Introduction[edit]
During and after the December 2009 election, there were many complaints from voters about the amount of time and effort required to form their opinions of the candidates through the questions. This year, the General Questions have been streamlined from 2326 words (36 questions) down to 584 words (8 questions)—intended to be those that are the most probing and that will most efficiently expose whether each candidate is suitable for the position.
All but one of the questions are extracted from last year's questions, but without named questioners; Question 2 was added given the phenomenon of early resignations. The emphasis is on:
- the skill-base and practicalities of being an arbitrator;
- questions that are less likely to result in side-stepping and predictable, "safe" responses;
- the avoidance of wide-ranging political questions, although several questions concerning the role and operation of ArbCom itself are retained;
- questions concerning particular parties in particular cases, in favour of probing generic skills and background.
Instructions[edit]
General questions. All candidates are expected to provide responses to the "general" questions (see below), which will be transcluded to each candidate's question page.
Individual questions. Eligible voters may ask a limit of one individual question by posting it directly on a candidate's question page beneath the general questions. Candidates are not obliged to answer all of the individual questions on their page. An individual question should:
- be clearly worded and brief (not exceeding 75 words);
- be specific to a particular candidate (the same individual question should not be posted en masse onto candidates' pages);
- not duplicate other questions (voters are encouraged to discuss the merging of similar questions).
Editors are, of course, welcome to post questions to candidates on their user talk page at any time.
- Eligible voters
Editors who had 150 mainspace edits on a single user account on the English Wikipedia as of 00:01 UTC on 1 November 2010 are eligible to vote, and may also post individual questions. Wikipedians who are ineligible to vote are welcome to participate in discussion on candidates, but may post questions only on candidates' user talk pages.
- Instructions for candidates
Each candidate should have their own question page, at a subpage of their nomination statement entitled "Questions". On this subpage, the list of general questions should be substituted, and may be answered thereafter.
If you believe a question is immaterial or irrelevant, please note that fact in lieu of answering, but do not remove questions from your own question page. If the question contains a personal attack or other offensive material, other editors will remove it for you.
If you run into any difficulties, please ask at the election talkpage or approach the volunteer election coordinators on their noticeboard.
The questions[edit]
The general questions asked of all candidates are listed here.