Forum:New Editing Policies

Inactive User and Poll Clarification
Alright, so this recently popped up in Meganoide's forum. Currently, the rule is as follows:

"Users who have had less than 10 edits in the 30 days before the poll opens are not allowed to vote on ban forums. Blog and blog comment edits do not count towards the 10 edits. However, if they participate in the discussion before the poll opens they may vote without any restrictions."

Now here is my question: Is it 30 days before the entire poll starts, or 30 days before each section of the poll starts? Since ban polls are divided into two phases 1) If we ban and 2) Ban Length, do we count the whole poll or each part?

As far as Mega's forum, the rules aren't clear, so I went with whole thing, since that's the closest to the way the rules are written now. It only led to the removal of one vote, and had we done it the other way, it would have only removed one different person's vote.

We should definitely resolve this for the future. 16:29, September 4, 2015 (UTC)

30 days before each section of the poll starts. 10 edits in 30 days isn't that bad. People can also simply participate in the forum discussion if they care enough. 23:24, September 4, 2015 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, people should make their opinions heard if they want to have the right to vote. 19:50, September 9, 2015 (UTC)

So if we do it with each section of the poll, what are we doing about participation over edits? Say you didn't participate in the discussion or have enough edits when the first section started, but you do participate before the second half starts: That makes your vote in the second half valid, correct? 21:20, September 9, 2015 (UTC)

I think you should participate in the first poll to be eligible for the second poll. Since we need to know if you even want the person banned in the first place. These polls are interconnected, after all. 21:46, September 9, 2015 (UTC)

That seems fair. Most people who would participate in the second would have already voted in the first anyway. 06:37, September 10, 2015 (UTC)

It seems silly to me to restrict an eligible voter just because "they probably would have voted in the first part anyway". So what if they didn't? Does their opinion not matter? They're just as eligible as anyone else. 07:29, September 10, 2015 (UTC)

I completely agree with Yata, if you want to vote on a second part of the poll, you should vote in the first part of the poll to be eligible. 12:49, September 10, 2015 (UTC)

For whatever reason 18 people voted in the first part of Meganoide's forum, but 22 (plus one invalid vote) people voted on the second. That's something to think about. 01:11, September 11, 2015 (UTC)

Sometimes I don't vote because there's no sense in voting on a 20-0 poll. Should that mean I'm not allowed to vote in the second half? Why?

Sometimes I don't vote in the first part because I'm undecided or indifferent to whether or not they should be banned. But I still do have an opinion on how long to ban them once the community has decided the first part. Should that be forbidden? Why? 04:56, September 11, 2015 (UTC)

Can't we just make it that people who've participated in the discussion are eligible to vote no matter what? 05:06, September 11, 2015 (UTC)

Prohibiting users from voting in the second poll because they didn't vote in the first almost guarantees certain results. Not a lot of people voting in the first poll are going to want a minimum ban, so they usually opt for the maximum or at least second-to-maximum on the length. Obviously the people who voted "no" are probably going to vote for the minimum, and since they lost the first poll anyways, then the "minimum" vote is completely useless. Not everyone who's voting on the second part would vote on the first part, for a number of reasons. If we prohibit second-voters who didn't first-vote, our poll becomes a bit of a paradox. A polladox, if you will; the second vote will have options, but the options ultimately become meaningless due to the nature of the voters. With this rule, the "minimum" options will never, ever win. 05:47, September 12, 2015 (UTC)