User:Moreschi/Consensus

For the benefit of passers-by, this is a draft of a proposed addition to Wikipedia:Consensus.

Consensus can fail

In especially difficult and complication situations that involve many different editors, articles, and project pages, consensus can fail. Recourse to dispute resolution and in particular to the arbitration committee may be necessary. These occasional failures of consensus do not mean that that consensus is not the best way of deciding matters for the Wikipedia community. This has been acknowledged by the arbitration committee. It is necessary to remember that every system ever devised by man has been found to be faulty to a certain extent, and that it is widely agreed that maximal excellence is beyond the reach of mankind. In simpler terms, don't expect too much. It is to be expected that consensus will sometimes fail. When this happens, it is a bad idea to start trying to reinvent the wheel.