*** Quoting Alex Shakhaylo from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

AS> Hi, Carol!

AS> 23 Nov 02 11:48, Carol Shenkenberger said to Alex Shakhaylo:

 CS> Remember when you think that votes should be adjusted for the numbers
 CS> in a region though, that the smaller ones have a right to not be too
 CS> overwhelmed.

AS> I think of more comlex scheme.  The RCs' votes should be adjusted not
AS> number of people in regions, but to number of voted and to ratio betwe
AS> yes/no votes.  In this way we'll get the whole picture and the only th
AS> will have a value will be the opinion of those,  who decided to partic
AS> pate.

That has validity but still, one needs a little care when dealing with
issues ¨that do not affect your own zone/region but *do* affect others.

Imagine a line in P4 that requires the zoneseg come from the listed ZC.  If
¨that one flew by your head, take a gander at Z6.  The zoneseg comes from
¨Anatoli not Bin Li.  If one didnt know about this, one would easily pass
it by ¨a majority vote.  Z6 would lose however, it's last bastion of
nodelist ¨corrections.

Thats just a microcosm item.  There are other things that can cause havoc. 
I'm ¨not saying majority rule is bad, but that there are other aspects in
it you may ¨not realize and which wont impact your larger region until it's
far too late to ¨save the smaller ones impacted.

There is no perfect answer to this.

AS> than to run fidowide voting.  After regions voted we only should accou
AS> the regions' results and get the whole picture.

Would you have the whole picture though?  3 Z5 sysops say no.  1500 Z2
sysops ¨say yes.  Do you really know?  Those 3 Z5 sysops represent 75% of
the active Z5 ¨base.  If they all vote no and the other 1 doesnt get the
message so doesnt ¨vote, it could be an issue that would destroy Z5
operations.  But, you'll never ¨know because 3 against 1500 just doesnt
make sense unless you've really checked ¨into whats happening or know
something about how the zones both are the same ¨and yet different.

You may not have been aware for example that Z6's nodelist isnt handled by
the ¨Z6C.  Z6 is the only zone where that happens as 'policy' but not the
only one ¨with a backup Zseg maker.

Please understand I am not beating on you.  I am trying hard to explain
that ¨not all is as simple as it seems.  There needs to be as much
acceptance of our ¨differences as possible to make this all work.

I for one did not realize how much problem there could be to a zone, in
¨sysop-wide voting.  I still believe this is the best method but I know the
¨flaws.  Region wide voting is very valid, but weighting of those votes
based on ¨size (which relates to number responding) can be just as much of
a problem Z1-6 ¨wide.

I'm going out on a limb here but I think I have a better grasp than most on
¨inter-zonal issues than most.  This isnt because i live in Z6 now, but the
¨result of asking questions for the past 10 years.

 CS> they cant/wont do. They arent all ION's but the people who draw from
 CS> those ION feeds.

AS> It is hardly migth happen, if RCs' voices were adjusted according
AS> to participants number. The opinions inside big regions differ as
AS> well as inside small ones :-)

In a final vote of 1 RC per region, has most of the RC's in Z2.  Thats been
¨true for over 10 years now.  30 of the 65 RC's are in Z2.

Z2 has the power to revitalize us, or destroy us.  Let us hope it is used
¨wisely with care for the smaller segments.
                                       xxcarol

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