From: gst@spdcc.com (Gary S. Trujillo)
Newsgroups: news.groups,alt.native
Subject: Re: CALL FOR STRAW VOTE: NATIVE NEWSGROUP
Date: 15 Dec 92 16:33:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Dec15.163304.18796
Reply-To: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo)
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting

In article <1992Dec15.093608.5976@spdcc.com> I wrote:

> I feel that a person should be allowed to vote for more than one newsgroup
> name, and should indicate a first, second, and third (at least) choice...

I'd like to say a bit more in support of this idea:

As I see it, we really have two issues before us, one is on the nature of
the newsgroup we're contemplating and the other is on what to call that
newsgroup, once we decide on its subject matter.  I feel the vote should
be organized so as to keep that fact in mind, and to provide as much useful
information as possible to help us make good decisions.

The question about the nature of the newsgroup is essentially about whether
it should be exclusively for discussion of the native/indigenous/aboriginal
peoples of the Americas, as was initially proposed, or whether it should be
for the exchange of information and ideas regarding indigenous peoples in
all parts of the world.  My own view tends toward the latter idea, since we
can expect that, whatever the stated charter of a more exclusive newsgroup,
it will be used for international purposes, since it will be the only main-
stream newsgroup of its kind.  Further, I feel that it is important to have
a Usenet vehicle for promoting solidarity among the native peoples of the
world and to increase the awareness of all of us concerning how similar are
the issues faced by people from various indigenous societies.

In any event, if the vote is simply evaluated by saying that the choice
with the most votes is declared to be the winner, I think we will obtain a
fairly distorted result.  Let's take a look at the choices offered by Mike
in calling for the straw poll vote:

| soc.culture.native
| soc.culture.native.american
| soc.culture.amerind
| soc.culture.native-america
| soc.culture.indigenous
| soc.culture.aboriginal
| soc.culture.???

We can separate these choices into two distinct groups:

        First Group:                        Second Group:
    soc.culture.native                soc.culture.native.american
    soc.culture.indigenous            soc.culture.amerind
    soc.culture.aboriginal            soc.culture.native-america

Making a choice in the first group is amounts to indicating a preference
for constructing one new level of hierarchy at present under the "soc.
culture" hierarchy level for the purpose of talking about native peoples
of the world, while selecting from one in the second category indicates
a preference to create a newsgroup for "Native American" or "American
Indian" content only.

However, if someone selects one of the names in the first group, or in
the second group, the information about which of these two groups was
chosen is lost in the outcome if a simple tally is performed.  Using
the scheme I have proposed, wherein one indicates a first, second, and
third choice, and anyone not voting for the newsgroup with the clear
majority on the basis of first choice votes having their second choice
votes added in, and doing the same between second and third choice votes
preserves that information.

I want to avoid the situation of someone prefering the international or
American newsgroups not happening to choose the most popular of the
choices in whichever of those two categories the name is in, and thus
having wasted a vote and not getting a voice in the more fundamental of
the two decisions before us.

The other way to do things would be to have a first round of voting to
determine whether to have an American only newsgroup or an international
one, and then having a second round of voting to settle the name.

What do others feel about this idea?

Thanks.

Gary

-- 
    Gary S. Trujillo                             gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts               {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
Newsgroups: news.groups