Archive:Proposals/Policy

Template:TOC-right This page reviews the specialized rules for managing the proposals system. All the basic information you should need to make most proposals is located on CZ:Proposals.

The purpose of the proposal system

The proposal system should

1. serve as a single, central location for proposals about the Citizendium.
2. 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. explain and clarify to people just how their own proposal can be adopted with a minimum of unnecessary bother and confusion.

In other words, this system is designed to let people "take charge"--to act and drive forward, not just to debate and complain.

Components of a proposal "record"

A proposal "record" is what is contained in the yellow boxes on CZ:Proposals/Initial and, once moved from the initial page, the various subpages. That box is generated by the {{proposal}} template, which a proposer fills out and a proposal driver maintains. Here are some salient details about each item in the template.

• Brief descriptive title: should be quite brief, as this will become part of a wiki page name.
• Summary: should be no more than 100 words. This is just a summary; the full proposal is located on a new page you create (on which, see below).
• Name and date of original proposer: type ~~~~; the username of the person who added the proposal to CZ:Proposals/Initial and the date and time added. The system doesn't care who "originally had the idea," but we'll give credit to the person who makes the proposal.
• Username of driver: the "driver" is a person who commits to moving the proposal toward approval and action. See below.
• Next step: a phrase or sentence describing the next most immediate goal that will have to be achieved, in order to get the proposal adopted and put into action. See below.
• Target date for next step: this is a specific date (e.g., April 15, 2008), not something unclear like "soon" or "sometime" or "in a week."
• Notes: optional. These are any notes the proposer or driver feels necessary to include as part of the proposal record. Detailed notes belong on the full proposal page (again, see below).

When is a proposal record well formed?

In order for a proposal to move from CZ:Proposals/Initial to a group page (such as CZ:Proposals/Constabulary), it must be "well formed." That means (1) all the above data needs to be filled out, and (2) the proposal itself must be non-trivial, impersonal, and serious:

• Non-trivial: things that do require a proposal though are issues that have sweeping impacts in the entire CZ community, or across different disciplines or workgroups. Some things can be done swiftly, and by individual empowerment. It doesn't take a community to fix a leak. If a few citizens choose to band together to perform certain content initiatives, then there's no need to ask for input: as with a certain shoe company, "just do it!" When in doubt, ask the Proposals Manager for advice.
• Impersonal: proposals may not be to remove any person from any position within CZ or from the project altogether; nor may they have the explicit or implicit purpose of criticizing a person.
• Serious: jokes, ironic statements, rants, etc., do not count as proposals. They will simply be deleted by the Proposals Manager.

If a proposal record is incomplete, it will remain on CZ:Proposals/Initial for a week. If it is then still incomplete, the record will be moved to CZ:Proposals/Discarded. Proposals that are not serious, or trivial, or personal, will either be moved to CZ talk:Proposals/Initial for commentary, or simply deleted outright, depending on the case.

The proposal driver

A proposal's driver takes responsibility for actually writing and defending the proposal up to the point where it is submitted to a decisionmaking body, such as the Editorial Council or the Constabulary. If a person must be a member of the decisionmaking body in order to present it to that body, then the driver is responsible only for making sure the proposal is sponsored by a member of the decisionmaking body.

The driver can be, but is not necessarily, the proposer. If a proposal has no driver, it will be dropped (see above). An idea can be great, but if no one is interested in championing it, it won't happen.

The driver also takes responsibility for maintaining and updating not only the proposal record (see above) but also the main proposal page as well (see below).

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