<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">I agree that it's too long. I've had another go at cullin<VAR id=yui-ie-cursor></VAR>g come parts of it, but if anyone objects, feel free to revert some or all.<BR style="RIGHT: auto" class=yui-cursor></SPAN></div>
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<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 0; MARGIN: 5px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=hr readonly="true" contenteditable="false"></DIV><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Warren Smith <warren.wds@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> electionscience@googlegroups.com; election-methods <election-methods@electorama.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, 7 September 2011, 16:17<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [EM] [CES #3566] Re: Declaration of Election-Method Experts and Enthusiasts: final stretch<BR></FONT><BR>this "declaration" is suffering from exactly what everybody<BR>most-complains about re the rangevoting.org website.<BR><BR>I.e. it tried to cover
everything and got large. In fact, enormous.<BR><BR>That for a website is a flaw that is not necessarily an<BR>insurmountable obstacle<BR>since one can put short "summary" pages (or try...) and use of lots<BR>of hyperlinks, so it isn't just a flat document, it's<BR>easier to get to information.<BR><BR>But for a "consensus statement" it is a major problem since (a) nobody<BR>is going to sign it and (b) nobody is going to read it.<BR><BR>Well, "nobody" is an exaggeration. But not by much.<BR><BR>This statement (4328 words) is now over 3 times the length of the<BR>USA's "Declaration of Independence" (1315 words) and also longer than<BR>the entire USA constitution (as un-amended) at 4318 words.<BR><BR>Have you seen my attempt to study what election experts and/or Joe<BR>Public actually agree on? The total amount of true consensus out<BR>there, is extremely small. So you could have an extremely short<BR>statement, if you wished to
summarize what is the current consensus.<BR>If you have the more ambitious goal of creating consensus by actually<BR>changing minds... well, I doubt you can do it with one single<BR>document.<BR><BR>It's very hard to get people to sign statements, and the difficulty<BR>increases with the length.<BR>----<BR>Election-Methods mailing list - see <A href="http://electorama.com/em" target=_blank>http://electorama.com/em</A> for list info<BR><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>