[Elections] Who votes? how does voting work?

[Daniel Vainsencher]

I dont expect the SqP mechanism to add human contact to the process - it 
is merely a way of expressing the personal contact and evaluation that 
is already happening. As to initial membership, I'm proposing we use the 
current status as the starting point.

This is my proposal. It has the following advantages in my opinion - it 
is already implemented, it is already much more transparent than most 
systems (you know who's for you), and its implementation is an 
algorithm, so that its properties can be explored effectively for bugs, 
and transparency can be increased by mere implementation work.

Lex, if you think we should use some other system based on the list of 
criteria discussed, please explain how you would implement it in detail. 
  It would also be nice if you can give some sort of glimpse into who 
that system lets in, like we can get by peeking at the SqP site.

Anyway, here is my initial requirements list for a voting system. 
Functionality:
1. Allows a master to propose a topic on the website. A mail is sent to 
some every Squeaker that hasn't opted out. The topic proposer can also 
edit or remove the proposal.
2. Allows any Journeyman to propose an alternative course of action for 
this topic, and edit or remove it. An "ignore this topic" course of 
action is there by default.
3. Topic proposer gets to set a vote date. At this point another mail is 
sent to voting members that didn't opt out.
4. Journeymen can vote until said date, and gets confirmation mail 
whenever his vote changes.
5. Numeric results of Condorcet votes are published on the website as 
per Debian standards.
Non-functional requirements:
A. Easy backup.
B. Topics, proposals, and votes are in files readable by text editor. 
Initially, we favor debuggability, and therefore reject privacy 
requirements.

Lex Spoon wrote:
> "Not necessarily. There is some complex mathematics involved[....] 
> Basically a bucket of points is poured into the network by the roots,
> and it flows according to certification level. There are also sinks, and
> the whole shebang results in the cert list.
> 
> It could be that it currently works that way, but it is certainly not a
> rule appearing somewhere in the flow algorithm."
> 
> - Cees de Groot
> http://macos.tuwien.ac.at:9009/409183724.asHtml
> 
> 
> Imagine someone who tries to join the Squeak community but has too low
> of a reputation to be allowed by the system.  Aren't they going to be a
> little mystefied about the reason?  Won't they wonder whether they are
> truly not Squeaky enough, versus not persistent enough in pestering
> people?  Similarly, when someone gets added, what will existing members
> think?  Will they feel confident that even one person in the community
> took a close look?  Won't they wonder, just a little, if the new member
> merely pestered everyone until someone bumped them in?
> 
> A traditional membership system would involve at least one person in the
> community taking a serious look at each applicant.  Frequently, there
> would additionally be a committee that takes a moderate look once the
> initial person is satisfied.  This approach has advantages in both
> directions.  The existing community knows that any new person has been
> reviewed thoroughly by *someone*, as opposed to getting a pile of
> reputation bumps by a bunch of people not really paying attention. 
> Further, the applicant gets someone to interact with closely, so that
> they know what they are lacking if there is a problem.
> 
> This latter approach is used extraordinarily widely in existing
> communities.  As just a few quick examples, it is used for:
> 
> 	- getting a Ph.D.
> 	- becoming a Methodist minister
> 	- earning a black belt
> 	- becoming a Debian developer
> 
> 
> Anyway, none of this answers the question of who is in the *initial* member
> set.  Using a reputation system still requires picking an initial set of
> members.  Who do we pick?
> 
> 
> -Lex
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