Uncyclopedia:Consensus

This page is considered an ignorable policy on Uncyclopedia.

It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow, unless they don't want to, in which case they are free to ignore it, in which case nobody will care. Please make use of the standing on one knee position to propose to this policy.

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Consensus is an important part of maintaining quality and open-editing (an inherent part of the wiki process) on Uncyclopedia. Consensus is achieved by determining what a majority of the users want. In the simplest terms, when an edit to a page is made, there is either a consensus to leave it or change it. However, establishing a consensus can be very difficult, and in some situations a flamewar or edit war may erupt. In even simpler terms than the simplest terms: all we need to do is convince a majority of people that something is funny...what we're doing is bringing democracy to humor.

Developing a consensus

• There are a few ways to develop a consensus on Uncyclopedia. The first and most basic is that silence equates to consent. In other words, if an edit is made and not reverted, it is generally accepted by the community (or at least those we assume read the material) that the content is approved.

• In the event that material is removed or reverted, the editor who added the material, if they wish to do so, may discuss the content with the reverter on the talk page of that article or the user's talk page before reverting their revert (this can turn into revert war). To develop a consensus in which a disagreement has arose, one may submit the article to the Pee Review or gain the opinions of other users. The end result however, should be a compromise rather than a flamewar in which one user "wins". The users should express their opinions and be open to others'.

• Featured articles have a strongly-established consensus. That is, because they were on the front page, they have been voted "best of the best" by a majority of the community. Users should refrain from editing these articles, or at least think very carefully before doing so.

• Many protected or semi-protected pages have editing disabled in order to preserve consensus on contentious topics. As a result, some featured articles are protected, and all are semi-protected to help prevent vandalism from IPs. Pages that are protected to prevent vandalism or undesired edits preserve community consensus as well. Users may request protection or unprotection of pages here.

• Administrators have the final say in consensus to resolve disputes on consensus. However, administrators are urged to promote civility and compromises rather than making decisions for obstinate users. Administrative intervention should be the last resort when all other attempts to resolve the issue have failed.

• Users have the right to establish single consensus when it pertains to their user page or anything in their namespace. The only exception is material that is deemed offensive or inappropriate (which are few).

Things to mind

It is very difficult to maintain a consistency in a wiki, and thus this present policy is the most effective policy in doing so and keeping most of the people happy. This system is not perfect and is not meant to deny users and IPs the privilege of editing, though this is sometimes the case with protection and semi-protection.

The editors of this site are essentially ruining it for themselves and enacting protections and semi-protections when they do not follow the rules. Yes, a few can ruin it for everybody. Additionally, when pages are heavily vandalized or need a form of protection, the community is in right agreement and consensus that it is the responsibility and right of administrators to handle the situation. The policy regarding semi-protection and protection is itself an already established consensus that is liable to change, and articles with protection and semi-protection can be requested to be unprotected at any time.

This system of consensus does not promote elitism, priority, or any concept of "perfection" on Uncyclopedia. The policy on consensus is also liable to change at any time at the request of the community within a reasonable establishment of consensus that may be outside of the current policy on consensus (so as to avoid paradoxes that may collapse the universe).

Finally, as per the Five Pliers of Uncyclopedia, the original author of a work does not own that work, even if it becomes featured. Uncyclopedia is content-free; articles are owned by the community at large and not by a single person or group so that any writing you contribute can be mercilessly edited and redistributed at will by the community.