Re: [ga] Voting rules, take 4

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Wed, Jun 21, 2000 at 06:34:19PM -0700, William X. Walsh wrote:
[...]
> Things almost never end up that simple, Kent.
> 
> Most likely a better example of what I am saying is:
> 
> Option A gets 75 yes, 25 no
> Option B gets 65 yes, 35 no
> Option C gets 20 yes, 80 no
> 
> And where most of the votes for option A were by people who supported
> Option B above all, but found Option C so reprehensible that they
> voted for Option A as well as an alternative just in case, to block
> Option C from being selected.

Sorry, still doesn't make sense.

> In that case, you have a situation where the consensus of hte group is
> that Option B is the best choice

"Consensus" as measured by what? Some other method of measuring opinion
-- that is, some other voting system.  That is, you are putting an a
priori value on another method of group decision making, and using that
value to judge this method.  That is, your reasoning is circular.

To put it another way, a group might decide that "least evil" (to use 
your terminology) is actually to be preferred.

The voting method in question (Roberto's?) is one that selects the
option that the most people are willing to support.

> Option A was adopted because those who voted for Option B found it
> palatable compared to Option C and there were a small number who
> actually prefered Option A.

That is, the method makes it more difficult for a majority to impose 
their will...whether that is a flaw or a feature depends on a number of 
subjective factors...

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain
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