Universal Code of Conduct/Annual review/Charter review 2025

Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C)

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This page is dedicated to collect and discuss potential changes to the Charter of the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C). Everyone is invited to comment or make suggestions on the review subpages.

Proposed changes

Instructions: Please propose any changes as simply as possible and with your signature. You may propose and comment in any language. Longer thoughts or explanations can be included as a reply.

• Reduce seats to 10-12 - Ajraddatz from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Eliminate the homewiki rule - Ajraddatz from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Eliminate the regions and replace with 3 or 4 seats (on 12 member committee) for underrepresented communities/regions - Ajraddatz from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Allow the U4C to appoint 3 or 4 seats to promote diversity/underrepresented communities/regions/groups after elections results - Ajraddatz from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  I cannot recall if the U4C charter allows for appointment of members; if it doesn't now, then it should be updated to do so. Several of the candidates from currently unrepresented regions are perfectly well qualified to serve on this committee; they just didn't have enough name recognition to make it through the voting. Risker Copied from this comment by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  "the U4C may leave the seat empty and temporarily fill it during the next election, or the U4C may call a special election." Currently the charter only allows for either calling a Special Election or holding an entirely new election and filling vacancies during the election process. Sleyece Copied from this comment by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  The Charter allows members to be appointed if, and only if, vacancies result from "resignation or removal". It would be possible for the U4C to call a special election and fill the regional seats using a plurality, rather than majority, vote. Obviously, that method has its own problems, and the U4C will have to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Adrianmn1110 Copied from this comment by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

• Allow for the charter to be more easily amended - (Ajraddatz from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Lower support threshold to 50% - Ghilt from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  I think 60% is good and changes to it just to fill seats might result in unsuitable candidates being elected. - BRPever Copied from this comment by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

• Change the quorum - Ghilt from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Prequalfication before appearing on the candidate list - Yger from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Limit to 24 candidates - 1233 from the Elections page. Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Remove all mentions of the U4CBC from the charter. Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Define a fool-proof method to determine the home wiki of a candidate. From U4C discussion. Posted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  Are candidates allowed to change their home wiki in order to escape the two candidate per home wiki limit? Excerpt of comment by Johannnes89 Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  As far as I know there isn't a precise definition of "home wiki" (perhaps we should think about establishing criteria), I think we should consider the wiki where a user has more userrights and/or more edits so personally I do not think that changing homewiki to circumvent this limit should be allowed. Imho (but I know this is probably too stringent) I would also not allow Meta as home wiki being a coordination project and not a content or technical project. reply by Civvì Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

• Define a fool-proof method to determine the region of a candidate From U4C discussion. Posted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Ineligibility criteria: incomplete form, wrong region or wrong home wiki From U4C discussion. Posted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Remove the role of the elections committee from the process (U4C self-manages like stewards). From U4C discussion. Posted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

• Candidates with lower % should not pip candidates with higher. Ideally that should have been the order of seating (not "regional seats first"). Excerpt of comment by Soni Procedurally noted by Barkeep49 (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
• Examine the recusal wording. Barkeep49 (talk) 18:59, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

  I don't think it's great that a recused member can fully participate, just not vote. I think we likely need two kinds of recusal: voting recusal (when a project/affiliate the u4c member belongs to is being discussed, but the u4c member is not involved) & full recusal (when a u4c member is involved in the problem and should not be participating in any part of the discussion or result. Barkeep49 (talk) 18:59, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

• Change the home wiki rule so that it applies only to the community-at-large members of the U4C. Adrianmn1110 (talk) 20:18, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

  I don't think getting rid of the rule completely is a good idea. Since the U4C's job is to investigate systemic issues, having too many members from the same wiki could lead to conflicts of interest.

  On the other hand, half the U4C is already limited by region, so applying the home wiki rule to those people would make things overly complicated. Adrianmn1110 (talk) 20:18, 24 January 2025 (UTC)