Ecleticology wrote:

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Instead of pointing fingers at people, design flaws and technical problems like many of us did in a previous thread (me included), I think we'd better analyze the process and at least learn from this for the future.

I'm sure Erik agrees with this.

So do I. Passions ran high I'm afraid. :(

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I hope that anyone who wasn't thinking of the ratification process in this light will go back and change their vote.

I still don't understand why this ratification came about -- *given* that the goal was to have a single logo for all pedias, *why* give pedis the choice of opting out? Please could someone explain the reasoning behind this.

A long time ago before phase 2 of the voting I wrote and complained to the list. I said among other things that I didn't think the voting process answered the most crucial question - "should this logo replace the current logo?". That question should ofcourse have been asked before we begun the voting process (eg. "does wikipedia need a new logo?") but it wasn't.

So you could see the "ratification" as the way to answer that question - "Is the puzzle logo better than the existing one?" and all would be well. My old request or rather demand would have been answered. But the question is dilluted by the fact that the current logo competed in the contest itself, it was automatically placed among the twelve finalists. Therefore some people could argue that the second phase of the voting already have answered the question "should this logo replace the current logo?". Other people argue that phase 2 did NOT answer that question and the fact that the puzzle sphere won had more to do with other factors.

The story becomes even more complicated by the fact that Erik didn't mention before phase 2 was over that there would be a "ratification" vote. More so with Jimbo's statement:

"I'm going to vote now to ratify the logo... not because the logo is my favorite, but because I want to express support for the process. That is, I'm voting for the _principle_ that community votes should be respected in almost all cases."

Everyone agrees with this I hope. BUT everyone does NOT agree that a majority think the puzzle sphere is better than the existing logo! That is the most important and still unresolved question. Therefore I will treat the "ratification" vote as the vote "is the puzzle sphere better than existing one?" and vote yes. Because *I* think it is. Others will vote no because they don't think it is better. Hope that explained it.

BL