Decisions at the Marvel Database are made on community consensus. It refers to the procedure of our decision-making and the results of that. Consensus requires collaboration between editors to achieve best possible result for widespread agreement without the need of unanimity.

Consensus Through Editing

Most common way to achieve consensus is by editing. If an edit is not contested, it should be acknowledged as consensus. If there's a disagreement between editors, they could seek out a consensus by new edits or reverting and giving clear edit summaries. Repeated reversions are considered as edit warring and not allowed on Marvel Database. Disagreeing editors are required to search solution through discussion when editing don't help them to gain agreement anymore. Likewise, insisting on continuing with the edits while there is an active discussion into the issue is considered bad faith and is strongly discouraged.

Consensus Through Discussion

Although editing is an acceptable way to seek out a consensus, it can be useful to start a discussion before editing. It's encouraged before making any radical changes to articles or categories and especially on policy changes.

Consensus Through Article Maintenance

Major alterations to articles such as Move, Split, Merge, or Deletion may require a community consensus before implementation. The procedure to adhere to is as follows:

1. The initiating editor must place the appropriate Task Template (such as {{subst:Move|page_name = |reason = }}) at the top of the page in question, specifying the proposed page name(s) and listing their Reason for the Proposal (which is mandatory).
2. Other editors may contest the proposal or ask for clarification on the talk page linked in the template message. It is understood that explaining and defending the Proposal is the responsibility of the initiator. A discussion may also take place in the community's official Discord server, with the understanding that Discord discussions may become lost in the archives, unless the consensus is reached and implemented promptly.
3. Consensus for the proposal is considered sufficient in the following cases:
   1. The reason for the proposal is uncontroversial and is backed by the information from a source, properly cited on the page itself.
   2. The proposal remains uncontested for more than 2 weeks.
   3. The documented discussion between all participating users shows clear evidence of consensus.
   4. A vote either on the talk page or in the Discord server results in the consensus (see Determining Consensus below).
4. After the consensus is achieved, all existing links to the old pagename must be updated. Editors of any role can split and merge pages, provided they are familiar with the context. Deletions and moves of pages can only be performed by staff members.
   • As moving a page with multiple links to it requires significant manual input even when using a bot, staff members are encouraged to move pages with less than 50–100 links to them manually.
5. The proposal will be rejected and the Task Template removed in the following cases:
   1. No reason is cited, or the Task Template is otherwise used improperly.
   2. The objections/questions/alternate proposals on the talk page remain unaddressed for more than 1 month.
   3. The discussion has lead to no clear consensus, and no party had initiated a consensus vote.
   4. The community vote had resulted in either clear rejection of the proposal or no sonsensus.

Determining Consensus

Consensus is determined through a community vote amongst the currently active Marvel Database contributors. Voting may take place either in the Talk: namespace on the Marvel Database or in the dedicated channel in the community's official Discord server. Several rules must be observed:

• Before starting a formal vote, it is highly encouraged to have a discussion on the topic to present the differing opinions and evaluate the evidence and counter-arguments that editors may present. Votes should not be started while the discussion is still ongoing. After the vote is started, further discussion may still take place, but should be separated from the vote itself into another thread (whether on the Marvel Database or on Discord) to make the voting results clear and easy to tally.
• Editors should be given both time and opportunity to participate in the discussions and votes. When the formal vote is started, editors should be made aware of it through the relevant Discord callback @Wiki Contributor, even if the vote is taking place on the Marvel Database proper. Votes may be closed early if the consensus is evident, otherwise the vote may be open for up to 1 week, as long as new votes are coming in. When the vote is over, a snapshot of the current tally with a datestamp is taken for future reference.
• Voting options should be made as clear and concise as possible. Do not present several large blocks of text with only minor differences in wording; instead condense the differences into the few key points and link to the full proposal elsewhere if necessary. Likewise, do not split the differences into multiple voting options with only minor changes, as that will dillute editor votes and make achieving consensus difficult - only present 3 or more voting options when all of them are very distinct and clearly incompatible with one another.
• Voting participation is limited to the currently active Marvel Database contributors. Editors who performed fewer than 50 edits in the last 6 months at the moment of their vote may have their votes excluded from the tally at the discretion of the Administrators. Some votes are restricted to the Marvel Database Administrators if they concern administrative matters such as response to improper conduct or anything regarding the TRN system. Abusing multiple accounts or recruiting non-active contributors to manipiulate the votes is strictly forbidden and is a blockable offense.
• Consensus is achieved when one of the proposed options has more votes than the next highest by a factor of 1.5:1 or more, with a minimum of 5 votes required and no new votes being cast. If the vote failed to achieve consensus, another vote may be taken by eliminating the least popular of 3 or more options or rewording the options according to the community discussion. This should not be abused by repeatedly bringing the same topic for a vote without altering the options or trying to overturn another recently achieved consensus.

No Consensus

Without a consensus, status quo should remain and proposed change is rejected.

Consensus Can Change

There are many reasons why previous consensus might have been changed and therefore editors can propose a change to existing consensus if there's new information about the subject. However, common sense should be used on how often change can be proposed. If previous consensus has been achieved through discussion, it's better to propose a change by starting a new one. If somebody challenges previous consensus by editing, it's helpful to link to previous discussion on edit summary of revert edit.