[Theforum] process & voting

matt g. mrg at members.evolt.org
Wed Jan 30 13:42:09 CST 2002


Forgive me if any of this is too obvious.

What happens when you don't have a formal process seems to be that the
process is always in question. or up for debate. or a bone of contention.
Having an actual process to handle issues/ideas is extremely important, and
would help ease things along in general.

When dispersed through a list, the components of a topic are so
spread-out/redundant that a lot gets lost - or lost track of. I think that
once something has become an actual, legitimate, issue/topic it needs to be
kicked-up from the email list to another level. One place where the whole
topic is organized and laid bare. That would cut down on the
'round-and-'round that happens. If a point is made, then you can see it
there and not have to make it again.

That might also make it easier to concentrate on the solutions. Maybe the
wiki can work for that. Maybe it needs to be something else - like a real
web app.

Most issues can be broken down like this:

<h1>The Topic/Issue</h1>
    <h2>Topic Component 1</h2>
        <p>Explanation of Component 1</p>

        <h3>Solution Option 1 for Topic Component 1</h3>
            <p>Reasoning Behind Solution</p>

    <h2>Topic Component 2</h2>
        <p>Explanation of Component 2</p>

        <h3>Solution Options for Topic Component 2</h3>
            <p>Reasoning Behind Solution</p>
    etc...


So we have discussion on The Topic, and all things which comprise it. This
may be overly simplistic, but if done properly, it would allow all views to
be heard, and all solutions to be considered.

Example:
<h1>Voting</h1>
    <h2>Who gets to vote?</h2>
        <h3>All subscribers to theForum</h3>
        <h3>Some sub-set, or super-set of theforum</h3>
        <h3>Everyone I ever met.</h3>

    <h2>How do we vote?</h2>
        <h3>Email</h3>
            <p>as Madhu suggested with "[vote] Voting Topic"<p>
        <h3>Simple web app</h3>
        <h3>More complex web app which manages topics also</h3>
        <h3>wiki</h3>

    <h2>When is the voting over?</h2>
        <h3>When all eligible voters have voted.</h3>
            <p>Obvious</p>
        <h3>When "50% + 1" of those eligible have voted the same way.</h3>
            <p>"the Tribe has spoken"</p>
        <h3>When 24 or 48 hours have elapsed</h3>
            <p>Reasonable amount of time, without impeding progress</p>
        <h3>When either (50% + 1) OR (24-38 hours) has happened</h3>
            <p>You can't wait forever, and sometimes don't need to</p>
    etc...

Maybe I should have used <h1>the process</h1> as my example...

matt g.




More information about the theforum mailing list