Keep it Simple

These are the words that I beg you all to remember. I know that talking things to death is the Buffista way, and I understand that there are people who enjoy this administriva (there must be, right? Otherwise this thread wouldn't be going so crazy), but know that there are many of us who just wish this would all get decided and go away. As someone who's been a part of this community (off and on) for a long time, I felt at first that I needed to keep up with this discussion, that I had some responsibility to. But so many negative feelings have been created here over the last month or two that I have been avoiding it. I don't come here for that. Call me Pollyanna, but I think we can do better than that.

THIS POST NOT ABOUT VOTING PROCEDURES:

The only other thing where I think we would need a formal, procedures-laid-out-in-advance system of government would be if we (heaven forfend) attracted a particularly malicious troll or had a current member turn into a troll.

I really can't think of anything other than thread creation. I'm sure that something else will probably come up, but it'll be very rare.

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

I didn't think I was. If that's all it is, then I don't care in the slightest about how we vote, whether we vote, when we vote, or if some people believe "Quorum" means "Majority" and "Majority" means "anyone who was at the F2F".

What will we do about serious things then?

What will we do about serious things then?

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"? Because I'm really having trouble coming up with one.

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"?

Really? I don't think you want me to. But let's say "what to spend Buffista funds on" or something. That's non-frivolous.

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.

No, really!

More serious even than that!

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

With the idea of a) keeping discussion from going on eternally and b) keeping a "concensus" from being determined by whatever big mouth is around (neither of which seem like enormous problems IMHO), yeah.

In the "keep it simple" frame of mind, if we go with Anne's suggestion (although I'm kind of with Jesse on that), I suggest we don't allow people to abstain. Vote or don't. Vote yes. Vote no. Don't vote if you don't know or don't care.

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Another suggestion, in the cocktail frame of mind (which if my tummy felt better, believe you me I'd be having four right now...) is...

Don't even decide on the preferential thing, ever - at least not an all time decision. For now, if we're voting on something and it's a yes/no or a/b kind of decision, it doesn't matter.

In the future, when we have to choose from a number of things, do the following:

For this ballot we are voting on which color socks we will wear on Saturdays. Read the items with the following in mind: Do you want the item with "the most votes" to win, or do you want to rank your preference?

item 1

yes vote signifies single item with "most votes"

no vote signifies that the items should be subject to a preferential method of tallying

item 2

rank the sock colors, so that in the event that item one does not pass, we'll already have the information

red
orange
yellow
green
blue
purple
brown
black
gray
grey
white
pink

With the idea of a) keeping discussion from going on eternally and b) keeping a "concensus" from being determined by whatever big mouth is around (neither of which seem like enormous problems IMHO), yeah.

Wow, then, I guess, I really can leave this thread alone.

Don't tell the Australian taxpayer about the eight or so hours I put into it yesterday when I was supposed to be working, they'll be very upset.

Let me know if there's an actual vote or if anyone's specifically saying "let's get John H's input on this one"... or if something else is being discussed, I guess.

[edit for context]

Really? I don't think you want me to.

I'd like to think that anything serious enough to require a vote would be something that people are able to bring up in this thread. If it's something too sensitive to even mention, then perhaps we don't want to devote 4 days of discussion to it, ever.