On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:16:13 +0100, Jack Lynch wrote:
The current method of open voting on RfA is terrible, btw, and causes a great deal of hurt feelings, log rolling, and clique development.
It seems to me that the problem is that RfA has come to be seen as a democratic vote with a high pass mark rather than the poll of consensus that it used to be. We do not help ourselves in this regard with our use of tallies and other aspects of the format that simplify the process but encourage misperception. In my opinion, the process would be better aligned with its earlier intent if it adopted a format along the following lines:
Proposal: I propose that User:Foobar be given admin facilities. [Note: No advocacy; no details] Acceptance by candidate: [Signature; No husting] Acceptances: [List of signatures with no explanations. Acceptance means "I can live with this"; it does not need unreserved endorsement.] Requested changes: [Suggestions formatted along the lines of "I would support this proposal if ...". Note: No counter-arguments; no debate] Discussion: [Comments, responses and rebuttals. This is the debating space.]
This approach formalises a drive towards consensus without democracy. In an enhanced form all participants who have requested changes would be asked to confirm that their request is still unaddressed at the point of closure.
Theo