community decision making (was: The Trunk: Tools-mt.534.mcz)

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community decision making (was: The Trunk: Tools-mt.534.mcz)

Chris Muller-3
> Ha! I just voted, and it looks like the number of different opinions
> exactly matches the number of people who have voted so far.
>
> If we could get one more person to vote, then stop the election, we
> would have a decision ;-)
>
> Joking aside, there is something to be said for taking of poll to find
> out what most people want, without regard for who has the loudest opinion.

It already is without regard to loudness, the loudest voters still
only get one vote.

> So folks - if you have an opinion on this topic, please follow the link
> above and click on your preference.

Voting has been a last resort, not a first resort, of decision-making
by this community.  When an issue comes up, the people who care enough
about that issue to step up and present the reasons of their position
to their peers, so that a community consensus is arrived at based on
community-input from those with a vested interest.

By contrast, some external, anonymous poll in which dozens folks who
don't participate much, don't care that much because they started a
Squeak image 3 times in their whole life, -- those folks having as
much pull as everyone else who is more-vested.

Besides, how can we know such an external poll is even fair?  Could
someone vote multiple times from different computers, for example?
Right here, we know any votes are fair, and by the discussions we know
the *reasons* for the outcome..

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Re: community decision making (was: The Trunk: Tools-mt.534.mcz)

David T. Lewis
On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 12:48:14PM -0600, Chris Muller wrote:

> > Ha! I just voted, and it looks like the number of different opinions
> > exactly matches the number of people who have voted so far.
> >
> > If we could get one more person to vote, then stop the election, we
> > would have a decision ;-)
> >
> > Joking aside, there is something to be said for taking of poll to find
> > out what most people want, without regard for who has the loudest opinion.
>
> It already is without regard to loudness, the loudest voters still
> only get one vote.
>
> > So folks - if you have an opinion on this topic, please follow the link
> > above and click on your preference.
>
> Voting has been a last resort, not a first resort, of decision-making
> by this community.  When an issue comes up, the people who care enough
> about that issue to step up and present the reasons of their position
> to their peers, so that a community consensus is arrived at based on
> community-input from those with a vested interest.
>
> By contrast, some external, anonymous poll in which dozens folks who
> don't participate much, don't care that much because they started a
> Squeak image 3 times in their whole life, -- those folks having as
> much pull as everyone else who is more-vested.
>
> Besides, how can we know such an external poll is even fair?  Could
> someone vote multiple times from different computers, for example?
> Right here, we know any votes are fair, and by the discussions we know
> the *reasons* for the outcome..

Sure, no disagreement. Like most attempts at democratic processes, it
probably will not work very well.

But sometimes we don't actually know how people are using the system,
and asking the broader community for input is one way to get information.
Think of the poll as a way to ask for input that you can use to make
an informed decision. I don't know if it will work, but it seems worth
a try, so let's see what happens.

Dave