![]() | This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference. Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump. |
(This was a proposed addition to the policy page Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines. Its main points have now been incorporated into that policy.)
Essays and how-to pages may be marked as such by any editor. Guidelines and policies, however, should be presented to the community for review and feedback.
Please leave the discussion open for at least one week.
Ending a discussion requires careful evaluation of the responses to determine the consensus. This does not require the intervention of an administrator, but may be done by any independent editor (i.e., not the primary authors, the editors proposing the guideline/policy status, or the editors strongly defending the proposal during the community discussion). For practical reasons, this editor will need to be familiar with all of the policies and guidelines that relate to the proposal.
Discussion may be closed as either Promote, No consensus, or Failed. Please leave a short note about the conclusion that you came to. Update the proposal to reflect the consensus. Remove the ((Proposed)) template and replace it with another appropriate template, such as ((Subcat guideline)), ((Policy)), ((Essay)), ((Wikipedia how to)), or ((Failed)).
On occasion, Wikipedia's need for any given guideline or policy may change. An accepted document may become obsolete because of changes in editorial practice or common standards. It may become redundant because of improvements to other pages. It may represent unwarranted instruction creep.
The process for demoting a guideline or policy should normally be similar to the process for promoting a page: Add the ((disputedtag)) to the top of the page, start a discussion on the talk page outlining the reasons for the proposed demotion, and solicit community input. After allowing a reasonable amount of time for comments, an independent editor should close the discussion and evaluate the consensus.
When only one section is disputed, the normal process is to begin a discussion about improvements on the talk page. If wider input is wanted, ((disputedtag|section=yes)) can be used to mark the section.
Overuse of such tags is considered disruptive. This tag is not a badge of shame and may not be used as such. It will be removed if there is no active discussion underway, if it appears to be an effort by a dissatisfied editor to override recent decisions, or if it appears that the outcome favors retaining the policy, guideline, or section.
If a page was assigned guideline or policy status without seeking wider community input, and you believe that its current status would not be supported, then you can use the proposal process outlined above as an alternative to disputing it.
Minor edits to existing pages, such as formatting changes, grammatical improvement and uncontentious clarification, may be made by any editor at any time. However changes which would alter the substance of policy or guidelines should normally be announced on the appropriate talk page first. The change may be implemented if no objection is made to it or if discussion shows that there is consensus for the change. Major changes should also be publicized to the community in general; announcements similar to the proposal process may be appropriate.
The stability of major policies and guidelines is important to editors involved in the Wikipedia:Featured articles process and other areas of editing. Edit warring is particularly deprecated in this area. Bold editors of policy and guidelines pages are strongly encouraged to follow WP:1RR or WP:0RR standards. If your changes are removed, please make no further changes until the issue has been appropriately discussed on the talk page.