On 5/29/09 1:27 PM, Jade Rubick wrote:
Personally, even though I think many in the community don't like Dossy
acting without community involvement, I'd rather see something done than
nothing, as long as it isn't harming the project.
I definitely understand that people dislike my approach. I also know
that things get discussed to death and nothing actually happens as a
result, too. I lean heavily to the one extreme (action, little
discussion) which understandably bothers people. Unfortunately, it's
the way I am; it's how I know how to get things done. I like to believe
that nothing I do intentionally harms the project on a technical level.
Perhaps the problem is that there is no formal structure for Aolserver,
so nobody has the "authority" to act on behalf of the community.
I agree, this is probably a huge defect in the structure of the
AOLserver project's organization and management. Thanks for raising the
issue.
What if we had a simple voting application somewhere, and the members of
this mailing list each got a vote?
I am very, very worried about a pure democracy approach as it often
produces the Bikeshed Effect [1].
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_of_the_bikeshed
In short, a large number of individuals abstain from voting on complex
issues where they feel it would be inappropriate for them to vote as
they're not qualified to decide either way. This results in very skewed
representation of votes on difficult matters.
Similarly, a large number of individuals vote on the trivial issues,
which gives disproportionate weight to them, artificially inflating
their perceived importance. In cases where a majority of 2/3rd's or
some other criteria is required, reasonably trivial decisions can be
unnecessarily held up due to lack of consensus.
I'd really like to create a structure that empowers and enables the top
of the anecdotal Pyramid of Participation (1% creators, 9% contributors,
90% lurkers). Perhaps participants on this list can help by
brainstorming suggestions for such?
My thoughts on the matter: the US Presidential election system and many
corporations operate in a way that I think tries to achieve this goal,
using proxy voters (electoral college, board of directors) whose intent
is to represent its constituents. While polling the popular vote is
interesting, ultimately the electoral college votes and decides the
President. Of course, I'm very likely heavily biased being an American,
thinking this system is a good one - if (any of) you have alternative
models to suggest, please describe them.
--
Dossy Shiobara | [email protected] | http://dossy.org/
Panoptic Computer Network | http://panoptic.com/
"He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
--
AOLserver - http://www.aolserver.com/
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