I have to admit that after reading items 2 & 3 regarding quorum, majority and simple majority, I am a little confused as to the synergy of these two items. But maybe that's just me.

Okay two things. As to the simple majority thing first. This is decides whether you think an item needs only one half + 1 of the votes to win, or if you'd think any proposal ought to win a higher percentage of the votes before we put it in. So, if we held a vote to add a politics thread, and we have 900 voters (who do vote), if 451 voters vote in favor of it, if you're in favor of simple majority winning, you'd agree the politics thread should go in.

If you want a higher percentage than simple majority (and if most people feel this way, we'll have to have a discussion and vote on the appropriate percentage, i.e. is it 60%, 66.67%, 75%, etc), then even if 451 vote yes on the politics thread, and 449 vote no on the politics thread, you'd think the politics thread shouldn't be added.

Now, as to the quorum thingie. A quorum is a minimum required number of members showing up in order to conduct business. Usually, it's used in terms of assessing the crowd to see if business should even be conducted. However, because we're a cyber community, there's no real way to do that, other than to just take the vote. So what the votes on the quorum item signify is if you are in favor of a quorum, you want X (to be defined) number of people voting for the vote to even count. If you are not in favor of the quorum, you think the vote should count, no matter how many people vote.

examples:

If we have both a vote-quorum and a simple majority wins rule

Say we've set a 10 person vote-quorum. In other words, if 10 people don't vote, the results of the vote election don't count. I request a Viggo Mortensen Should Belong to Cindy thread. Only 3 people vote, and two vote in favor of the thread. Even though we have a simple majority wins the day, because only 3 Buffistas could be arsed to vote, I don't get my thread.

If we have no vote-quorum and also have a simple majority wins rule

If only 3 people vote and two vote in favor of the Viggo Mortensen Should Belong to Cindy thread, then Joss is in SoCal, all's right with the world, and I get my thread.

If we have a vote-quorum and a higher percentage rule (hypothetical numbers)

If the quorum is 100 people must show up to vote and the higher percentage (example) is set at 66.67%, and we hold a vote to see if we can have a Viggo Mortensen Should Belong to Cindy thread. We have two conditions affecting how we implement the will of the people, based on the ballot results. In other words, we need 100 people (at least) total to vote, and 67 of them must vote yes, in order for me to get my thread.

If we have no quorum - but do have the higher percentage wins rule

If we held the Viggo Mortensen Should Belong to Cindy election, and only 4 of us voted, but three of us voted in favor of the thread, I'd get the thread.

Does this help.

We should so totally have that thread.

The poll page keeps telling me my default e-mail address is invalid. I feel so rejected.

(Yes, nobody needs to point out that I can e-mail my votes. I know that.)

*hair pats to Steph*

Cindy--

Do you think you could link to the post in Press as a clarification? Wolfram and I can't be the only poor souls who need a Quorums for Dummies (TM) explaination.

I just sent in my ballot. I feel all patriotic, or something. Thanks to the people who helped put this together, including Allyson, ita, Jon B., jengod, Laura, Cindy, and Sophia.

And no, even if I think it's important, I bail if it goes on too long, or comes around too often. Because, really, it stops being worth it, when you tally time and effort and sometimes blood pressure.

ita speaks for me. It hasn't happened so much on Buffistas.org, but there are definitely times in my online life when I've made a choice between courage of convictions and staying sane, and sanity has won out.

Okay two things. As to the simple majority thing first. This is decides whether you think an item needs only one half + 1 of the votes to win, or if you'd think any proposal ought to win a higher percentage of the votes before we put it in.

One minor confusion: it basically says to vote yes if you think any proposal should be decided by a simple majority, and no if you think any proposal should be decided by a higher majority. I like the idea of some things being decided by simple majority, but major stuff needing a higher majority. On a strict wording, the above options don't allow for that position.

(I don't think it's a problem. Tracking through the implications, it's pretty clear that a 'no' vote would allow further fine-tuning, while the 'yes' vote's a more ready-made package.)

I'm getting an "invalid e-mail address" error on the poll page, even though it's got my address there and it looks right.

Michelle - I notice your email isn't in your profile. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not though, because Steph's email address is in her profile.

Cindy--

Do you think you could link to the post in Press as a clarification? Wolfram and I can't be the only poor souls who need a Quorums for Dummies (TM) explaination.

I cross posted it instead, Sophia.

edited to add the ">"

6. David mentions consensus and banning procedures: [link]

My comments are actually at post 1840.

Here's the actual link to David's post (remember that the displayed post number at WX often doesn't match the system post number due to deletions):

[link]

Thanks DX. I was really nodding off at that point!