Re: [wg-review] The Number 2 Problem (solution)

[Greg Burton <sidna@feedwriter.com>]

Nice post, Chris - thanks.

At 04:51 PM 1/8/01, Chris McElroy wrote:
>Then in that case we will have to have a definition for each.

My definitions would be:

Consensus = "unanimous or no blocking opinions after a specific request for 
any blocking opinions has bee requested"
Near-consensus="90% or greater in agreement"
Super-Majority="67% in agreement"
         NOTE - the reason for this change (from "strong" majority") is 
that the White Paper uses this term. 67% is a normal             break 
point, so I'd be comfortable with it, or 60%, or anything in between.
Majority="greater than 50% in agreement"

>You will find the majority don't have a clue of what it is and certainly 
>don't know which
>"Version" of consensus is deciding things for them on the Internet.

And of the people who do know what consensus process means in policy 
development, a large majority will never have heard of either the IETF or 
it's "rough consensus".

>That in itself makes consensus invalid as a way of reaching decisions that
>people feel is representative of their interests. They will always distrust
>a system they do not understand.

I totally agree with you on this. Unless people understand it, it won't 
work. Pretending that what we're doing is consensus is useless. Nor do we 
need to. I'd prefer a real consensus system, but at this point we're all 
pretty much agreed that right now it won't work. And even Kent has said 
"votes are good" recently, so I don't see any harm in just voting on what 
we as a group think - as long as we don't label the results consensus 
unless they are.

Regards,
Greg

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