sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (10/09/89)
How about having votes run in the following format:
news.group YES voter name <address>
news.group NO voter name <address>
where news.group could contain wild cards. For example:
* YES means the voter wants the group creates no matter
what the name.
sci.* NO means the voter votes NO to all SCI names.
group.name YES means the voter votes YES to the specific name
group.name.
Multiple non-duplicate votes would be allowed. For example I could send in:
sci.* no
rec.something yes
rec.sub.something no
Vote takers could translate votes to this format if the vote was unambiguous,
for example, if I received:
I vote YES for a group about lithuanian sheepdogs.
It would be translated to:
* YES
While:
I vote yes for rec.sheepdogs
would be translated to:
rec.sheepdogs yes
The votes could be counted as follows:
Collect all the votes into a file. It would look something like:
sci.something yes Bob Sloane <sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
sci.sub.something NO Bob Sloane <sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
rec.* YES someone <somewhere@sys.UUCP>
rec.something YES voter <address>
* YES voter1 <address>
...
Convert the file to lower case, and sort it on newsgroup name, eliminating any
duplicates. Then count all the possible results, ie make a table of all the
specific group names mentioned and 2 columns labeled YES and NO. Go through
the votes and count the YES and NO votes for each possibility. A "* YES" vote
would count as a YES vote for every possibility, a "sci.* NO" vote would count
as a NO vote for any type of sci group, etc. For example, the above multiline
vote would count as a yes vote in the rec.something line, and a no vote in the
sci.something and sci.s.some lines. It shouldn't be too hard to write a
program to count votes.
The resulting table might look like:
YES NO
sci.something 23 120
rec.sub.something 118 13
rec.something 124 12
total voters: 150
If no group got 100 more YES than NO votes, then the group would fail. We
could decide on some way of picking a winner, for example, the group the
smallest NO vote, that has at least 100 more yes than no votes, or group with
the higest percent of YES votes.
Please note that this is just a proposal. I am suggesting it as a way of
running multiple votes at one time. It does have the disadvantage of being
more complicated, both for the voters and the vote counters. I think the
advantages of the system, ie allowing multiple votes to run concurrently
outweigh the disadvantages.
--
USmail: Bob Sloane, University of Kansas Computer Center, Lawrence, KS, 66045
E-mail: sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu, sloane@ukanvax.bitnet, AT&T: (913)864-0444
"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed
entirely of lost airline luggage." -- Mark Russellallbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) (10/13/89)
As quoted from <153@ark1.nswc.navy.mil> by dsill@ark1.nswc.navy.mil (Dave Sill): +--------------- | In article <6428@ficc.uu.net>, peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: | > If you don't want a name czar, how about this: | > | > Proposer comes up with a subject and a suggested name. | > This name is a suggestion only. > ... | > People vote the name of the group they think this subject | > should be discussed in. | > No NO votes, but you can vote for the name of an existing | > group. | > At the end of the voting period, the name with the most | > votes passes, unless it doesn't receive 100 votes more | > than any existing group. | | Not bad. I think I'd vote for it. It's kind a radical departure from | the current scheme, so it would probably encounter a bit of resistance | from net conservatives, though. +--------------- One modification, though: if there are collectively more "existing newsgroup" votes than "new newsgroup" votes, the proposal shall be considered to have not passed, and will have strongly suggested that the top vote-getting existing newsgroup(s) are the correct place to post messages for the group under discussion. Otherwise, you have diluted the "no" votes into oblivion, as another poster mentioned. ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc allbery@NCoast.ORG uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@hal.cwru.edu bsa@telotech.uucp, 161-7070 BALLBERY (MCI), ALLBERY (Delphi), B.ALLBERY (GEnie) Is that enough addresses for you? no? then: allbery@uunet.UU.NET (c.s.misc)