On Dec 29, 2007, at 10:53 , CLAY SHENTRUP wrote: >> Seems like Rob Brown gave us a start on moving ahead. > > the best way to move ahead is to dump ordinal voting methods for > cardinal ones. approval voting is vastly simpler than all ranked > methods. > > i don't know why we're still talking about ranked methods in this > day and age.
Simply since many if not most experts seem to feel that they are good if not best (for typical political single-winner elections). This mail stream is about joining forces in defending all the good methods. I have no problem in forming also a joint team for supporting both rating and ranking based methods. But in this case I'd like to make it clear for what purpose and environment each method is good for. In order to reach consensus on what Range is good for one could also approach it from two different angles. We could define it as two different methods. Range(ratings) is a method where (most) voters are expected to give their sincere rankings. This wonderful method is at its best in non- competitive environments. Range(ratings) could in theory also work in utopias where the current political arenas are replaced with some new softer ones. In real life some areas in life might also lose their competitive nature e.g. as a result of people becoming richer (no need to fight on some basic cheap stuff any more, just interest in picking the best candidate left), but these cases may be quite marginal. Range(approval) is a method where voters are expected to vote as in Approval. Additionally voters are allowed to cast weak votes. This wonderful method works quite well also in competitive environments. In (competitive) Range(approval) I would not recommend voters to cast weak votes unless they know what they are doing. It is not good if voters with less strong feelings cast weaker votes than voters that feel that they are always right and want to drive their opinions strongly. It is not good if "altruistic and cooperative" voters have less weight than the selfish ones. As a general rule I'd recommend all voters to use votes of same strength (one man one vote is a good basic rule in competitive democratic decision making). Making a clear difference between Range(ratings) and Range(approval) is important when discussing the benefits of each. Too often I have seen approaches where people pick e.g. only the best parts of both approaches (and forget the non-working cases) and assume that they all are valid simultaneously. Juho ___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info