Champ losing status
As touchy as this subject is, these are the rules for how Champs lose their status. These are merely guidelines set forth to establish how someone may lose their status.
Resignation
Voluntarily giving up the status: This is done when the champ voluntarily gives up his/her responsibilities as a Champ. S/he may have life responsibilities, be no longer interested in holding the title, or some other reason.
Leave of Absence
This can be done on an involuntary basis due to life unexpectedly getting in the way. This is done when a Champ does not log in AND does not contribute in 90 days. Contributing constitutes posting meaningful information in the forum AND contributing meaningful edits.
Forced Out
A Champ may be forced or voted out of the Champs group. Reasons why this may be necessary include intentional damage to the map, failure to follow community editing guidelines, encouraging other editors to edit in an improper manner, and encouraging other editors to not follow community editing guidelines. Additionally, belligerent, caustic, demeaning, or rude communication or other behavior with fellow editors via any form of transmission which would be considered conduct unbecoming of a leader of the US Waze community, is also grounds for being forced out.
All evidence and discussion for removal of a champ must be in a public forum where everyone can have a chance to look over the evidence and come up with a formed opinion. There will be no back channel discussions and no back channel deals made. This is to help have transparency with everyone.
Once all evidence is presented, a vote will happen.
Voting
When voting someone out, voting will be open for 6 days. Options for voting will be YES, NO, & ABSTAIN. This will help keep track of the number of votes being cast for >50% majority.
There will only be one vote per instance per Champ. If the person being voted on survives the vote, there will be no revote.
If the Champ in question decides to resign after the vote has started, the vote will continue. If the vote goes in favor of the Champ, his resignation will be accepted and we will lose Champ status under the "resignation" rules. If the vote goes against the Champ, he will fall under the "forced out" rules.
What happens to a Champ after losing status
A Champ who loses his status via options resigning or leave of absence will be reduced in rank to a 5. Reasoning behind this is after 90 days, they may be out of the loop on many things which may have transpired with Waze. A Champ who loses his status via being forced out may be reduced in rank to a 2. This is to prevent backlash damage to the map, which may or may not be noticed by higher ranking editors for weeks or even months (depending on area of availability to editor).
Reinstating Champ status
Yes, it is possible for someone to regain Champ status.
The editor who loses their status via being forced out and is making the request must not have done anything retaliatory in response to losing status, and must wait at least 1 calendar year from the time s/he lost the status. Reinstatement before a year may be done on a case by case basis.