I have enjoyed the technical discussions around the design of the
voting mechanism, and I think it is quite worthwhile for us to
continue learning and thinking about these things. There are several
tradeoffs here, and the choice is not easy.
But additionally I think we should think about what the purpose of
the elections is, and what the appropriate design should be. This
should be part of a broader analysis of what the purpose of the board
should be, and what the overall design of the process of board
selection (including elections, appointments, etc.) should be in
order to achieve those goals.
The possibilities open to us are endless. And there are strengths
and weaknesses to various approaches.
A quick list of some of the things that I think are important:
1. Diverse representation - and I mean diversity in the sense of
geography, languages, projects, gender, skills, etc.
2. Professionalism - part of diversity, we don't want or need all the
board to be "good editors" but rather to have as well people who have
technical experience, nonprofit governance experience, legal
experience, big business experience, dot-com experience, public
charity fundraising experience, foundation grant application
experience, political experience/contacts, etc.
3. Harmony - the current board is filled with good people who do not
always agree but who -- to my great pleasure -- work together in an
atmosphere of mutual respect and trust (mostly, we are human of
course :) ) -- approval voting is good for this, it generates
candidates who have broad support. Some voting systems would be much
more likely to allow a "troll candidate" to concentrate attention and
get elected in a partisan split, etc.
4. Responsiveness - that the board listens to the community
5. Independence - that the board has the moral authority to make
unpopular decisions at times, so that the board does not end up being
too beholden to internal politics of the moment and can feel the
strength to stick to principles even in cases where those principles
might not be so popular
(Yes, 4 and 5 are in tension and therefore have to be balanced.)
--Jimbo