[Foundation-l] Fairness and the elections

Fri May 28 15:54:53 UTC 2004

I want to clarify regarding the discussion on the length of the candidates' statements. 

There is NO discussion between Imran and myself about invalidating any candidate because of the length of their statements on the Candidate Page. NONE. 

One candidate simply pointed out that on that page, people were asked to limit their comments to 500 characters. Without getting into a discussion over whether that number includes spaces or not (and the issue has been raised), the purpose was to allow each candidate to provide a BRIEF summary of their positions on two questions. Much lengthier statements could (and were) be made on the candidates own pages. In fact, there was no limit to the amount of space that could be used there. People could write thousands of words, or they could provide succinct comments about what they believe and the which goals they hope to pursue. 

However, one candidate brought up the issue that certain candidates had exceeded the 500 word limit on the Candidates Page and there only. In fairness, and since that was a request by a candidate, I asked the candidates who had exceeded that amount to try and trim their statements. This was done via personal email precisely because I wanted to avoid this kind of ruckus. They were asked to cut out some words and redirect to their user pages. Nowhere was there any talk of disqualifying anyone. 

This is not an issue I intend to pursue any further. 15 words more or less on that page is not going to sway the election one way or another. 500 characters was a round figure, chosen arbitrarily, to provide an approximate size of a text that would ensure that the page was readable. 

I hope that no one intends to drop out of the race because of this request. I hope all the candidates understand my position on this and will not use this to contest the election, that has been proceeding smoothly so far.

Thank you,

Danny 