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Re: [Notice] Social Contract Change Vote

At 09:40 AM 10/10/00 -0700, Darren O. Benham wrote:

What would you like to see?
If I were a developer (is that a version of "I am not a developer, but..." which was derided a while ago?)... 

I'd love to see something like:

---------------------------------------------------
The main proposal under discussion is by John Goerzen, and can be found here:
[LINK]. In summary, this proposal would AMEND the Debian Social Contract to eliminate the commitment to support for non-free on Debian's FTP servers.
An amendment to that proposal was made by Anthony Towns, and can be found here: [LINK] In summary, this proposal would replace John Goerzen's proposal with a GENERAL RESOLUTION reaffirming Debian's commitment to Free Software over non-free.
This vote is on accepting Anthony Towns' amendment to John Goerzen's Amendment. There will be a later vote on the main proposal, who's form will depend on the outcome of this ballot.
If this amendment is ACCEPTED, then the vote on the main proposal will be treated as a General Resolution, using the text provided by Anthony Towns. The main proposal would require a majority vote to accept.
If this amendment is REJECTED, then the vote on the main proposal will be treated as an Amendment to the Social Contract, using the text provided by John Goerzen. The main proposal would require a 3:1 supermajority to accept.
If FURTHER DISCUSSION is called for, then this amendment will neither be ACCEPTED nor REJECTED, and a second vote on the amendment will take place after further discussion. 

Ballot:

[ ] ACCEPT Anthony Towns' amendment to John Goerzen's proposal
[ ] REJECT Anthony Towns' amendment to John Goerzen's proposal
[ ] FURTHER DISCUSSION

---------------------------------------------------------------
I think that that information is clear as to what is going on. Much better than "Yes"/"No" 



On Tue, Oct 10, 2000 at 10:57:05AM -0400, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> The '[BALLOT] Social Contract Change' message was completely confusing. I
> have listened to the discussion on the list, and no one there seems to
> know how to mark the ballot either, although there is plenty of opinion
> about what the ballot "means".
>
> It is unclear what is actually being voted upon. I see that CHOICE 1 is
> "associated" with item 1 on the ballot which says simply "Yes". Does a
> mark here mean that I agree with CHOICE 1? Also CHOICE 2 is said to be
> associated with item 2 on the ballot, which simply says "No". Does a mark
> here mean that I do _not_ want CHOICE 2?
>
> It is my understanding, from my own reading of the Debian Constitution
> that the secretary decides how the vote will be structured and will
> produce a ballot. Since it isn't clear what I am being asked to vote for
> or against, this latest attempt by the Secretary seems to fall short of a
> ballot.
>
> Since I can't figure out what the vote is about, I can't produce a
> completed ballot, so I have no choice but to refuse to vote. I hope there
> are at least 20 other developers as confused as I am, so we have the
> required number of "Developers" to block any action resulting from this
> ... vague ballot.
>
> While there _is_ an indication that there is a second ballot, there is no
> indication of what is being decided by the content of the first, so I
> don't see how a second ballot can clear up my confusion.
>
> Waiting is,
>
> Dwarf
> --
> _-_-_-_-_-   Author of "The Debian Linux User's Guide"  _-_-_-_-_-_-
>
> aka   Dale Scheetz                   Phone:   1 (850) 656-9769
>       Flexible Software              11000 McCrackin Road
>       e-mail:  dwarf@polaris.net     Tallahassee, FL  32308
>
> _-_-_-_-_-_- See www.linuxpress.com for more details  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-
>
>
>
>

--
Please cc all mailing list replies to me, also.
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