[EM] Should we allow "voting off" this mailing list?

[Rob Lanphier]

Hi folks,

I've received a couple of complaints about the tenor of this mailing list.
My cursory look through the archives suggests that the problems are with a
couple of people.

I'm trying to sort it out with the people about whom the complaints are
about, but something occurred to me.  There's been lots of "votes" on this
mailing list, which I've never been a big fan of, because the group of
people who are active on this list are self-selected.  However, there's one
thing y'all are the exact right people to vote on, which is "who should be
on this mailing list?".  It may be good to have times where y'all get to
vote a person or two off of the mailing list "Survivor"-style, though I
want to make sure that this list is a safe place for smart people with
unconventional communication styles to express unpopular opinions every now
and then.

I'm announcing today is the first day of voting in this election.  Please
send me a private ballot (to me only, not to the list) in the following
example format:

1.  A -  This person ("A") is my favorite person posting on the list.
(Please only vote for one or two "favorites", though I won't mind if you
gush about three or four people in this first round of voting)
2. CCCCC - These people ("C", "C", "C", "C", and "C") are usually pretty
reasonable, and though I disagree with them sometimes (or perhaps almost
every message they send), their messages are generally thoughtful and
well-expressed.  It would make me sad if they decided to unsubscribe to
this mailing list, and are driven off the list by the more
obnoxious/prolific posters.  I'm sometimes thinking of these people
specifically when I write emails to the list, because I want to reach these
people.
3. FFF - These people ("F", "F", and "F") are almost always sending
unacceptable messages to this list, and they do it A LOT.  It's not just
annoying, it's toxic.  I've been tempted to unsubscribe mainly because of
THEIR messages (and some of you may say "I have done it a time or two in
the past").

I really want concise email ballots, though I'm allowing for a little prose
to explain why you put someone at the "A" tier or why you're relegating
anyone to the "FFF" tier.  Try to have at least one person in the "A" tier
for every person you put in the "FFF" tier.  The "CCCCC" tier should really
just be a list.

This is an experiment.  I'm going to be traveling soon, so I'm hoping to
have the first set of ballots by end-of-day Monday (and note: my end-of-day
is probably later than your end-of-day, especially if you're not in the
United States).  I don't mind if you email me personally and say "I'd like
a little more time to think about this".  I probably won't try figuring out
how to aggregate everyone's feedback about other list members until August,
but those of you who vote early will have my gratitude.  If you want to
propose other ballot formats than what I suggest above, that's okay, but I
think I'm going to insist on using my three-tier "A", "CCCCC", and "FFF"
tiers, and using those names.  I'm going to be hand aggregating ballots, so
the more novel you are with your ballots, the less likely I'm going to be
to consider your ballot.

I'm not likely to act soon on the first set of ballots unless there are a
lot of ballots that put the same person(s) in the "FFF" category.  I'm not
planning on holding these votes at any particular interval, but maybe we
should devise a set of rules for calling a "vote of no confidence" in the
current membership of the mailing list.  It may be that only people who
post 5 or more times per month are eligible to be voted off the island, so
to speak.  I haven't decided, but your comments are welcome!

Rob
p.s. I've started work setting up an alternative mailing list to discuss
voting software.  I'm more likely to read all of the messages to this
alternative mailing list, so I'm less likely to be patient with people that
ruin the reading experience for the lurkers on the list.
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