[csw-maintainers] [POLICY] Policy-team

[Peter FELECAN]

Jonathan Craig <jcraig at opencsw.org> writes:

> On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 10:07 AM, Philip Brown <phil at bolthole.com> wrote:
>> 2011/2/7 Maciej Bliziński <maciej at opencsw.org>:
>>> ...
>>> Regarding voting thresholds, I don't have an opinion on that.  I guess
>>> that the higher the threshold, the easier it is for a minority to
>>> block a change.
>>
>> It's a zero sum game, The flip side of the above is, the lower the
>> threshold is, the easier it is for "dumb ideas in the long run" to get
>> through.
>>
>> Given your original premise of attempting to get "general consensus"
>> before making policy, 50% sounds contradictory to that.
>> 75% agreement sounds closer to that principle.
>
> As a middle ground a simple majority could approve a change with a
> minimum discussion time that allows full discourse.  A super majority
> could approve a change and bypass/limit the minimum discussion.  This
> help prevent the ramrodding of questionable items while speeding along
> items with consensus.
>
> majority           - 50% - 1 week
> super majority  - 75% - 2 day
> consensus       - 100% - no minimum

This is nice but utterly complicated. What's wrong with majority as
defined:

        The greater number; more than half; as, a majority of
        mankind; a majority of the votes cast.
        [1913 Webster]
  
        The amount or number by which one aggregate exceeds all
        other aggregates with which it is contrasted; especially,
        the number by which the votes for a successful candidate
        exceed those for all other candidates; as, he is elected
        by a majority of five hundred votes. See {Plurality}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
        (elections) more than half of the votes [syn: {majority},
        {absolute majority}]

for the sake of completeness, consensus:

      agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as
      a whole; "the lack of consensus reflected differences in
      theoretical positions"; "those rights and obligations are
      based on an unstated consensus"

Let's say that if there is no consensus after 1 week we proceed to a
vote.

Note that I agree with Maciej that if we reach consensus rarely and
vote often there is an issue in the community. Lets observe where the
consensus gets stuck.
-- 
Peter