Wikipedia:Governance reform/Policy and guideline review

Requests for policy and guideline review is where Wikipedians can request the Policy and guideline review (PAGR) committee to review a proposed or an existing policy page or guideline page to determine whether it meets/falls within:

a.) Foundation principles

b.) current general usage

c.) the current policy framework

d.) current community consensus

How to request

Requests for PAGR follow a format similar to Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration.

Place the request as a new section on Wikipedia:Requests for policy and guideline review/Requests, following the directions on that page. Merely link to the page which you wish reviewed, with a short (500 words or less) explanation clarifying your request. Others also may comment (in a fashion similar to WP:RFAR.)

If the committee decides to review the page, a presentation discussion page will be created, for use by anyone (similar to the workshop/evidence pages in an RfAR). A copy of the page to be reviewed may be created as a sub-page of that as a working model for reference and/or updating.

Following that, the committee will present a review of the model page. (Similar to the "final decision" page of RFAR.)

As a result of the review, the page may be determined to be a policy, a guideline, an essay, or to be recommended for an MfD or speedy deletion.

Some examples might be:

• Reviewing a policy for demotion to a guideline
• Reviewing a guideline for promotion to policy or demotion to an essay
• Reviewing an essay for promotion to a guideline

On rare occasions, it may be that the committee is requested (by arbcom, or the foundation, for example) to help facilitate a "new" policy or guideline. In that case, the same steps are followed, with the working model being created from scratch.

The committee membership

The committee is a 16 member body elected by the community in four 6-month tranches of four members, for a term length of 2 years.

Each of the members should be considered well-versed in Wikipedia policy and guidelines.

As such, the committee may also be called on by others (such as arbcomm or the Foundation, for example) to present a clarification, an interpretation, a finding, or a principle (etc.) of Wikipedia policy.