Whoa! I... I think I'm having a thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a thought. Now I'm having a plan. Now I'm having a wiggins.

Xander ,'First Date'


Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


billytea - Mar 03, 2003 8:57:58 am PST #6196 of 10001
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

I'm with you. It's the same as proportional representaion, at least as I understand it.

Proportional representation is something different. Where you have an electorate that elects more than one representative (for instance, in Australia each state elects six, occasionally twelve, senators in each election), proportional representation aims to have the number of candidates from that electorate in roughly the same proportions as they got votes. (So if you have six seats, and party A got 15,000 votes, party B got 10,000 and party C got 5,000, then they should get 3 seats, 2 seats and 1 seat respectively.)

Preferential voting as described above is still for single-member electorates, or IOW elections where there can be only one winner.


DXMachina - Mar 03, 2003 9:01:06 am PST #6197 of 10001
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

My only proposal is that we call it anything but the Supreme Court thread, because of issues with making sense. That is all.

How about "The Council of Watchers" thread, just to remind us that we only want to go there as a last resort.


Am-Chau Yarkona - Mar 03, 2003 9:05:27 am PST #6198 of 10001
I bop to Wittgenstein. -- Nutty

Proportional representation is something different. Where you have an electorate that elects more than one representative (for instance, in Australia each state elects six, occasionally twelve, senators in each election), proportional representation aims to have the number of candidates from that electorate in roughly the same proportions as they got votes. (So if you have six seats, and party A got 15,000 votes, party B got 10,000 and party C got 5,000, then they should get 3, 2 and 1 seat respectively.)

Quoted because I needed to read it again.

So, same system, different applications because of the different results needed?

And this is rapidly turning into natter of sorts. Sorry.


billytea - Mar 03, 2003 9:09:20 am PST #6199 of 10001
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

So, same system, different applications because of the different results needed?

Different applications at least. Prop rep isn't 'winner takes all'. Obviously, the sorts of things we'll be putting up for voting will be 'winner takes all' - we're going to make a single decision.

(Australia's senatorial elections do have some features in common with preferential voting, but that would get very complicated to explain, and isn't really relevant to the question facing the Buffistas.)


Betsy HP - Mar 03, 2003 10:33:38 am PST #6200 of 10001
If I only had a brain...

Jen, can you edit your press posting so that it links to the questions? Off the top of my head I couldn't remember which was 2 and which was 3.


Jon B. - Mar 03, 2003 10:39:58 am PST #6201 of 10001
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

I took care of it, Betsy.


Jesse - Mar 03, 2003 11:30:42 am PST #6202 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

OK, so based on what Sophia posted, and kind of stealing from Cindy's format, here's the first draft of a new ballot. It's very drafty:

ITEM 1: FORMAL DISCUSSION THREAD

(note: I figure a cute thread title can come later?)

Do we want a separate thread for actual voting discussions?

A yes vote on this Item means you would like a new thread, that will be solely dedicated to formal discussion of future items put forward for voting. This thread will only be open during the designated days of formal discussion.

A no vote means you do not want a new thread. (Presumably in this case, all discussion will take place in Bureaucracy.)

----------------

ITEM 2: CLOSE DISCUSSION

Do we want to close the talking about a subject when the voting starts?

A yes vote on this item means that you would like to end all discussion on a given item when voting starts.

A no vote means you would like to continue discussion through the voting period.

----------------

ITEM 3: VOTER TURNOUT

How many Buffistas does it take to make a vote count? Do abstentions count toward this?

For the first part, I propose a set of choices: 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, other. Or some other set. And I don't know if we should do preferential voting or not. Sorry.

For the second part, it's a simple yes or no.

If you vote yes, you would allow people to register their vote as an abstention -- that is, with no preference for either choice -- and that vote would count toward the minimum number.

If you vote no, you want only votes that prefer one option to count toward the minimum.

----------------

ITEM 4: SECONDS

Do we have some way of deciding what we vote on? Do we need "seconds"? Obviously not everything needs to be voted on!

(OK, so the actual question would be something like this: Before a proposal moves to formal discussion, is there a minimum number of people who have to agree? Or something. I'm kind of lost. Ideas on phrasing?)


Sophia Brooks - Mar 03, 2003 11:40:45 am PST #6203 of 10001
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

Looks good Jesse!

The part about item 4 is that it is really 2 questions.

1. Do we need seconds?

2. How the heck do we decide what we vote on. For example, on my list, I don't think we need to vote on whether or not we need an HTML page listing items that have come up for vote and can't be proposed right now. Or on a Marcie.

Also, I may have missed something on my list -- have we discussed the waiting period for how long after a vote until something can be proposed again.


Kat - Mar 03, 2003 11:51:11 am PST #6204 of 10001
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo

Also, I may have missed something on my list -- have we discussed the waiting period for how long after a vote until something can be proposed again.

6 months was bandied about.


Jesse - Mar 03, 2003 11:52:30 am PST #6205 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Yeah, 6 months was bandied about. I think we already have 6 items, really, and that seems like almost too many already.