Wikipedia:Current surveys

In order to get more input from the Wikipedia community on important questions, it is sometimes useful to conduct a survey of community opinion. This page lists surveys or polls that are currently being held on various talk pages. It also contains links to debates, discussions and straw polls. In general it's preferable to hold discussion first.

See also Category:Wikipedia proposals.

If policy issues remain unresolved after discussion and straw polling, they can go to Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Policies (the "dispute resolution" variant of this page).

Instructions for listing surveys

Please add new opinion surveys to the list under the appropriate heading. Add a short description of what the survey is about. Note the starting date of the survey and the date the survey will end, if applicable.

After a survey period ends, it may be removed from the list (however, it should remain for at least a short time after the survey ends, to allow anyone interested to view the results). If no closing date is indicated, the survey may be removed from the list when it appears the question is no longer being actively considered. Survey lists are not archived here; to find older surveys and polls, consult this page's history.

Purpose of surveys

Surveys may be used as part of dispute resolution, or to solicit opinions before making significant changes. They can be useful in developing consensus when community opinion is not immediately obvious in normal discussion. For example, a survey may bring in opinions from people who agree with one position, but don't join the discussion because they don't feel they have anything original to add.

For ideas on designing a survey, see Wikipedia:Survey guidelines. The results of a survey are not binding, and may be subject to interpretation. A survey may sometimes be called a poll, and it may involve voting for different options, but it is not the same thing as an election. For information on elections related to Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Elections.

Opinion surveys should be used to determine whether a consensus exists, not to decide which side "wins". Successful surveys and polls can never generate consensus, they can only show an existing consensus, if any. Using a survey may be useful because some people who disagree will nevertheless recognize and accept the consensus opinion of the community.

Polls

• Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Norse mythology). Proposal under vote is a guideline to applying bypass Use English for a not clearly defined number of cases pertaining to Norse mythology. 11:07, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
• Talk:Electrical engineering. Which of two versions of the article is preferred? Version 1 discusses electronics engineering as a sufield of electrical engineering while acknowledging in the lead the two can be distinct while version 2 limits discussion of electronics engineering. Cedars 06:43, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
• Talk:Episodes of Lost (Season 2). Should we limit information on future episodes to published information from official sources? --DDG 16:46, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
• Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (years in titles)/Poll - Poll to determine a preferable standard for dates/years/date ranges/year ranges in titles. --AllyUnion (talk) 21:27, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
• Talk:Global city#Table/list/both/neither in global city article? This vote is to arrive at or identify a consensus for enhancing the global city article by presenting supplemental city information in one of numerous formats. The vote will continue to 30 Nov./05, but may be extended beyond that. 07:34, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
• Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2005/Straw poll is intended to gauge public opinion on whether ArbCom members should be elected or appointed. 19:36, 10 November 2005 (UTC)
• Micronation infobox poll This is a poll to decide if the micronation and unrecognised entities infobox should be removed from one of the 8 articles in which it is currently used. --Gene_poole 05:31, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
• Western Sahara Infobox/Vote This is a poll that would decide whether the Infobox in the Western Sahara article should include the flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), or Morocco's flag, or none of them. Daryou 16:24, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
• Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (categories)/Usage of American - should categories be named "American <profession>" or "United States <profession>"?
• Talk:Kim Jong-il. In the introductory description, whether to use "leader" or "ruler."Appleby 20:37, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
• Talk:Che Guevara. To include or not to include "Photo Gallery" on this page. Polaris999 19:55, 22 October 2005 (UTC)
• Talk:Ian Paisley. What is the correct honorific to use throughout the article, 'Rev.' or 'Rev. Dr.'. --John R. Barberio ^{talk, contribs 01:35, 20 October 2005 (UTC)}

Discussions

• Numbers and dates in article titles now discussed at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (numbers and dates), proposing Wikipedia:Naming conventions (numbers and dates), which could also replace the more limited "years in titles" naming conventions guideline proposal. --Francis Schonken 17:45, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
• Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Music/Tables for charts: this discussion focuses on a dispute over the formatting of tables that are compiled of information about the chart positions for singles. Should the U.S. charts be kept in a separate table from other charts, even on articles about singles by non-American musicians? Should "Year" and "Single" columns be included in the tables? How many U.S. Billboard magazine charts should be included in the chart? Should number one positions mentioned in these tables be bolded? Should the hash "#" symbol precede the chart positions? Should tables documenting the single's week-to-week chart positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart be included? This issue has been the subject of several edit wars, so opinions from other users would be greatly appreciated here. Thanks. Extraordinary Machine 18:31, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
• {{Wikipedia subcat guideline}} presently discussed at Wikipedia talk:Template messages/Project namespace#Discussion --Francis Schonken 10:38, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
• Template_talk:Infobox_Country/HDI – A discussion forum which concerns implementation of the positive vote for the inclusion of the HDI in the country/infobox template. E Pluribus Anthony 17:52, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Ongoing surveys

Deletions

• Articles for deletion
• Templates for deletion
• Categories for deletion
• Stub types for deletion
• Images for deletion
• Redirects for deletion
• Miscellany for deletion
• Deletion review

Article Improvement

• Article improvement drive
• Featured article candidates
• Featured list candidates
• Featured picture candidates
• Collaboration of the week

Comments but no voting

• Peer review - review of articles, usually before submitting them as Featured article candidates

Other ongoing surveys

• Requested moves - moving articles to a new title
• Requests for adminship
• Requests for Comments - comments on article disputes, the behavior of editors, the behavior of administrators, and editor's user names