sob@neuro1.UUCP (Stan Barber) (11/05/85)
A few questions and thoughts on voting.
I think that voting here is haphazard at best. I think it could be automated
much as the other control messages are automated on usenet. If a vote need
be taken, a control message (call it getvote) is issued on the network.
When the news software encounters this message (when user is reading the
group), it asks the user to cast a vote (Yes, No, No Opinion) and perhaps
asks for comments. The user casts a vote, and the software stores the vote
for later tabulation.
This tabulation could occur on each machine on the net and the "batched"
results would be forwarded back to the originator of the getvote control
message, or each vote could be forwarded back (I know the last one is
easy to implement, but would weigh down the network alot). The expire
program would remove the getvote message and voting would close.
Results could be tabulated by the getvote originator and posted to net.news.group and the "will of the net" determined.
Now the questions:
1. Is this a good idea, or am I just wasting bandwidth?
2. If it is a good idea, would requests for votes be posted to
net.news.group for new groups or rmgroups or should it be posted to net.general
or some place where more people would have a chance to vote?
3. What about sites that continue to run archaic netnews or notes? What
if anything should be done for them?
Thoughtful comments welcome by mail or here. I summarize any mail I get
on this topic to this group.
--
Stan uucp:{ihnp4!shell,rice}!neuro1!sob Opinions expressed
Olan ARPA:sob@rice.arpa here are ONLY mine &
Barber CIS:71565,623 BBS:(713)660-9262 noone else's.craig@dcl-cs.UUCP (Craig Wylie) (11/07/85)
In article <656@neuro1.UUCP> sob@neuro1.UUCP (Stan Barber) writes: >A few questions and thoughts on voting. > >I think that voting here is haphazard at best. I think it could be automated >much as the other control messages are automated on usenet. If a vote need >be taken, a control message (call it getvote) is issued on the network. >When the news software encounters this message (when user is reading the >group), it asks the user to cast a vote (Yes, No, No Opinion) and perhaps >asks for comments. The user casts a vote, and the software stores the vote >for later tabulation. > >Now the questions: > >1. Is this a good idea, or am I just wasting bandwidth? After the recent screaming and shouting about net.internat and net.flame I would say its not a waste of bandwidth -- a vital discussion. >2. If it is a good idea, would requests for votes be posted to >net.news.group for new groups or rmgroups or should it be posted to net.general >or some place where more people would have a chance to vote? Would it be necessary to post it to *any* particular group, or perhaps linking it to any number of groups (including all/any). would be a solution. I feel it would be useful to know how many people are reading any particular newsgroup -- we have been discussing deleting groups and a more accurate knoledge of their readership might prevent some of the arguments ( ie:- No one ever reads this group, oh yes we do, since when smart ****** ect.... ;-)). To this end perhaps a control message that reported on group readership over a set period from the time the message was received and then reported back to the sender. Note that this is as well as the voting request suggested by Stan Barber. >3. What about sites that continue to run archaic netnews or notes? What >if anything should be done for them? > Really shouldn't people be running a recentish version -- even spaf stated that he had little sympathy for people running old software when new stuff was available. Craig.
ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (11/08/85)
> A few questions and thoughts on voting. > My questions: How are you going to apportion votes. How many votes per system? Per user? Should a person who reads only one news group be polled on some totally unrelated issue to his interests? Personally, I say why bother. The people who really care will vote. This tends to be a little biased towards group creation, but it generally shows a preponderance of interest towards group creation, assuming that don't count ten yes votes and two no votes as demonstration of need to create a group. -Ron
sob@neuro1.UUCP (Stan Barber) (11/11/85)
The reason I am bothering is to get more people to express their opinions and
thereby get a more accurate sampling of what people think. I hope that this
will help the net be more effective (i.e. responsive) and more efficient
(in getting old unused newsgroups removed and new ones created faster).
If everyone takes a "why bother" attitude, then the net will surely die.
I would not like this so I am trying to do something. Voting seems to be
a problem. I am trying to offer a possible mechanism to attempt to fix it.
Now, to answer your questions:
My proposal does not include apportionment of any kind. The local system
would just tabluate and forward the results. My thought would be to only
allow one vote per user, and if the vote-taker (the originator of the
"getvote" message wants to apportion things in some way, s/he will have
the raw data from which to work. Of course, stuffing the box is still
possible, but I feel that there is less chance of that being effective
this way than the current method since everyone who reads the newsgroup that
has received the getvote control message will have to vote in some manner
(Yes, No, or No opinion).
In answer to the second question about people who are uninterested having
to vote I would say that since the control message can be assigned to
any newsgroup, that is it unlikely that a person will encounter a voting
situation that is totally unrelated. In any case if that were to occur,
then that person could vote "No Opinion" and move along.
Thanks for the note.
--
Stan uucp:{ihnp4!shell,rice}!neuro1!sob Opinions expressed
Olan ARPA:sob@rice.arpa here are ONLY mine &
Barber CIS:71565,623 BBS:(713)660-9262 noone else's.sob@neuro1.UUCP (Stan Barber) (11/11/85)
The reason I am bothering is to get more people to express their opinions and thereby get a more accurate sampling of what people think. I hope that this will help the net be more effective (i.e. responsive) and more efficient (in getting old unused newsgroups removed and new ones created faster). If everyone takes a "why bother" attitude, then the net will surely die. I would not like this so I am trying to do something. Voting seems to be a problem. I am trying to offer a possible mechanism to attempt to fix it. Now, to answer your questions: My proposal does not include apportionment of any kind. The local system would just tabluate and forward the results. My thought would be to only allow one vote per user, and if the vote-taker (the originator of the "getvote" message) wants to apportion things in some way, s/he will have the raw data from which to work. Of course, stuffing the box is still possible, but I feel that there is less chance of that being effective since everyone who reads the newsgroup that has received the getvote control message will have to vote in some manner (Yes, No, or No opinion). In answer to the second question about people who are uninterested having to vote I would say that since the control message can be assigned to any newsgroup, that is it unlikely that a person will encounter a voting situation that is totally unrelated. In any case if that were to occur, then that person could vote "No Opinion" and move along. Thanks for the note.