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Wikipedia:Attempting to overturn recent consensus

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SmokeyJoe (talk | contribs) at 21:05, 27 March 2017 (Undid revision 772520813 by Siuenti (talk). No, it is definitely directed at "proposing". Once proposed, all discuss away). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sometimes, a proposal is repeatedly made, each instance of the proposal differing only in non-essential detail, without success. An article may be repeatedly nominated for deletion, renaming, or merging, each time seeing the proposal fail to achieve consensus, and the original article persists essentially unchanged. A policy may be proposed to be altered, but repeatedly discussions fail to find a consensus to move from the status quo.

A moratorium is a general restriction on editors proposing a specific change that has previously been proposed and rejected by the community. Where a proposal is made repeatedly, and essentially the same proposal is made again, without new evidence or arguments, only a short time after the close of the previous proposal, administrators closing the discussion may, based upon sentiments expressed in the discussion or an express request, impose a moratorium on future efforts to repeat the failed proposal for a period of time. A moratorium may also be imposed by a discussion achieving the clear consensus of the community.

In user conduct appeals, a moratorium on further appeals is not uncommon. They may also be established by discretionary sanctions which are fully under Arbcom's authority.

However, moratoriums should be used with caution, and only within limits. Moratoriums run counter to the general practice on Wikipedia that any editor may initiate a discussion on any topic related to the operations of the encyclopedia at any time (though not at any place). The duration of a moratorium should be balanced against the likelihood that consensus will change with time (or new information will develop). An existing moratorium may be lifted early if there is consensus to do so.

See also