Wikipedia:No Polarising Policies

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This proposal has failed to attain consensus within the Wikipedia community. A failed proposal is one for which a consensus to accept is not present after a reasonable amount of time, and seems unlikely to form, regardless of continuing discussion.

This page in a nutshell: No proposal should potentially polarise the community

While there is a guideline for gathering concensus, it relies on the assumption that the voting demographic is roughly gaussian in nature. There are likely to be policies, guidelines or processes proposed that would seemingly gather consensus under a vote, but would create a division in the Wikipedia community in doing so.

In other words, if a proposed policy, guideline or process is controversial then an overwhelming majority must be won in order for it to succeed a vote. Preferably there would be an extended period over which it is discussed in order for any gripes people might have can be first understood and then dealt with.

Essentially, if there is militant opposition to a proposal - even if it is a small minority - then unless a compromise can be reached, the proposal should never migrate into policy. Doing so would harm Wikipedia's status as an open-minded information source.