Wikipedia:Bureaucrat discussion

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A bureaucrat discussion or bureaucrat chat is a procedure by which bureaucrats on Wikipedia can discuss whether consensus is present at a particular request for adminship (RFA) or request for bureaucratship (RFB).

Bureaucrat discussions should not be confused with the regular discussions, involving bureaucrats, at the bureaucrats' noticeboard and on other pages.

[edit] Purpose

Discussions are only held when a bureaucrat is unsure that they can determine consensus in an RFA or RFB. Typically, these are borderline cases, or ones in which unusual circumstances apply.

Holding a bureaucrat discussion ensures that the decision making process in such cases is transparent. However, as bureaucrat discussions delay a decision and can take considerable time on the part of bureaucrats, they are used only as a last resort, after measures such as extending the RFA or RFB have been considered. They are not used for all controversial cases; if the closing bureaucrat is able to determine consensus alone, there is no need for a bureaucrat discussion.

[edit] Process

A bureaucrat discussion is started by one bureaucrat placing an RFA or RFB on hold. This ends the discussion on the RFA or RFB and prevents any more comments in support or opposition being added.

The bureaucrat then creates a subpage of the RFA or RFB's talk page, on which to hold the bureaucrat discussion. They start a discussion by giving an explanation of why they feel unable to determine consensus, and highlight some areas which the discussion may need to address. The discussion is linked from the RFA or RFB. Finally, the bureaucrat informs other active bureaucrats of the discussion, both on their user talk pages, and on the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

In order to focus the discussion, it is open only to bureaucrats. Bureaucrats who have commented on the RFA or RFB itself are expected to state this, but are not required to recuse themselves from the discussion. The talk page of the bureaucrat discussion is available for all users to comment on the ongoing discussion, and bureaucrats will often respond directly to comments made there.

Past experience has shown that bureaucrat discussions usually work best when they operate over a short time frame. Once several bureaucrats have participated, if agreement arises, the RFA or RFB is closed as usual. If no agreement among the bureaucrats emerges after one to two days, a common proposal will be to close the RFA or RFB as unsuccessful, given that as a group, the bureaucrats are unable to determine consensus.