[EM] [CES #3566] Re: Declaration of Election-Method Experts and Enthusiasts: final stretch

[Toby Pereira]

I agree that it's too long. I've had another go at culling come parts of it, but if anyone objects, feel free to revert some or all.


From: Warren Smith <warren.wds at gmail.com>
To: electionscience at googlegroups.com; election-methods <election-methods at electorama.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 September 2011, 16:17
Subject: Re: [EM] [CES #3566] Re: Declaration of Election-Method Experts and Enthusiasts: final stretch

this "declaration" is suffering from exactly what everybody
most-complains about re the rangevoting.org website.

I.e. it tried to cover everything and got large.  In fact, enormous.

That for a website is a flaw that is not necessarily an
insurmountable obstacle
since one can put short "summary" pages (or try...)  and use of lots
of hyperlinks, so it isn't just a flat document, it's
easier to get to information.

But for a "consensus statement" it is a major problem since (a) nobody
is going to sign it and (b) nobody is going to read it.

Well, "nobody" is an exaggeration. But not by much.

This statement (4328 words) is now over 3 times the length of the
USA's "Declaration of Independence" (1315 words) and also longer than
the entire USA constitution (as un-amended) at 4318 words.

Have you seen my attempt to study what election experts and/or Joe
Public actually agree on?  The total amount of true consensus out
there, is extremely small.  So you could have an extremely short
statement, if you wished to summarize what is the current consensus.
If you have the more ambitious goal of creating consensus by actually
changing minds... well, I doubt you can do it with one single
document.

It's very hard to get people to sign statements, and the difficulty
increases with the length.
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