uk.* strawpoll service
WHAT?
This is a service provided to proponents of RFDs, or indeed any other
users of the uk.* hierarchy, who need a way to gauge public opinion on
a proposal. The most common question is likely to be to find out which
is the most popular name for a proposed group, but this service could
also be used for other polls (such as to ask questions about parts of
proposed charters, or to see what impact a proposal may have).
WHY?
Ocasionally strawpolls appear during the discussion of the creation of
a newsgroup, usually to choose the best name. Strawpolls are a very
useful tool, but are not as forthcoming, or trusted, as they could be,
because of issues about such things as impartiality. This service is
totally impartial, and aims to quickly and simply solve deadlocks in
proposals by seeing which options are the most popular.
HOW?
- Mail a Request for Strawpoll to alan@whirlnet.co.uk, stating:
- What the question is
- What options are to be included
(The ballot will also include a comments section, for voters to
raise other points, or express a preference for an option that was
not included on the ballot)
- What groups the strawpoll is to be posted to
- I will post the strawpoll, gather the results, and after a voting
period of about seven days, the results will be posted
- The vote will be counted using the Condorcet method, of judging
the voters' relative preferences of one option to another (same as
is used for official multi-option votes in the uk.* hierarchy)
WHO?
This service is being provided by Alan Ford (alan@whirlnet.co.uk). I
have been a UKVoting votetaker since 1998, and so have a lot
of experience at organising and running impartial votes in uk.* usenet.
Please note that this is not an official service of the uk.* usenet
committee. It is simply an unofficial service that hopefully the uk.*
community will find useful.
LINKS
Alan Ford <alan@whirlnet.co.uk>