[EM] pairwise as best popular name for Condorcet voting

[RLSuter at aol.com]

> Yeah, I think the term "majority voting" as used in the Scientific 
> American article -- which describes the result rather the process -- is 
> the best generic "marketing term" for Condorcet-compatible systems.  I 
> don't have a problem with using IRRV or some such with IRV supporters, 
> but most of the time I think it makes more sense to appeal to the 
> broader public directly without using any acronyms at all.
>
> -- Ernie Prabhakar
> (Marketing Manager, for once actually commenting in my area of 
> professional expertise :-)
>
Thanks, Ernie. marketing isn't my specialty, so I have to take your
thoughts about this especially seriously. My one concern is that IRV
has received so much attention, even if it a majority of people still
aren't familiar with it, that I'm inclined to think that a name such as
IRR or IRRV that will make it easier to compare Condorcet with IRV
would be better and that while "true majority voting" would otherwise
be better still, that term could cause problems with IRV fans and
supporters of the Center of Voting and Democracy who I think we
need to be on as friendly terms with as possible. Instead of ignoring
them and dealing directly with the general public, I think it would
be better to challenge IRV fans to publicly discuss/debate the
question of which method is best. In any case, whenever we do
approach the public, there will likely be at least a few people who
are familiar with IRV, so I don't think we can avoid discussing it
and comparing it with Condorcet.

-Ralph