Looks good, Jon. I just cast a test ballot, and it looks like it's working properly. Upon submitting the ballot I got the "ballot cast" message on an otherwise blank template.

Someone had suggested earlier that we break question 3 into 2 part, like question 4.

I was trying to do that, but failed. If someone can word it out in the next half hour, I can change it, but I think it's pretty clear as is.

I think this needs to be re-worded

How about "If you vote no, you want only votes for "yes" and "no" to count toward the minimum.

I realize that some future votes may have two options other than "yes" and "no", but this is clear enough for now, don't you think?

Also -- Laura, DX, Sophia -- your votes were received. Thanks.

Upon submitting the ballot I got the "ballot cast" message on an otherwise blank template.

As it should be.

How about "If you vote no, you want only votes for "yes" and "no" to count toward the minimum.

Better: "If you vote no, you want only votes that prefer either of the specific options to count toward the minimum."

I voted too, Jon. It went fine and I got the response email.

ITEM 3: VOTER TURNOUT

How many Buffistas does it take to make a vote count?

Choose the minimum number of community members you think should have to vote on any item in order for the vote to count. If fewer than this minimum number vote on a particular item, then that item will have failed to pass regardless of the percentage of votes in favor. Please put a number between 2 and 100 into the box below. An average (rounded to the nearest whole number) of these numbers will be used to determine the voter turnout.

THEN THE VOTING BOX

THEN THE PRETTY LINE

Do votes of "no preference" count toward the minimum voter turnout?

If you vote yes, you would allow people to register their vote as a "No Preference" ?that is, with no preference for either choice ? and that vote would count toward the minimum number needed to make the vote valid.

If you vote no, you want only votes that prefereither yes or no to count toward the minimum number of voters needed to make the vote valid

Irrespective of this question, votes of "no preference" never count either for or against the majority needed to pass a proposal.

Then the voting stuff

Well, that was surprisingly simple! Thanks Sophia. I'll make the change right now.

OK, a new version is up that combines Sophia's language with my change from the post before.

Whatever was going on backchannel, the Anathema-persona was never a troll on the board. So we basically just banned someone for being an asshole over email, yes? And we're all okay with that? That's a precedent that nobody minds setting?

What happens was that Anathema revealed solid, final evidence, after hinting and hinting and wink-wink-nudge-nudge-ing, that his posts were being written by the same person who had been writing the posts of a persona now banned. And that meant we needed to ban him again, because he was trying to get away with-- again-- that rules-don't-apply-to-me bit.

And the rules apply to every Buffista! They apply to me! They apply to ita! It's part of the definition of Buffista-dom!

We treat these slippery online identities with respect, as if they were people ('cuz mostly they are.

t getting my disquisition on

And, you know, I really see that position, too. I get all het up when people casually discourage online communication, for example-- I'm Rebecca Lizard as much as I am [birth name here], thank you very much; my online self and my online relationships are just as valid and important (in a couple cases, more) as my "real life" self and "real life" relationships.

But the fact is is that the medium of online life lends itself to greater mutability than real life does. I'm fairly damn constant, I believe, as this Lizard; and this Lizard is a pretty real and rounded person; and I wear her pretty close to the skin; but I could also, if I took the fancy, create a new email address, start a new name, and join a new community-- hey presto, there's an entire new being called into person. And it could be whatever I want it to be. If I wanted it to be so, no one would ever need to know it was connected to Rebecca Lizard. If I wanted it to be so, its life wouldn't have to have anything to do with Rebecca Lizard. It could be someone who discusses pro baseball and the Simpsons all the time. It could be a homophobic conservative reactionary person. I could write all of its dialogue with total ironic (ironic in its technical sense) distance; and I could do this just as an exercise of will.

Not that I think Anathema was necessarily writing all of his posts with total ironic distance, at all. But, on the face of things, he presented Schmoker/Anathema as being a different person, unconnected to mieskie. And that is what I'm talking about.

And you can't *do* that casually, at all, in "real life". Bring a new being into the room, call someone into place just by power of your will and your words in their mouth. So while I do respect people online as people, I also am aware of the possibilities of degrees of simply-persona-ness inherent in the form.

So what was "supposed" to happen with the suspension was that mieskie took an enforced hiatus as a punishment for abusing community standards, and then could return.

Well, exactly. But he broke the terms of his suspension (which were... suspension! As in, an enforced period of no-talky) by registering and posting as Michael. Which is *very, very against the rules*. And that's the final reason why we banned him.

Is how I'd seen it.

after hinting and hinting and wink-wink-nudge-nudge-ing, that his posts were being written by the same person who had been writing the posts of a persona now banned.

I just have to say that I never saw this. If you're referring to his love of canasta, I think that was a slip up on his part. My mind could be changed on this, but I'd have to see specific examples.

The official voting page is up at [link]

I'm about to head out for the evening, so someone will have to post the text of the ballot with a link to the page above at midnight.

I'll be back 2am or so (unless I get very lucky ;), so I can deal with any problems then.