[EM] New names for Weak DSC and Strong DSC? (was Re: the anti-middle strategy examples with Condorcet)

[Steve Eppley]

Mike O wrote:
-snip-
> Approval is a remarkably good voting system, in terms of the
> criteria that it meets. It meets one of the strategy criteria
> that Condorcet meets, which is met by few if any methods other
> than Approval, Condorcet & Bucklin:
> 
>    If a majority of all the voters prefer A to B, then they
>    should have a way of voting that will ensure that B won't 
>    win, without any of them having to vote a less-liked candidate 
>    over a more-liked candidate.
> 
> That criterion has been named Weak Defensive Strategy Criterion
> (WDSC). But it should perhaps be renamed more descriptively; maybe
> something like Defensive Order-Reversal Criterion, though
> I'm looking for one with a better acronym. Maybe "Drastic Defensive
> Strategy Criterion" (DDSC).

I suggest "Non-Drastic Defense criterion" (NDDC), since it means 
that the defenders don't need to vote the compromise ahead of 
their favorite.  

And I suggest replacing the name Strong DSC with "Minimal 
Defense" criterion (MDC), since the defenders don't need to rank 
the compromise equal to their favorite, since they can simply 
(down)rank B no better than any alternative less preferred than 
B which might cycle with A.  (For instance, a voter having the 
preferences C>A>B>D could vote C>A>B=D if D might cycle with A.)

I'll take a moment to add that when Mike refers to "Condorcet" 
above, he's referring to more than one of the better Condorcet 
variations.


---Steve     (Steve Eppley    seppley at alumni.caltech.edu)