Sandy Wills wrote:
grenville armitage wrote:
However, consider this case: you post "Should we move to using MS Word?"
and 5 minutes later some hardy soul posts "No". Over the next few
minutes to
hours some hundreds or thousands of list members' mail servers will
receieve these two emails. Many of the human recipients will, in one
quick glance, see
two positions staked out - one for MS Word, one against.
With which one does the silent majority agree?
Indeterminate, of course. This is why, as so many people have pointed
out time & time again, if concensus is to be requested or claimed,
propositions on this list
a) MUST be kept simple, and
b) MUST include a default.
My example was (a) simple, and (b) had a default.
What you gave us is an example of a "discussion",
What I demonstrated is that any posed question on a mailing list will, if it
solicits replies taking positions for or against, lead to an indeterminate
state when interpreted through logic that states "the silent majority agrees
with the position stated on the mailing list." Every subsequent response to
the 'first' question will itself stake out a position, and you have no right
to assume the 'majority' care more about the 'first post' of the question than
the followups.
cheers,
gja
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