- This article is about Wikipedia policy. For the WikiProject regarding Elections and Referenda, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Elections and Referenda.
In general, Wikipedia operates based on consensus, and voting is discouraged as a method of settling content disputes (though well-designed surveys can be useful to gauge and develop consensus). However, in order to fill certain specific functions in the community, there are a few instances in which we use elections to choose individuals for particular positions.
Wikimedia Board
The Wikimedia Foundation is the parent organization of Wikipedia. The affairs of the Wikimedia Foundation are handled by a Board of Trustees. Currently, three seats on the Board are elected by members of the Wikimedia community. The first election was for two positions that were held for one year. The second election was for two positions to be held for two years.
The first election was held from May 29 to June 12, 2004 and the second from June 28 to July 11, 2005. Both elections used approval voting. Angela Beesley and Florence Nibart-Devouard were elected as trustees between 2004 and 2005, and again between 2005 and 2007.
In August, 2006, a special election was called to fill the vacancy left by Angela's resignation. Voting took place between 1 September and 21 September 2006; Erik Möller, also known as User:Eloquence, was elected to a term ending with the regular July 2007 election.
In December 2006, the board approved a resolution expanding the size of the board of trustees, including expanding the number of seats elected by the Wikimedia community to three. Elections were held in June, 2007, for three positions, each for a term of two years.
During April 2008, the Board was restructured to include, most notable, two chapter-appointed seats. This resulted in the most recent elections, held in June, 2008, appointing a single new member to the Board.
Related links
Arbitration Committee
The original Arbitration Committee were appointed by Jimbo Wales in December 2003, and consisted of 12 members. In making these appointments, Jimbo indicated that in the future, the Arbitrators would be elected. Arbitrators each serve for three-year terms beginning on January 1. However, in order to stagger the terms, four of the original appointments (tranche alpha) were subject to re-election after one year, and four more (tranche beta) after two years; the remaining four (tranche gamma) serving for the full three years. This results in a third of the positions being open for election on an annual basis. Traditionally, elections to the Arbitration Committee only advise Jimbo on who to appoint; and have not thus far been binding, Jimbo being free to appoint other people to the committee, and not to appoint those elected.
- Special election, July 2004
Of the original appointees, Eloquence refused the appointment, and UninvitedCompany withdrew from the Committee shortly after it began taking cases; both of these were from tranche alpha. In order to fill these vacancies, the first elections were held in July 2004 for two members to fill the unexpired terms through to the end of 2004. In his appointments, Jimbo selected Jwrosenzweig and Raul654 to serve as temporary Arbitrators.
- Election, December 2004
The regular election cycle began with the December 2004 elections. This covered seven seats - the two especially-elected positions held by Jwrosenzweig and Raul654, the two tranche alpha positions whose terms expire at the end of 2004 (held by James F. and The Cunctator), and three vacancies created by additional resignations (Martin Harper, Gutza, and Camembert).
In his appointments, Jimbo placed on alpha tranche: Ambi, Raul654, Sannse, and Neutrality; on beta tranche: David Gerard; and on gamma tranche: Grunt and Theresa Knott.
- Election, December 2005 (January 2006)
The second set of normal elections were held in January 2006, after delays. This covered eleven seats: the two still-sitting tranche beta positions of Fred Bauder and David Gerard, the tranche gamma mid-term seat of Grunt, and the two tranche alpha mid-term seats of Ambi and Sannse, all three of whom resigned, and three additional seats (one to each tranche).
Of the temporary appointees to fill the empty seats during 2005 (James F., Fennec, JayJG, Mindspillage, and Kelly Martin)
In his appointments, Jimbo placed on alpha tranche: SimonP, Dmcdevit, and Fred Bauder; on beta tranche: James F., Mindspillage, Filiocht, Charles Matthews, and Morven; and on gamma tranche: JayJG, Sam Korn, and Mackensen.
- Election, December 2006
The December 2006 elections began on December 4th and ran for 2 weeks. Candidates could nominate themselves and candidate statements were accepted until December 1. None of the four arbitrators (The Epopt, Jayjg, Theresa knott, and Sam Korn) in the previous Tranche Gamma ran for reelection. The vacant seat in Tranche Gamma (vacant since Mackensen's February resignation), the resignation of arbitrator Mindspillage (who was appointed to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees), the replacement of Filiocht (who is on indefinite leave), and the seats of the four Tranche Gamma members led to a total of seven seats filled. FloNight, and Blnguyen were appointed to the vacant seats in Tranche Beta (terms expiring December 2008) and Flcelloguy, Kirill Lokshin, Paul August, UninvitedCompany, and Jpgordon were appointed to Tranche Gamma (expiring December 2009).
- Election, December 2007
The December 2007 elections commenced on 3 December 2007. Voting ran for two weeks. The prior members of Tranche Alpha were SimonP, Raul654, Mackensen, Neutrality, and Fred Bauder. Thanks to the election, the new Tranche Alpha consists of Newyorkbrad, FT2, FayssalF, Sam Blacketer, and Deskana.
Mediation Committee
The Mediation Committee was created and appointed at the same time as the Arbitration Committee, but no election procedure was specified. Instead, the Mediation Committee is structured so that new people are free to nominate themselves for membership on the Committee, members can withdraw from active mediating (emeriti), and become active again at their convenience.
The Committee does not use a fixed number of positions, so elections are not necessary. New mediators are nominated and duly promoted, subject to approval by the existing Committee members under their current practices for outcomes of nominations. The community may comment on nominations, however approval for membership lies within the Committee. There is no strict deadline on time for a nomination and it changes depending on the status of the nomination, but they generally last between two and four weeks. The one official rule with nominations to the Committee is the "two oppose rule", in which any candidate receiving two opposes from members of the Committee cannot be promoted.
In addition, the Committee internally elects a Chair to help with coordination and facilitation of the Committee's duties. There is no limit on the length of terms, nor the maximum number of times a person can serve, and frequently the Chair holds his or her position until they choose to step down or become inactive; however, recent Committee chairs have chosen to have their status as chair "confirmed" every six months, by means of an internal discussion, although to date each confirmation has been a matter of routinely supporting the Chairperson continuing for another six months.
Association of Members' Advocates
The coordinator of the Association of Members' Advocates (AMA) was an elected position. It was the first position on Wikipedia to actually go through an election process. The election, held in April 2004, resulted in the selection of Alex756, a founder of the association, as the first elected AMA Coordinator on April 30, 2004.
The AMA was nominated for deletion in April, 2007. The nomination was closed as "no consensus," but sparked discussion about the function and organization of the AMA, including proposals to "de-bureaucratize" the group. Nothing of this was achieved, and in May 2007 the AMA was closed with its page marked as historical.
Administrators and bureaucrats
- Further information: Wikipedia:Requests for adminship
Administrators and bureaucrats are users trusted to be responsible with a range of Wikipedia's blocking and protection tools, to review and close various forms of discussions, and to enforce rulings and policies. Access to these rights and controls is granted to an editor through a process of proposal, nomination and communal consensus by the editorial community at large, in which any established editor may express an opinion.
Nominations are discussed at the time they are proposed and accepted, which may be done at any time by any account-holding editor.
See also
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