Let's rename Smith-Condorcet

[Mike Ossipoff]

Yes, all of that makes sense to me. Academics name methods after
people, but if Richie owns had word "Instant Runoff" then he has
something catchier than "Smith-Condorcet". Maybe the disadvantage
of using people's names is that it soulnds academic, and makes
people expect it to be complicated--anyone who has checked out
the formulese bullshit in academic journal articles on voting
systems would expect that from anything that sounds academic.
Even people who haven't had that experience have likely been
put off by academic writings or speeches at some point.

So if Richie (assuming he insists on ownership of IRO) says
"Well I don't know if Smith-Condorcet is beter than Instant 
Runoff, but Instant Runoff is simpler", people might believe
him just because IRO sounds simple, just from its name,
& Smith-Condorcet sounds academic.

And it's true that "Condorcet" results in misunderstanding.
Many call any pairwise method "Condorcet's method". And,
as we've discussed, even the actual method proposed by
Condorcet didn't specify how defeats should be measured.

***

I like "Instant Majority". I don't know of a better possibility
for a name. It would trump "Instant Runoff". And it would
be quite valid, because of the important way that IM respects
majority rule & other methods don't.

***

Of course a vote should precede the name-change, but I doubt
that anyone outside of EM would vote. As you said, if they
were interested in participating, they'd be on EM.

Also, it seems to me that the vote should be among the IM
advocates, people who ranked 1st. I don't know why a method's
opponents should vote on the method's name.

But, in any case, a vote is needed only if someone objects
to IM, or proposes something else (someone who is an advocate
of that method). Right now I'm not inclined to object to the
change or to propose a different name. Should we give it a
week, and then declare IM to be the new name, unless theres
objection or an alternative proposal from an IM advocate?

***

I don't think IM can be criticized for implying majority rule;
I believe that most people consider it a desirable thing.

Someone might kid us by saying that it should be a big hit
with the street-drug scene, due to the use of those initials
for a type of injection. But IR has another meaning, infrared
radiation, and MPV is the name of a car.

***

So: At this time I don't know of any name better than IM, and
I agree to the change. So let's find out if, as of a week
from now, no one has objected or proposed anything else, and
if no one has, then let's adopt the name "IM".

It goes without saying, and has been our custom from the start,
that any proposal not objected to passes. And, in the event
that there are 3 or more proposals (counting "status quo"),
we don't have to debate what voting system to use: We've 
got one that we've already voted #1: Smith-Condorct; I mean
IM.

***

Mike


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