Wikipedia:Quickpolls/Rules

This page describes a policy that was utilized briefly before being rejected.

This page describes the policies and rules for using the Quickpolls page.

When is a quickpoll allowed?
Quickpolls can be used for four types of cases:
 * 1) someone violates the three revert guideline
 * 2) a sysop repeatedly misuses a sysop capability
 * 3) a signed in user goes on a "rampage" of some type -- puts insults on several user (not user talk) pages, vandalizes several articles, etc.
 * 4) a signed in user confesses to deliberate trolling

They need to be started within 24 hours of the alleged incident.

Before you take a quickpoll, give the user a fair chance to improve their behavior. If a user might not be aware of a policy, make them aware of it first. But there is no need to warn repeat violators of the same policy again and again.

Users should not start quickpolls solely in retaliation for earlier quickpolls. This may be regarded as an abuse of process.

Remedies
There are three possible remedies - the proposer should pick the most appropriate remedy for the dispute and user in question.


 * a 24 hour ban
 * A request for arbitration (although any user will always be able to request arbitration, a quickpoll may give an additional sense of urgency to the matter, and may influence arbitrator decisions to accept/reject the case.)
 * Desysopping. The recommended penalties are:
 * First violation: don't use a quickpoll - ask them not to do it again!
 * Second violation: temporary desysopping for 24 hours.
 * Third violation: temporary desysopping for one week.
 * Fourth violation: permanent desysopping, pending final decision by the arbitration committee. If not confirmed by the arbitration committee within four weeks, the desysopping will be undone.

A quickpoll decision is reversed in these situations:
 * 1) The arbitration committee reinstates the sysop.
 * 2) Support for the remedy drops below 70% (see below)
 * 3) The requests for adminship process regrants sysop priviliges

Announcing a quickpoll
A quickpoll should be announced on the following places:
 * The user_talk: page of the user in question
 * On Recentchanges (the text shown atop the "Recent changes" page)

Encouraged, but not required:
 * Wikipedia: and wikipedia_talk: namespace pages that mention the incident in question.
 * The IRC channel.
 * If the ban is in relation to a specific article, the talk page for that article.

The format for an announcement on the user's talk page may look like this:
 * A Quickpoll is being held in regards to edits you recently made on {insert article name here}. You cannot vote on the poll, but you can make comments to defend yourself.

The format for a recent changes announcement is as follows:



Please vote: Quickpoll - on: User:Dogmaster3000, started by: User:Eloquence

For multiple polls:



'''There are multiple ongoing quickpolls. Please vote.'''

The notice on recent changes should be removed shortly after 15 votes have been received.

A quickpoll should be created on quickpolls.

Format of a quickpoll
A quickpoll should take the following format:


 * User:Username (Support/Oppose, XX%)


 * User:User1 (talk / contributions) has participated in edit wars on Kermit the Frog (talk / history) and ignored the revert policy in spite of being made aware of it. I think he should be banned for 24 hours. -- User:User2


 * Action
 * (action taken by admins)


 * Support
 * (votes in favour go here)


 * Oppose
 * (votes against go here)


 * Comments
 * (comments go here; these do not constitute votes)


 * Response
 * (the offender's response to the accusations, i.e. his defense)

Rules
To start a quickpoll or to vote in one, a user must meet the following conditions:
 * They must be registered users. Anonymous users may not vote in quickpolls or start them.
 * They must have been active on Wikipedia for longer than 3 months.
 * They must only start one quickpoll at a time and only one quickpoll per day.
 * They must not be a "sock puppet". If it is agreed that a vote has been made by a sock puppet, that vote will not count towards the result.
 * They must not be a direct party to the dispute. This refers to starting a quickpoll, and to voting in it. If you want to start a quickpoll about a matter in which you are involved, ask someone else to do it (for example, an administrator, but whoever you choose must meet the other conditions above).

Any user may add comments. It is encouraged to put prolonged discussions in the comments section rather than in the poll itself.

Do not delete any votes in a quickpoll because of a violation of the above. Instead, move the votes to the comments section. If there is a reasonable dispute as to whether or not a vote should be counted (unclear whether the rules apply), leave it in the comments section and add a note with your reasoning directly below the disputed vote. In any case, do not get into an edit war over quickpolls.

There is no voting deadline for quickpolls.

Quickpoll votes need to approach consensus. In practice, any quickpoll that shows at least 80% agreement and a minimum number of 8 votes in favour can be implemented. (If the remedy is a 24 hour ban, make sure that another sysop hasn't beaten you to the block button.) If the vote subsequently drops below 70%, the remedy should be reversed.

Reversed remedies cannot be reinstated, even if the proportion subsequently rises again. If subsequent behaviour causes people to change their votes, you may instead wish to take a separate quickpoll on the subsequent behaviour.

Removal of quickpoll listing
All quickpolls can be removed from Recentchanges after 15 votes have been reached.

If a 24-hour ban or desysopping is proposed but not approved, the quickpoll can be removed from this page under the following conditions:

A quickpoll can be removed from this page 48 hours after the ban is implemented, or 48 hours after listing if no ban is implemented. In the case of a desysoping, the quickpoll should be kept open for voting until the user is resysoped or the arbitration committee has approved the desysoping, though it may be archived 48 hours after implementation.

Archived polls
Concluded polls should be moved to Quickpolls/Archive.