On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Pierre Smits <pierre.sm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wouldn't a simple majority (more +1 than -1 votes) yield the same result?
Majority rule votes degrade community. Whenever you have a contended vote,
you produce losers who feel alienated[1]. In contrast, consensus decision
making forces the majority to take account of minority opinions. The
negotiation process may frustrate everyone to some extent, but it's less
exclusionary.
Avoiding majority rule and preferring consensus is one of the fundamental
design decisions which have made Apache successful. The same community might
well produce different solutions to the same problem depending on the rules
for resolving conflict.
In the case of a VOTE to invite a new PMC member, there's no way to negotiate
an alternative solution to take into account the concerns of the minority.
However, those in favor will have to account for those concerns and those
opposed will need to defend their stance. The act of talking things through
should help to keep the community whole.
Marvin Humphrey
[1] Anime explanation of how majority-rule voting alienates the minority:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/hunter-x-hunter/episode-10-trick-x-to-the-x-trick-585058?t=429
(Warning: autoplay video and multiple ads before the content starts)
