Michael and Augustin, (cc Votorola) Michael Ossipoff said: > Thanks for your suggestions.
You're welcome. > > * Display live counts and other signs of activity. Otherwise > > newcomers will assume the site is dead or dying. > > As each new vote changes the candidates' totals and scores, that is > immediately shown in the posted results. The results are shown > directly above the ballot, when someone selects the link to one of > the poll ballotings. I see a link above the ballot labeled "Poll results". When I click, it says "You must vote here before you can see the results". http://minguo.info/usa/node/105 Augustin said: > If one clicks on the 'Recent Posts' link, one can see that there has > been a lost of activity recently: > http://minguo.info/usa/tracker > This tracker is especially useful for registered members as they can > see which polls have been updated, which content has been created > and which blogs have had comments added since their last visit. What people say is attractive, I agree, especially in a social context (discussion) and especially where it concerns the issue being voted on *and* that issue hangs in the balance. I think the design problem is to show this complex of information immediately to the newcomer, because these are the goods. Little else matters. This is one of the problems I address here, specifically its visual aspects: http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2012-August/001402.html Please help us hammer out a solution, -- Michael Allan Toronto, +1 416-699-9528 http://zelea.com/ Michael Ossipoff said: > On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 10:49 AM, Michael Allan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Michael and Augustin, some suggestions for improving the site: > > > > Michael Allan: > > Thanks for your suggestions. > > > * Display live counts and other signs of activity. Otherwise > > newcomers will assume the site is dead or dying. > > As each new vote changes the candidates' totals and scores, that is > immediately shown in the posted results. The results are shown > directly above the ballot, when someone selects the link to one of the > poll ballotings. > > > > * Show the contribution of each participant. Don't just take it and > > give nothing in return. (!) Ideally show the contribution in a > > social context, because people vote for social reasons. > > It's important that people can vote anonymously. But anyone can > comment, in the various blog-spaces, and can sign their name if they > wish (as I always do). > > But yes, the website could announce each new ballot (without in any > way identifying the voter). That would be of interest. We'll see if > Augustin likes that idea. As it is now, each new ballot does show up > in the "recent posts" or "latest posts" list, to which there is a link > at right end of the top edge of the Realm of the USA screen, and every > screen in the Realm of the USA. > > > > > * Restrict voting to real people. Bots and sock puppets ruin the > > social context and render the results meaningless. > > Certainly. But bots don't usually vote in polls. I suppose someone > could write one that does, if they wanted to distort a poll result. > That could be discouraged by only letting registered members vote, or > by using something like a "captcha" image, in which a voter would have > to identify characters in an image, or answer a verbally-expressed > question. > > But, in order to get large participation, it's best for the poll to be > open to the public, not just registered members. > > But those are just my answers. Augustin might reply as well. > > Mike Ossipoff Augustin said: > Hello Michael Allan and all, > > > First of all, thanks to both Michaels: M. Allan for his > constructive remarks, and to M. Ossipoff for his answers by > which I stand. Before I reply to M. Allan, allow me to make > 2 general remarks. > > The first one is that the site is in constant evolution. No > such site is ever complete and finished. I have myself > thousands of ideas of features that could be added and > things that could be improved. I try to prioritise my > limited development time according to what's more urgent or > what's easier to implement. I am currently working hard on > improving the back end which in turn will allow me to > improve the overall organisation of the site. > > The second remark is that although I have my own huge list > of things I'd like to improve, I welcome user suggestions > like Michael's. It gives me some insight on what users would > like most. In that spirit, I just created a new poll where > registered users can submit specific ideas and vote on them: > http://minguo.info/usa/node/124 . Both Michaels are welcome > to add their own ideas... > > > I reply now on the specific suggestions made: > > > On Friday, August 17, 2012 22:49:27 Michael Allan wrote: > > * Display live counts and other signs of activity. > > Otherwise newcomers will assume the site is dead or > > dying. > > If one clicks on the 'Recent Posts' link, one can see that > there has been a lost of activity recently: > http://minguo.info/usa/tracker > This tracker is especially useful for registered members as > they can see which polls have been updated, which content > has been created and which blogs have had comments added > since their last visit. > > > The site has indeed been dormant for a while, but it is now > very much alive. As I said, I am currently actively > developing both the content and the software. We are also > working on a major cooperation deal with Democracy > Chronicles ( http://www.democracychronicles.com/ ) that > should give a boost to both sites and, more importantly, to > the democracy movement. > > Having said that, I already have in my mind many ideas that > I hope to implement sometime in the future that will help > users to focus their attention on the type of activity they > care the most about (see also below). > > > > * Show the contribution of each participant. Don't > > just take it and give nothing in return. (!) Ideally > > show the contribution in a social context, because > > people vote for social reasons. > > I can again reply in two parts: what already exists, and > what I am currently working on. > > One can already visit the user profile of each active member > and see both a link to their individual blogs on the site as > well as a tracking page of all the discussion threads a user > has been active. > > I am also currently working on remodelling the back-end > precisely so that individual user blogs become more > prominent than they are right now. > > In addition, I can think of dozens of small features I'd > like to implement sometime which would more social features > to active users. I must prioritise among all those things, > but there is a plan to improve the site along the lines your > are suggesting. > > As to "giving something in return", the most important thing > the site provides is a voice to the user. Registered users > can use the existing, extensive polling feature of the site > to create polls on any topic of their choice, add any new > option or candidate to the majority of the currently running > polls, and, obviously, cast their own vote. > > What's more, we've just launched a Community Manifesto: > http://minguo.info/usa/manifesto > which will compile all the policy positions adopted by the > active users (according to the results of each and every > poll). We aim to provide a platform that users can use to > express their collective opinion and work for change. > > You can browse the manifesto and see the actively running > polls which answer the following questions, among many > others: > > * "What would you like to use this site for?" > * "What can we do to improve our democracy?" > * "Which Election method do you like?" > * "How to use this realm to "Promote better voting > systems"?" > > The site is 100% free of advertising. I personally gain > nothing from it (on the contrary, it costs me money to host > and a *lot* of time to maintain and develop). It is a tool > that I provide for the community to use as they wish, to > promote their own policy agenda. Most importantly, it is a > tool I am actively developing to promote better Election > Methods and to further the cause of democracy. I hope this > fulfils your demand (for me) to "give something in return". > > > > * Restrict voting to real people. Bots and sock > > puppets ruin the social context and render the results > > meaningless. > > > By definition, the polls on the site are internet polls. As > such, they suffer all of the flaws of any internet poll > anywhere on the web. They also suffer the flaws of any > voting maching anywhere in the world. > > It is for a reason that I am personally a strong advocate > for paper and pencil only elections. See the "pencil and > paper criterion": http://minguo.info/node/70 > > Having said that, I can assure you that I have taken > necessary measures to prevent ballot-box stuffing as much as > I can. I have implemented an algorithm that discards any > ballot that appears suspicious (hacking attempts, ballot box > stuffing attempts, etc.) I will not publicly discuss the > details of the implementation. However, I am obviously > dedicated to as much as possible ensure that the results are > meaningful and representative of the people who were > interested enough to take part in the polls. > > On a related note, polls come in two general flavours: > - polls open to any person, registered or not. Among them, > you have the 2012 presidential polls previously presented on > this list. > - polls restricted to registered users: it is the results of > these polls that are used to draft our Community Manifesto. > > > And now, in reply to Michael Ossipoff: > > > On Friday, August 17, 2012 23:15:48 Michael Ossipoff wrote: > > But yes, the website could announce each new ballot > > (without in any way identifying the voter). That would > > be of interest. We'll see if Augustin likes that idea. > > Yes, I do. This is actually one of the thousands of ideas I > have floating at the back of my mind. Generally speaking, > I'd like to improve on the existing features, allowing users > to precisely track and get notified of changes that are of > interest to them: how many new ballots have been cast in > which polls, which new options have been added in running > polls, etc. It will take time to implement all of this, but > yes, that's the direction I want to go. > > > > Blessings, > > Augustin. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
