Board Thread:Voting/@comment-893709-20150131212828

Introduction
When legislative policy is being voted upon in real world business or politics, the actual changes to be implemented through a successful vote are always presented before the voting body prior to the voting procedure. Because of the way language works, simple word changes or exclusions can completely change the meaning of a sentence, and this is no less true on our wiki than anywhere else. To put it simply: I think you should see exactly what you are voting for before you vote on it.

However, it was once quite common on CHB to write up vague policy votes and then subtly (intentionally or incidentally) alter the wording when actually adding it under the wiki policies. We actually had votes pass along the lines of "I think we should get more character slots, who agrees?". This leads to a faulty and potentially manipulative democratic process with limited transparency.

My proposal below ensures that voters understand what they are voting for by ensuring that the person submitting the policy writes out what they intend to alter or add beforehand. This also makes amending or repealing existing policy significantly easier and more clear, and notably adds a few points of clarification for those intending to submit a vote in the future.

My Proposal
I propose that we add an additional tab under "Avatar Roleplay Wiki:Our Policies" labeled "Voting" to contain existing policies on voting procedure (see Policy Votes) and the following under a section labelled "Policy Votes":

ADD:

Voting takes place on the Voting Board forum. Only Level 3 users may vote.

Votes on the voting board may consist of anything a user deems appropriate, and, provided that they pass with 1/2 majority before 7 days from submission, they must be implemented to the best ability of the administration team. However, votes pertaining to wiki policy must also follow the format outlined below and require a 2/3rds majority vote.

It is strongly suggested that all policy related votes be split into two sections, one for an introduction to explain reasoning, and the second to include the policy changes themselves.

All policy related votes must explicitly define the language they intend to add or alter through voting by placing "ADD", "CHANGE", or "REMOVE" before each separate clause or concept. In the case of changing policy, the original policy must be clearly noted, marked, or linked to. As examples:
 * ADD: "All users are permitted to fly at will".
 * REMOVE: "All users are prohibited from walking."
 * CHANGE: "All users are permitted to fly at will" to "Flying is strictly prohibited among users".

Changes to the formatting of the wiki, or in cases where specific language is not appropriate (such as coding), do not require "ADD", "CHANGE", or "REMOVE" as they are not altering written policy itself. Unless these pertain directly to policy changes, their inclusion in policy votes is discouraged.

Changes to a vote while the vote is in progress are permitted, but users who have already voted must be notified that the change has taken place, and informed as to the nature of the change.

In the event that at least three separate members of the administration deem a policy related vote to be in breach of the above, it may be labelled as such and, once the poster has been notified, removed. It may be resubmitted for voting once properly formatted. 