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    Tuesday, 07 March 2006

    Using votes to help detect MIA Debian developers?

    Raphaël Hertzog writes about the Condorcet voting system that we use in Debian. He then goes on to consider whether we could use the system to help us elsewhere - could we track MIA developers by checking their voting records? This strikes a chord with another idea I've heard recently: make voting in the DPL election mandatory for active DDs.

    I expect that even suggesting such a thing may appal some of us - forcing volunteer DDs to do anything is not likely to be popular, and I admit I have misgivings about it myself on that front. However, I can also see the attraction of the idea. The DPL election is a very(!) well publicised event that happens regularly every year, and is something that most DDs are likely to care about. Asking the project secretary after the polls close for a list of DDs that have not voted might be a good way of picking up on those who have stopped paying attention to Debian issues.

    Comments? :-)

    21:02 :: # :: /debian/issues :: 4 comments

    Comments

    Re: Using votes to help detect MIA Debian developers?
    wrote on Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:09

    What's the point of embracing democratic principles if you make voting mandatory? Voting is not democracy; voting is one way of exercising the freedom of choice that democracy is meant to uphold. Democracy must include the freedom to choose not to vote at all.


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