[maemo-community] Election process referendum

[From: Andrew Flegg]

Graham wrote:
> On Sunday 01 February 2009 04:29:02 Tim wrote:
> > But, it is very odd (to me) that so much stock is put into something that
> > isn't (imho) very important.
> ...
>
> I agree with Tim.  I think there are three important issues to be settled for
> the election process: eligibility, nomination, voting.  However, these are in
> decreasing order of importance.

Well, I don't think anyone on the current council sees eligibility as an issue. 12,000 people wew eligible last time, after the fuss about the karma ("what, we were expected to read the proposal *before* now?!"). About 900 votes were cast.

Since then karma is contributed to by ITT participation and a few other tweaks.

> As far as I am concerned, I did not expect even to see a referendum on these
> issues. 

Well, again, I don't think that a) the current council should be so in charge of the rules - we could set the karma threshold so high that we get voted for by people we can influence; b) we should be so haphazard in process that the written down rules can be changed on a whim.

> To me, the most important issue is eligibility.  That is the one that is
> hardest to fix if it is wrong (because the people who are excluded don't get
> a vote to try to change it next time!).  I have yet to see a proposal (did I
> miss it?) on what the criteria will be for eligibility for the next election. 

There has been no suggestion, to-date, of changing the eligibility criteria from that written down in the election process document.

> > The only thing I might change is how people get nominated...
>
> Here I disagree with Tim.  I think self-nomination is critical for an
> effective council.  If you think someone should be nominated, lobby him/her
> to stand.

Agreed. I don't think something which takes so much of people's free time should be anything but a carefully considered decision by that person.

A raft of referenda before the next election is feasible, but - once again - they're coming late...

Cheers,

Andrew

-- 
Andrew Flegg -- mailto:andrew at bleb.org  |  http://www.bleb.org/
Maemo Community Council member