[WikiEN-l] Voting and "!voting", what's the difference?

[Emily Monroe]

> I'm seeing ban discussions on [[WP:AN]] being turned into polls, and  
> attempts to undo this are resisted by people who apparently believe  
> they're following Wikipedia policy.

I tend to avoid [[WP:AN]]--I don't need moar dramah--but if this is  
true, then it shouldn't be happening.

Emily
On Aug 27, 2009, at 7:39 PM, Tony Sidaway wrote:

> Shortly after I thought we'd finally killed off the habit of excessive
> polling, an apologetic, humorous and evidently quite common meme
> appeared on Wikipedia: the "!vote".
>
> Unlike the "vote", the "!vote" seems to afford the author the latitude
> to falsely claim that he is opposed to polls and is not in fact
> engaged in a polling exercise.
>
> In short, a "!vote" is simply a way of recasting polls so as to avoid
> calling them polls.  "!Polls?"
>
> The reason we avoid polls?  Because they lead to vote-counting
> (counting "!votes" is the same thing even if we're supposed to pretend
> that a "!vote! is not the same as a vote).  Because they lead to
> taking sides.  Because they destroy efforts at compromise.  Because in
> the worst case they encourage people to create a separate section for
> people who agree with one another to congregate their comments, where
> there is no danger of their comments being mistaken for attempts to
> reach consensus by discussion.
>
> I'm seeing ban discussions on [[WP:AN]] being turned into polls, and
> attempts to undo this are resisted by people who apparently believe
> they're following Wikipedia policy.
>
> It's 2009. Why is this happening?
>
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