I second the below amendment. BTW I seconded Andreas's original GR too, but am persuaded by this so would like to see it on the ballot. Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org> writes: > Restated to fix comments received. > For formality, to the extent that I am able, I withdraw my previous > amendment. > > As I discussed, in Andreas's resolution, I think that the strategic > voting fix introduces more problems than it serves. INstead, I propose > that we don't fix that, but trust ourselves to propose ballot options > that are statement-of-the-day-like ballot options not requiring a > super-majority when doing so is wise. I think that doing so is > generally a good idea when you have a super-majority option and its > opposite on the same ballot--when there is substantial contraversy about > whether to move in the direction of the super-majority option or some > other option on the same ballot. > > I have chosen to retain the preference for the default option in the TC. > If four members of the TC really cannot live with an option, we're > better off with more discussion or taking it to a GR. > > Even in the Init system discussion, which I think is the most > controversial decision to come before the TC, several of the TC members > who preferred options that did not win explained what changes would need > to be made for them to consider options similar to the one that won to > be acceptable (ranked above FD). > As it happened, four TC members didn't think no decision was better than > the decision we got: if four members had ranked the winning option below > FD, the chair would not have had the opportunity to use his casting > vote. > > We also have some strong evidence from emails where some TC members > explained their balloting decisions including what they ranked above FD > that the tactical voting people were afraid of didn't happen. > > We're actually quite good at deciding whether another round of painful > discussion is worth the cost or not, and when people we've appointed to > make these decision decide that it is, I'd rather not second guess them. > > Specifically, I formally propose to replace the GR text with: > > ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS ----- > > > Constitutional Amendment: TC Supermajority Fix > > Prior to the Clone Proof SSD GR in June 2003, the Technical > Committee could overrule a Developer with a supermajority of 3:1. > > Unfortunately, the definition of supermajorities in the SSD GR has a > off-by-one error. In the new text a supermajority requirement is met > only if the ratio of votes in favour to votes against is strictly > greater than the supermajority ratio. > > In the context of the Technical Committee voting to overrule a > developer that means that it takes 4 votes to overcome a single > dissenter. And with a maximum committee size of 8, previously two > dissenters could be outvoted by all 6 remaining members; now that > is no longer possible. > > This change was unintentional, was contrary to the original intent > of the Constitution, and is unhelpful. > > For the avoidance of any doubt, this change does not affect any > votes (whether General Resolutions or votes in the Technical > Committee) in progress at the time the change is made. > > Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution as follows: > > Index: doc/constitution.wml > =================================================================== > --- doc/constitution.wml (revision 10982) > +++ doc/constitution.wml (working copy) > @@ -913,7 +913,7 @@ > </li> > <li> > An option A defeats the default option D by a majority > - ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A). > + ratio N, if V(A,D) is greater or equal to N * V(D,A) and V(A,D) is strictly greater than V(D,A). > </li> > <li> > If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority ratio > > > > > > > Constitutional Amendment: Fix duplicate section numbering. > > The current Debian Constitution has two sections numbered A.1. > This does not currently give rise to any ambiguity but it is > undesirable. > > Fix this with the following semantically neutral amendment: > > - Renumber the first section A.1 to A.0. > > > ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS ----- -- |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] HANDS.COM Ltd. |-| http://www.hands.com/ http://ftp.uk.debian.org/ |(| Hugo-Klemm-Strasse 34, 21075 Hamburg, GERMANY
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