision. Votes for featured content, on-wiki games, or other informal votes or informal opinion polls are not bound by these rules.

Policy history
This policy was established and voting requirements were adopted on 12 March 2008. Voting procedures were adopted on 17 January 2011. Changes to established voting procedures and the name of the policy were decided by consensus on 28 November 2014. A replacement of established policies was determined by a vote, concluded on 21 February 2015. Previous voting policies have been repealed, but can be viewed in the page history. Unanimous consent rules were adopted on January 17, 2016, following a community discussion.