Tony Sidawaytonysidaway@gmail.com 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.
Seems to me the !vote is a way of recognising the fact that the process is very much like a poll, without actually submitting to it. If you vote and lose, you have to accept the outcome. If you !vote and lose, you are entitled to demand a determination of consensus.
Part of me thinks the !vote thing is retarded, but part of me sees some sense in it. It's not a real vote, but it's not genuine consensus building either.
Steve