[WikiEN-l] Why AFD works Great

Tue Oct 18 00:54:03 UTC 2005

On 10/17/05, Ben E. <bratsche1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The thing is that, since AFD is deleting the crap that most of us want
> deleted (garage bands with no songs, the dead-end road down a block from
> my
> house), we can say that it works most of the time. To prevent it failing
> in
> cases where "save" articles deserve an keeping, but might recieve "nn del"
> votes, all we have to do is spend more time on AfD. If more dedicated
> users/inclusionists spend a bunch of time "voting" for articles that need
> keeping, then the votes of the AFD clique will effectively be canceled. A
> "no consensus" decision is better than a "delete".

I think there are a lot of people with differing opinions who aren't
interested in getting into such an arms race. Even if you think that AFD
works most of the time, I think you still have to admit that it'd be nice if
we could reduce the amount of time people spend on it. I think it was in
elementary school that I first learned that a pure democracy was
unsustainable because it'd require people constantly voting on every little
issue. I was skeptical back then (thinking "that's just what the man teaches
you to keep you down"), but I think AFD is a good example of how true it is.

Just throwing out another idea, but what if we appointed a certain number of
representatives to debate on AFD for us? It'd lessen the waste of time, all
but eliminate the sockpuppetry, foster compromise and discussion among the
representatives, etc. The appointment of representatives could use STV or
some other proportional scheme, so all significant factions would still be
represented. Any user could still comment on a proposal and present evidence
to be considered by the representatives. A quorum could be set - if there
aren't say 6 voters then the time is extended until there are.

I don't really like the fact that AFD has become all about voting and not
about consensus, but I don't think that's going to change. If it isn't, then
let's at least streamline the voting process.

Even if you think AFD provides good results, think about how well it scales.
It doesn't, and ultimately this is a problem which is going to need a
solution.

--[[:en:User:Bratsche|Ben]]

Anthony