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 | This is a failed proposal. Consensus for its implementation as a guideline was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump. |
 | This page in a nutshell: A rough consensus is calling of the consensus that the discussion is headed towards. |
When closing a discussion, the discussion closer may recognize that despite the participants not reaching a consensus, there is evidence of a rough consensus enough to make a decision and to close the discussion.
Traditionally, this has been most prominently done by administrators in deletion discussions. See Wikipedia:Deletion guidelines for administrators#Rough consensus, shortcut WP:ROUGH CONSENSUS.
However, experienced non-admin closers are also respected for rough consensus calls, and rough consensus is also used to close a number of non-deletion discussions, such as requested moves, formal requests for comment, and many others.