dsstodol@daimi.aau.dk (David S. Stodolsky) (11/26/90)
[ED- I have my misgivings about this posting, and will post them in
news.groups.-eliot]
p) Preferred name. Yes > 100.
m) Preferred name. Yes > 100. Yes > No.
c) Proposed name. Yes - No > 100. 2/3 Yes.
The above lines are your ballot. Enclose ONLY these lines with your vote.
To vote, first place the ballot choices in the order you prefer them
(optional). Then move the characters representing the choices to the subject
line. If you ranked them as above, your subject line, as received, would then
read "Subject: pmc" ("Subject: pm" would have the same effect). Only the
subject line will be processed. The first step is for error control. Normally,
the body of the message will NOT be examined. If you skip the first step, DO
NOT enclose ANY part of this article with your vote.
Option p (preferred name) indicates that a new group will have the name most
preferred by the voters and it must have support of at least 100 persons. (No
new group is created if an old newsgroup name is most preferred.)
Option m (majority rule) indicates that a new group will have the name most
preferred by the voters, it must have support of at least 100 persons, and it
must have more support than opposition.
Option c (current guidelines) indicates that a new group's name is proposed by
the organizer of the vote, it must receive 100 more Yes votes than No votes,
and "at least 2/3 of the total number of votes received are in favor of
creation."
The voting period is 30 days as suggested in the current Guidelines.
The voting period ends midnight <December 8, 1990> (24:00 hours UTC).
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The main advantage of preferencial voting is to provide a well structured way
to select a preferred name. This voting method also allows a statistical
analysis of the results, that can determine whether a concensus was achieved
or whether there are really two concensus groups within the respondents. The
analysis can then be used to split the newsgroup, when volume justifies doing
so.
Analysis:
Interest Group Surveys, called votes under the Guidelines, allow people to
more effectively use Net resources. They have two functions. The first is to
determine if enough people are interested in a topic. The second is to find a
good name for a newsgroup. Large mailing lists load host machines and the Net,
they also create bounced mail which absorb the time of skilled personnel.
If you agree that effective use of Net resources is the only criteria for
deciding, in the first instance, on whether a new group should be created,
then vote for the preferred name (p) choice. It is likely that this option
will accelerate the growth of Usenet, both in terms of number of topics
covered and extent of distribution. It will likely reduce the development of
independent hierarchies.
If you feel that some topics should not be permitted under Usenet even if a
price must be paid in terms of bounced mail, machine loading, and reduced
reader autonomy, then vote for majority rule (m). This means that no matter
how many people want a certain newsgroup to be created and even if they accept
the name preferred by the Net, it can be prevented.
If you feel that the proposer of a group should be permitted to select the
name for a new group, and that a minority should be permitted to prevent the
creation of a newsgroup, then vote for the current Guidelines (c). This means
that the recent naming debates will probably be a continuing feature of
Usenet, and that alternative hierarchies and large mailing lists will become
more common than if either of the other options is adopted.
The assumptions:
A newsgroup with 100 persons is less costly to maintain than a mailing list.
This determines support needed to create a newsgroup.
In the case of the majority rule option (m) voters do not express a preference
among names they oppose. (This is what almost everyone does, as I observed in
the comp.groupware vote.)
The preferred name option is given below, with the added language needed for
the majority rule option (m) in brackets {like this}.
==== Single Transferable Vote (STV) instructions in less than 25 lines ====
Following the discussion period, all names that have been posted (seconded
names appearing first) will be included in an Interest Group Survey
announcement. Each name will be represented by a single character, with "a"
representing "abstain" {and "n" representing "no group"}.
Respondents follow these rules:
1. While unmoved characters {representing acceptable names} remain:
Select your preferred name and move its character to the subject line
(place each one after [to the right of] the ones already moved).
2. If you do not support some selected options, then place an "a" after the
character representing the last name you support (If you do not support
creation of the newsgroup with any of the names, put the "a" before the
options). {If you oppose creation of the newsgroup with any (other) name(s),
then place a "n" after the moved characters (if any).}
Votes are scored by repeatedly removing the options that have the least
support from the front of responses, until the majority option is removed.
Subtract the "a"s removed from the total responses to find the support for
creation of the newsgroup. {Add the "n"s removed to any "n"s remaining at the
front of responses to find the opposition to creation of the newsgroup} (for a
worked example [that does not include the "no group" option], see "Single
transferrable vote counting"). If support is 100 or more {and if there is more
support than opposition}, the group shall be created.
Number of responses received, number supporting creation, number supporting
the most preferred name, {number opposing creation,} and the how each person
voted, shall be posted.
============ end STV in less than 25 lines ==========================
These changes assume some modification to the Guidelines sections about
discussion and so on. If the vote is for a change, I will make the
modifications and post the updated Guidelines for comment and correction. (If
you would like to volunteer for this job, send me mail after the results are
posted and before the end of the five day correction period.)
Two companion articles, "Single transferrable vote counting", which describes
scoring of preferred name (p) responses with a text processor, and "Single
transferrable vote counting script", which contains a shell script for
processing this vote are posted to news.groups. The script would have to be
modified to the handle the "abstain" {and "no group"} responses of either new
voting method described above (volunteer needed).
Group or posted votes will NOT be counted.
Replies to this article are directed to the vote collector:
:dsstodol@daimi.dk (David S. Stodolsky)
Votes will be acknowledged in a "group acknowledgment" with posting of the
following call for votes. It will not contain any information on which way
people voted. Names with their votes will be posted at the end of the voting
period.
Please, do NOT enclose this entire article in your reply.
Thank you for your vote.
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>From: lear@turbo.bio.net
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.groups,news.admin
Subject: How to Create a New Newsgroup
Message-ID: <11576@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Date: 6 Sep 90 16:37:07 GMT
Expires: 5 Dec 90 16:37:06 GMT
Sender: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU
Reply-To: lear@turbo.bio.net
Followup-To: poster
Lines: 133
Approved: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU
Supersedes: <11263@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
--
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