So... in march 2005, after several people expressed their wish to become stewards AND after many people complained that the current stewards were too slow... I suggested that new stewards elections be held.

More than 2 months later, we still have no new stewards. And those suffering of this are 1) stewards and 2) those waiting for things to get done.

Now... nothing happened because Jimbo suggested that stewards be nominated rather than elected, due to the reason steward is a "technical" position.

Steward is indeed essentially a technical position, just as sysops are. And sysops are approved by the community, not nominated. This is how things are done on all projects and I see no reason why it would be different for stewards.

I read those fears that it would be a big mess, that we were sick of votes and that only english stewards would be elected. I think it has no ground. The first set of stewards was absolutely not english only, so there is no reason to have any fears. and when elections were suggested, about 10 people made their candidacy known, not a flow of candidacies. For all I remember, most were good people we know quite well.

I am tired of seeing this issue not fixed. So I opened the vote. It will stay open for two weeks. After two weeks, one of the current steward will make the most approved people stewards, and that will be it. We'll have a flow of votes in the next week, so best to do it all of them at once and be done for a while.

Please, consider it a sort of sysop election. The issue is not to only *like* a person. It is not a popularity contest. The goal is to have the job done. Half of the stewards elected last year are inactive. Please let us avoid this and not make it a big deal of it. Just quietly say "yes" to those you think can help. Say "no" if you think the person is nice but will not help.

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2005

Please...

Ant