Here is my proposal for the guidelines:
- Ask a new meta question. Use the tags meta tag on your question.
- In the question body, state the problem you are addressing, cite examples, etc., but do not discuss (at length) the proposed
solution.
- Add an answer discussing your proposed solution. This allows alternative proposals to be suggested and voted upon.
- If proposing a new master tag, or if an existing tag is desired to be the master but doesn't have a tag wiki, include a draft tag wiki
for it in your answer.
- (optional) Flag the question for moderator attention and request that it be made featured. This puts a link to the question on the main site under the "Featured on Meta" sidebar area, which should help increase participation and hopefully garner the required votes.
Voting thresholds:
- A minimum score of 5 is required to implement a proposal
- A minimum of 7 days is required to allow for alternative proposals and votes to be entered.
- If after 7 days no alternative proposals are entered and the minimum score of 5 is attained, the proposal wins by default and is
implemented.
- If after 7 days and one or more alternative proposals exist, an additional 7 days (14 total) are required for additional discussions
and voting to take place.
- After 14 days, the proposal with the most votes wins and is implemented.
- In the case of a tie, a moderator will decide which proposal to implement.
- (For moderators) After the voting period is over and the winning proposal is implemented (or none meets the minimum score), or when a
moderator decision is required, add the status-completed, status-planned (for backlogged work) or
status-declined meta tags as appropriate, and close the
question.
This may seem onerous, but is intended to expedite and give structure to what was previously an often lengthy process that was difficult to follow, let alone participate in.
Additionally, the minimum score and minimum waiting periods are meant to allow discussion and alternative synonym proposals to be suggested before any (possibly destructive) action is taken.
What do you think? The voting thresholds can obviously be adjusted as needed, depending on participation and moderator workloads. I would also welcome a simpler proposal as an alternative, if that makes more sense.
Also this totally won't work unless the moderators are all on board with it, so after you all have had a chance to digest and discuss it amongst yourselves, let us know what you want to do :)