About/How Crowners Work

So you have been participating in a thread in Trope Repair Shop or Image Pickin’, there has been some discussion about what to do to fix a page, and you want to move on to the next step and that much closer to actually fixing the page. In most cases, this means making a crowner.

What are crowners anyway?
Crowners are a tool for measuring consensus for a decision on the wiki. The name is an Artifact Title from when they were used to determine a Crowning Moment of Awesome. Interested tropers can choose to vote in them by clicking on the up or down arrows next to each option. You may vote for multiple options and revert your vote if you change your mind, but you obviously can only select up or down for each choice.

When should you make a crowner?
Generally, it is a good idea to wait until there has been a decent amount of discussion (and a Wick Check if appropriate) about the issue with the trope(s) before making a crowner. If you aren’t sure whether it is time for a crowner, posting in the thread to ask is normally a good idea.

Single Proposition
A Single Proposition crowner is for situations when there is only one clear question that can be answered with a Yes (Up)/No (Down) vote such as “Rename This Trope?” “Split This Trope?” “Cut This Trope?” or “Merge This Trope and That Trope?”
 * To make a Single Proposition crowner simply type in the following URL http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/SingleProposition/[Insert Title Here], replacing [Insert Title Here] with the name of the trope in question.
 * For example, a Single Proposition crowner for How Crowners Work would look like this:
 * http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/SingleProposition/HowCrownersWork

Alternative Titles
Alternative Titles crowners are used to select a new name for a trope that is being renamed or for picking a name for a new trope that is being split off. Since these come after an initial rename decision (usually decided by a Single Proposition crowner), “Keep the old name” or any variant is not to be put on an Alternative Titles crowner. These crowners are for listing and voting on possible new names, not for arguing for the old one.
 * To make an Alternative Titles crowner type in the following URL http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/AlternativeTitles/[Insert Title Here], replacing [Insert Title Here] with the name of the trope in question.
 * For example, an Alternative Titles crowner for How Crowners Work would look like this:
 * http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/AlternativeTitles/HowCrownersWork

Page Action
Page Action crowners are for when there is more than one option being considered for fixing a trope. For example, some tropers may advocate for cutting a trope altogether while others may say that splitting it or renaming it would be a better solution. In such cases, each of those options should be on a Page Action crowner. Page Action crowners can sometimes make things pretty complicated, so make sure that there clearly are multiple suggestions for what to do with a trope before making one.
 * To make a Page Action crowner type in the following URL http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/PageAction/[Insert Title Here], replacing [Insert Title Here] with the name of the trope in question.
 * For example, a Page Action crowner for How Crowners Work would look like this:
 * http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/PageAction/HowCrownersWork

Image Pickin
Image Pickin crowners are used to choose a new image for a wiki page. When making these types of crowners, link to each image that has been proposed with a source or brief description; do not put the image itself in the crowner.
 * To make an Image Pickin type in the following URL http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/[Insert Title Here], replacing [Insert Title Here] with the name of the trope in question.
 * For example, an Image Pickin crowner for How Crowners Work would look like this:
 * http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/HowCrownersWork

Wiki Development
Wiki development crowners are used to vote on substantial changes to the wiki itself rather than adjustments of a specific page. They are not as common as the other types of crowners, but function similarly to page action ones, except that rather than using /PageAction/ in the URL, /WikiDevelopment/ is swapped in. Sandbox crowners are also occasionally used for testing or other miscellaneous purposes.

Hooking it to the thread
The first thing to do is to holler (that is click this thing) the moderators, asking politely for one to hook (attach) your crowner to the thread. For IP and TRS crowners, you can also PM the subforum engineers, Willbyr (Contact) or ccoa (Contact) respectively.

Building a consensus
Next, the crowner should run until it stabilizes and there is a consensus. There is no strict set maximum or minimum number of days that a crowner has to stay open, but as a general rule of thumb, they normally should stay open for at least three days (not counting weekends) and should not be closed until there is a clear consensus. If the change is a major one (like the renaming of a whole namespace), you need at least one week.

The important thing for consensus is the proportion of votes rather than the number of votes. For example, an option with 20 ups and 10 downs (a 2:1 ratio) beats out one with 98 ups and 97 downs (a 1.01:1 ratio).

Consensus usually requires a 2:1 ratio of up vs. down votes with rename efforts normally not being considered to have consensus support until they have around 70% support (a 2.33:1 ratio), while Alt Names can be called with less than 2:1. In the event that multiple options have at least 2:1 support on a Page Action crowner, all of the ones that are compatible with the option with the most support may also be done after the crowner is called.

The minimum amount of votes is usually 10-15 combined votes for the option with the most votes cast (the higher, the better), but large-scale efforts like renaming of namespaces need usually around 100-150 votes.

Calling crowners and getting to work
If you think that a crowner has reached a consensus or if you are unsure, feel free to holler and ask the staff if it is time for the crowner to be closed. If a moderator agrees he or she will call the crowner and suggest that people start getting to work.

You should always try to wait until the crowner is closed before taking action or making another crowner (e.g., an Alternative Titles one if a Single Proposition crowner decided on a rename). Also, in the rare event that a crowner has been open for quite a long time and there seems to be no consensus forming, the thread has stalled and it may be appropriate to ask a moderator to close it.

Usage outside of TRS and IP
Generally, moderators can hook crowners on any thread, even outside of IP or TRS. Sometimes crowners are used in non-Workshop parts of the fora, usually to allow people to vote on something without having the obligation to post. Depending upon the purpose of the crowner, the requirements may vary from those of the generic Workshop crowner.