On Thu, 1 Nov 2007, Alan Burlison wrote: [ ... ] > Personally I don't know what the opinion of the community is on this > issue, mainly because the vast majority of the voting members choose to > keep quiet. All I see is a small number of voluble individuals stating > and restating their opinions and claiming that they are the 'voice of > the majority'. A vote is how we gauge the collective opinion of the > community, not statements from one individual or another.
I have to agree with Alan here. To conclude "the majority approves" from the "the majority is silent" implies that "silence == approval". Such an assumption seems a bit far-fetched. That anyone opposing a proposal will have to rally their supporters and be visible about their opposition is obvious. But that someone proposing will not have to rally _their_ supporters but may assume approval-by-silence is bad governance. It's what drives people away from politics, and what gives organizations that work like this (e.g.: European Council) such a bad reputation with the people they "govern". Govern by edict and your subjects will learn to hate you. People may or may not agree with what you propose, but unless you've put the question to the vote, some will be disgruntled - not because they'd object to the action as such, but because they object to the way it was done. That said, /me is now stepping back into the silent majority :) FrankH. _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
