Oh, sorry Lyra. I was paraphrasing or attempting to quote, or something, a previous poster who seemed concerned about whether or not they'd be allowed to do an absentee ballot previous to the vote, if necessary, because they'd be away from Internet access during the regular voting time. I don't really know what I said that was odd, but, you know, I've been told that before. You did seem a little impatient, but it was a little late for me to be bringing it up, I think, and I don't want to fragment the discussion when it seems so close to ending. I wasn't offended, anyway.

Perhaps we need to wait and put it off a day (or however long is needed).

No, please don't do that.

If concerned about Jim or Angus I could send them a quick note.

Deena, I think what confused me was that you didn't ask about absentee ballots (which we haven't addressed yet). You asked if someone who cared about absentee ballots but supported voting should vote no. That strikes me as a really silly thing to do, because it's voting against something you like because of something we haven't decided yet.

I think the reason I come off as abrupt or impatient sometimes is that I tend to be terse about my opinions -- I'd be surprised if more than 10% of my posts top 150 words. It's not indicative of a bad mood, or anything except the fact this is the way I talk online.

I don't know if it's been mentioned, because skip and skim and other things that make me a Bad Person...

Anyway, I think, if we're going to do a poll on something as serious as how we make decisions as a community, perhaps adding a small banner on the home page, or spamming each thread with the news is in order for a week, just so's verra few can claim ignorance. And, you know, in Announcements, people usually mention when they're going dark. What am saying is, we really can notify as many people as humanly possible, and accept that a few will fall through the cracks and may be cranky about it.

And, you know, in Announcements, people usually mention when they're going dark.

No, they do that in "Beep Me".

I really want voting to start tonight at midnight.

No, they do that in "Beep Me".

Oh. Sorry. Forgive me.

I do too Jon-- it is just so hard to tell if people haven't said anything because they don't care, or because they haven't seen anything.

My suggestion:

Start the vote tonight at midnight.

Perhaps extend to voting period so that people who aren't here now can vote, even if they haven't discussed.

Also, did we decide whether or not to include item #4?

Have the words 'secret ballot' made it into anyone's posts during this discussion? Kind of the cornerstone of any solid democracy, as a hedge against voter influence.

Oh, I'm sorry (again) Lyra. I'm being fuzzy today. I tend to think things out as I type and my posts often go way too far the other direction.

Anyway, I guess what I was asking is really a question that would be answered if they read this thread (is voting like this the only way it will ever be?) and didn't need to be asked at all.