# Vote

A MediaWiki extension to provide a user-friendly graphical
user interface for votes conducted on wiki pages.  To add
a vote to a page you just add the `<vote>` tag as follows:

    <vote>
    </vote>

This extension then turns this tag into a web form with radio buttons
for the available options (approve, oppose and abstain) and a textarea
to attach a comment to the vote. When you submit the form, the extension
simply edits the page, inserting a new line before the closing `</vote>`
tag. By storing the votes in the page text all the changes are
conveniently and transparently tracked in the page history.

Additional features include:

* The votes are automatically tallied.

* You can change your vote by just submitting the form again
  (your last vote counts).

* An end date may be specified for the vote with the `end` attribute
  e.g. with `<vote end=2022-10-15>` the vote will close on the 15th
  October 2022 at 23:59 in the [wiki timezone].
  After the deadline the web form to add new votes disappears.

* A vote may be cancelled by adding the `cancel` attribute,
  e.g. `<vote cancel>`.

* Any line within the `<vote>` tag that does not start with `* `
  is skipped when tallying, so it is possible to reply to votes
  by editing the wikitext, e.g:

      <vote>
      * 2022-10-14 12:28 Alice: NO I am concerned that ...
      : Some reply to Alice ... --~~~~
      * 2022-10-14 12:30 Bob: YES I think that ...
      </vote>

Pages with open votes are by default tracked in the
`Category:Pages with open votes` category (which can be customized
by editing `MediaWiki:pages-with-open-votes-category`).

[wiki timezone]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Timezone

## Backstory

The extension was developed by [push-f] for the [OpenStreetMap Wiki] to
make its [proposal voting process] more welcoming to people unfamiliar
with wikitext. OpenStreetMap is edited by hundreds of thousands people,
most of which are probably unfamiliar with wiki editing. While in
comparison only very few people participate in the proposal voting,
everybody is welcome to do so, so it makes sense to simplify the process.

[push-f]: https://push-f.com/
[OpenStreetMap Wiki]: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/
[proposal voting process]: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposal_process#Voting