Re: GRs, irrelevant amendments, and insincere voting

[Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>]

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 00:22:03 -0500, Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> said: 

> On Tue, Nov 04, 2003 at 04:00:28PM -0500, Raul Miller wrote:
>> If someone ranked "further discussion" above all other options, I'd
>> agree that that was probably an insincere vote.

> Why so?  I'm not saying I disagree, but I'd like to hear someone
> else's thoughts on the phenomenon.  I'm interested in figuring out
> what sorts of techniques we might use to distinguish "sincere"
> preferences from "strategic" ones.

	Giving a gypsy a gold coin helps.

>> However, I an easily understand someone thinking, "if this option
>> doesn't get choosen, I want to talk about why".

> It seems to me that the same thing can be expressed by not having
> "further discussion" on the ballot at all, and asking people to
> leave undesired options unranked.  Unranked options would not
> contribute toward quorum or anything else.

> Given that we have this supplementary way of saying "hell no, I
> don't want that", I'm curious to know what the effects are, if those
> effects are desirable, and if so, why.

	Because it allows me to say "No way in hell". I think an
 ability to express strong objections and strong support is very
 useful in a preference recording mechanism.

> I conclude from this that we have a system where people are
> perfectly comfortable with voicing no challenge or opposition to a
> proposal; they just rank it below "further discussion".  Given that
> ample opportunity for further discussion was afforded, then yes, I
> question the sincerity of that ranking of preferences.

	Why? It was a sincere expression of strong objections.

> Can people *really* prefer "further" discussion when they do not
> avail themselves of any discussion in the first place?  Think about
> the literal meaning of ranking the preferences that way.  "I'd
> rather see further discussion of this subject than see Proposal Q
> implemented."

	Asked and answered.

	manoj
-- 
One of the worst of my many faults is that I'm too critical of myself.
Manoj Srivastava   <srivasta@debian.org>  <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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