CZ:Proposals/Adopt the proposals system

This proposal has been assigned to the Executive Committee, and is now in the Executive proposals queue.

This is a reasonably important proposal and should be generally vetted by the community, not just the Executive Committee. Therefore, there must be broad (if not unanimous) support for the proposal before it moves on to the Executive Committee.

Complete explanation

Citizendium should adopt the proposals system as current set out on CZ:Proposals and its subpages.

I am going to assume that that is an adequate explanation of the proposal, since it's all worked out on those pages.

Reasoning

My full reasoning for the proposal is worked on here. Quoted from one of my posts there:

For one thing, we have too many different venues where we can make proposals. Here's a list: to me; to my "suggestion box" (which I'll be archiving--if anyone wants to do that for me, and to transfer over the proposals there to CZ:Proposals, that would be great); on these forums; on talk pages; in the Editorial Council; in the Constabulary; in the Executive Committee; sometimes, even on Citizendium-L. That's part of the problem: we need one place where, if someone adds a proposal, the proposal is officially made, and we as a community commit to responding to it (if only to discard it).

The other problem is that, for whatever reason, too many people feel comfortable making bare proposals but do not seem to feel comfortable taking the next step in making them happen. I think that's partly because they don't know how to make them happen, but also because they aren't fully persuaded that they won't be overstepping their boundaries if they take the next step. As a result, only a small number of people have been bold enough to make and drive forward various proposals--especially me. This constitutes a serious bottleneck. The system ought to be more bottom-up and open, but to be bottom-up, it needs to be designed a certain way.

A final problem is lack of understanding about how proposals actually are made, and that rank-and-file Citizens can make them, get behind them, and make them happen.

The system should be designed to solve these problems; that's why I originally suggested it. So what is the function (are the functions) of the system, precisely?

1. To serve as a single, central location for proposals that people have a shared understanding will lead to action.
2. To manage and drive proposals forward, if necessary without the intervention of the Editor-in-Chief or certain other active Citizens; to make sure that proposals get as far forward as possible as efficiently as possible.
3. To explain and clarify to people just how their own proposal can be adopted with a minimum of unnecessary bother and confusion.

Implementation

The system is actually already being implemented. The only thing left to do is to find and train a Proposals Manager. There has been one excellent volunteer, but we're still open to other nominations.

Discussion

Any last comments on this??? --Larry Sanger 20:03, 14 February 2008 (CST)

I support the proposals system, but I see two potential problems.

1) There are currently 10 proposals pending. In my view, three of those are proposing serious changes to how CZ works, whereas for the rest, if the proposals were adopted, most people would not notice or care much. In my view, the three important ones are:

• Internationalization sandbox
• Crediting authors
• External feedback

There's a serious risk that the critical proposals will be hard to find among the sea of other proposals.

2) Some proposals (e.g. Article Content Requests) seem destined for the "declined" bin. I'm disinclined to waste time monitoring them. However, if they start to escape death row, I'd like to put in my two cents and vote against them. Proposals that are supported by few might be approved by the current process simply because only supporters show up to comment.

To fix these problems, I propose:

• The proposals manager maintains a list of important proposals, e.g. ones that would have big effects if implemented and have at least 2 supporters.
• There should be a central list of proposals that are being voted on and are nearing the end of the voting period, or are about to be implemented without a vote due to consensus.

--Warren Schudy 19:20, 15 February 2008 (CST)

Proposals System Navigation (advanced users only)

Help/policy New proposals List of all proposals Driverless proposals: proposals that lack a champion Discarded proposals: poorly formed proposals Templates: {{Proposal}} | {{Proposal assignment}} | {{Proposals navigation}}

Proposal lists (some planned pages are still blank): Editorial Council: Active | Finished | Declined Approval and Feedback: Active | Finished | Declined Eduzendium: Active | Finished | Declined Recruitment: Active | Finished | Declined Constabulary: Active | Finished | Declined Executive: Active | Finished | Declined Technical: Active | Finished | Declined PR: Active | Finished | Declined Ad hoc management: Active | Finished | Declined