Xref: utzoo news.admin:14911 news.groups:32624 comp.groupware:591
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!yale!cmcl2!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!ruc.dk!david
From: david@gorm.ruc.dk (David Stodolsky)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.groups,comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Reform Trial.* (was: Trial flawed)
Keywords: group creation votes preference
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.183039.12660@gorm.ruc.dk>
Date: 3 Jun 91 18:30:39 GMT
References: <1991May30.144345.15890@gorm.ruc.dk> <1991May31.022710.11297@looking.on.ca>
Organization: Roskilde University, Denmark
Lines: 40

brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes:

>Instead, groups are defeated by opposition.  What an odd system.

All current methods for newsgroup creation are defective, because they do not
help the interested people select a good name. I do not count "ask a
knowledgeable person" as a solution to the name selection problem. 

I suggest the following:

1. Names suggested during the discussion period are collected by the organizer.

2. Interested persons are asked to rank the names in their preferred order.

3. Single transferable vote counting is used to select the preferred name and
determine if there are 100 persons in support of the selected name.

This preserves the spirit of the original Guidelines and integrates the results
of the preferential voting methods poll of last year. All of the technical
details for doing this have been worked out long ago. 

Multiple name votes have become common, but each time the method is reinvented.
Some of these reinventions are incomprehensible and others do not really give
the voter a choice. It is time for the Guidelines to *guide* instead of follow
what is actually being practiced. The suggested improvement will not do that,
but at least we can start to catch up. Renaming will have to be dealt with
before the Guidelines will be able to guide. (Parallel votes do not solve
anything because, they includes all voting paradoxes and adds some new ones)

With every passing day Trial.* becomes less attractive to group champions in
comparison with votes, because of the growth of the Net. The newsgroup formation
in Alt.* will continue as a monument to Usenets inability to deal with reality
:-). If the Guidelines are not updated they should be junked as an irrelevant
exercise in bureaucratic malfeasance.

-- 
David S. Stodolsky                Messages: + 45 46 75 77 11 x 24 41
Department of Computer Science                 Tel: + 45 31 95 92 82
Bldg. 20.1, Roskilde University Center        Internet: david@ruc.dk
Post Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark        Fax: + 45 46 75 74 01