Xref: utzoo news.groups:26565 comp.unix.internals:1485 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!randvax!segue!jim From: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter) Newsgroups: news.groups,comp.unix.internals Subject: Re: comp.unix.* results Message-ID: <5157@segue.segue.com> Date: 15 Dec 90 21:42:29 GMT References: <11409@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Reply-To: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter) Organization: Segue Software, Inc. - Santa Monica, CA. +1-213-453-2161 Lines: 42 In article <11409@pt.cs.cmu.edu> jgm@fed.expres.cs.cmu.edu (John G. Myers) writes: >I fail to understand Laird's math. According to his post, the votes >were: > >The voting tallies for the respective categories were: > >comp.unix.esoterica 61 >comp.unix.esoterica only 16 >comp.unix.internals 61 >comp.unix.wizards 144 >comp.unix.wizards only 19 > >That makes 144+19= 163 votes for wizards and 16+61=77 against, making >the proposal fail the 100-vote margin by 14 votes. If you spend no time trying to understand his explanation of the meaning of the categories, then you can come to this conclusion. Just what do you think the distinction between the only and non-only categories is? Your arithmetic lumps them together, and only deals with 4 of the 5 values. On the other hand, a less lazy analysis would lead you to realize that the categories imply different orderings. comp.unix.esoterica esoterica > wizards > internals 61 comp.unix.esoterica only esoterica > internals > wizards 16 comp.unix.internals internals > (esoterica or wizards) 61 comp.unix.wizards wizards > esoterica > internals 144 comp.unix.wizards only wizards > internals > esoterica 19 where ">" means "is preferred to". This gives us esoterica > internals 61+16+144 = 221 internals > esoterica 61+19 = 80 wizards > internals 61+144+19 = 224 internals > wizards 16+61 = 77 wizards > esoterica 144+19 = 163 esoterica > wizards 61+16 = 77 Disclaimer: I didn't vote, have no preference, and find the whole exercise pointless and immature.