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8 votes
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How foreign policy became a campaign issue for the 2024 US presidential election
7 votes -
Red and blue US states: dichotomized maps mislead and reduce perceived voting influence
25 votes -
Senior EU politician launches bid to remove Hungary’s voting rights
22 votes -
Is the vote button an agree button?
This is specifically about voting on comments, and not articles. I think voting for topics is clear and intuitive. I've noticed that, while reading users' comments on topics, I have a tendency to...
This is specifically about voting on comments, and not articles. I think voting for topics is clear and intuitive.
I've noticed that, while reading users' comments on topics, I have a tendency to think "This is right, so I will vote it up," or "I agree with this, so I will vote it up." I'm not sure I should be doing this, or rather, I'm not sure that's the best use of my ability to vote on comments. I always worry that sites I frequent will morph into echo chambers, and I want to avoid that for this site. I want to encourage expressing alternate viewpoints, because exposure to alternate views helps me grow a human. The vote button is a low-effort means of accomplishing that, and I intend to use it as such.
I think the vote button should be used on comments that enhance the discussion, and help engage people, and not necessarily only on comments that make me feel happy, good or righteous. So, lately, I've been trying to explicitly vote up comments which have replies, especially ones which have several replies, but aren't voted as highly as their children or peers. If someone's comment can engage several people to reply and contribute positively to a conversation, then that comment is worthy of being seen and so I vote it up. I do this regardless of whether or not I agree with the substance of the message.
I've noticed a trend where there will be a low-voted comment with many replies. These aren't trolling comments, because if they were, then they would be removed. These are comments which are engaging people and furthering the conversation, but it seems like the community doesn't value these comments due to their low vote count. This leads me to suspect that the number of votes on a comment might be merely a tally of the number of people who agreed with it.
So, I'm curious. Do you vote on comments?
How do you decide to vote on a comment?
How should we collectively be using the vote for comments?
(As an aside, I also wonder how the psychology of reading comments would change if vote tallies on comments were hidden.)
47 votes -
Chile voters reject conservative proposal to replace dictatorship-era constitution
12 votes -
Europe’s rightward drift is not set in stone: our new research should give hope to the left
12 votes -
Women used to be more likely to vote Conservative than men but that all changed in 2017—UK research wants to find out why
17 votes -
Anonymous sources say Alabama political maps are part of a plan by Republicans in the state Senate to break Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a long-held goal of many conservatives
22 votes -
[SOLVED] Can't vote on an open topic?
10 votes -
Alabama is defying the US Supreme Court on voting rights
32 votes -
[SOLVED] Question about post voting locking
Hi, I was wondering if the current duration before voting gets locked on a post is still 30 days? I tried to find the answer in the docs but didn’t see it (apologies if I missed it) and all I...
Hi, I was wondering if the current duration before voting gets locked on a post is still 30 days? I tried to find the answer in the docs but didn’t see it (apologies if I missed it) and all I turned up in a search of the site was a topic from 3 years ago mentioning the 30 days, so I wanted to see if that’s still accurate.
Thanks !
14 votes -
Why doesn't Tildes display a user's social score or karma on their profile page?
I've noticed that tildes is somewhat different than other social networks in that it doesn't display a user's karma, neither on profile page or on the handle. On other networks, you'll always see...
I've noticed that tildes is somewhat different than other social networks in that it doesn't display a user's karma, neither on profile page or on the handle. On other networks, you'll always see something like
pyeri [100]
at almost every place where pyeri posts.Is there any thought process behind this design decision? Do you think judging users by their social score might lead to "class conflicts" of sorts which might erupt in flame wars or something? Or do you think high karma will reach their heads and make them more narcissistic while a lower score will make them prone to imposter syndrome!
But on the flip side, this karma score acts as a kind of street cred indicator. What the community thinks about a particular user is public and known to the community in the natural and organic course of content creation which is quite desirable.
34 votes -
The other Turkish voters who could be crucial
4 votes -
Slovenia elects first woman president in a runoff vote
5 votes -
Researchers have been given a £420,000 grant to explore the potential use of a blockchain-based voting system in Greenland
3 votes -
Lula narrowly defeats Bolsonaro to win Brazil presidency again
25 votes -
Brazilian second round kicks off with Satan and Freemasonry dominating Brazilian runoff campaign
5 votes -
Jair Bolsonaro, Lula headed to runoff after tight Brazil election
11 votes -
French election 2022: full live results
17 votes -
Texas is quietly using redistricting lawsuits to launch a broader war against federal voting rights law
5 votes -
Pro-Vladimir Putin party maintains majority in Russian elections despite declining support, many results almost certainly rigged
15 votes -
After data is posted on conspiracy site, Colorado county's voting machines are banned
12 votes -
What do you think about voting?
I don't understand why people think an individual vote changes anything. I don't mean this as an insult, I just don't understand by what mechanism my vote matters. To be clear, I am not saying you...
I don't understand why people think an individual vote changes anything. I don't mean this as an insult, I just don't understand by what mechanism my vote matters. To be clear, I am not saying you shouldn't vote, simply that one persons vote is a neutral act.
I assume that if I vote in an election my vote will literally be counted; the votes for one candidate will go from 100,000 to 100,001. In tiny elections, it is possible, not likely, for a single vote to change a result. However, arguing for a system from its top 0.1% best case scenario is a bit disingenuous. In 99.9% of elections, it does not come down to one vote.
I have also been told I should just choose the candidate that is closest to my beliefs or even put in a blank ballet. In the US, a 3rd-party candidate will not win any non-local election; in other countries, I understand that it is different, but I can't speak from personal experience. And its not like I would ever choose any of the main party candidates; some are much worse than others, but none represent my beliefs. My understanding of this idea is that what is being valued is the performance of representation, not my actual representation in the system. 'The medium is the message', or who you vote for does not matter, what matters is that you vote.
I've heard people say something to the effect of 'if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about the political system'. This idea ignores the fact that not voting is an explicitly political act. I am engaging with the system by refusing to play what I perceive to be a rigged game.
But its not like the political system changes whether I vote or not; its not like anyone can know if I voted or not, unless I tell them or wear one of those 'I voted' stickers. I've heard people argue that if everyone thought this way, then the OTHER SIDE would win. But other people's decision to vote or not isn't my responsibility.
Is there something I am missing?
EDIT:
I changed my formatting to be more clear and edited the text, as a few responses seem to have missed some of my points.
22 votes -
Millions in UK face disenfranchisement under voter ID plans
7 votes -
We selected 10,000 American neighborhoods at random. If we dropped you into one of them, could you guess how most people there voted?
29 votes -
Georgia House passes sweeping bill that would restrict voting access, setting up final vote next week
8 votes -
Could "fuzzing" voting, election, and judicial process improve decisionmaking and democratic outcomes?
Voting is determinative, especially where the constituency is precisely known, as with a legislature, executive council, panel of judges, gerrymandered electoral district, defined organisational...
Voting is determinative, especially where the constituency is precisely known, as with a legislature, executive council, panel of judges, gerrymandered electoral district, defined organisational membership. If you know, with high precision, who is voting, then you can determine or influence how they vote, or what the outcome will be. Which lends a certain amount of predictability (often considered as good), but also of a tyranny of the majority. This is especially true where long-standing majorities can be assured: legislatures, boards of directors, courts, ethnic or cultural majorities.
The result is a very high-stakes game in establishing majorities, influencing critical constituencies, packing courts, and gaming parliamentary and organisational procedures. But is this the best method --- both in terms of representational eqquity and of decision and goverrnance quality?
Hands down the most fascinating article I've read over the past decade is Michael Schulson's "How to choose? When your reasons are worse than useless, sometimes the most rational choice is a random stab in the dark", in Aeon. The essay, drawing heavily on Peter Stone, The Luck of the Draw: The Role of Lotteries in Decision Making (2011), which I've not read, mostly concerns decisions under uncertainty and of the risk of bad decisions. It seems to me that it also applies to periods of extreme political partisanship and division. An unlikely but possible circumstance, I'm sure....
Under many political systems, control is binary and discrete. A party with a majority in a legislature or judiciary, or control of the executive, has absolute control, barring procedural exceptions. Moreover, what results is a politics of veto power, where the bloc defining a controlling share of votes effectively controls the entire organisation. It may not be able to get its way, but it can determine which of two pluralities can reach a majority. Often in favour of its own considerations, overtly or covertly --- this is an obvious engine of corruption.
(This is why "political flexibility" often translates to more effective power than a hardline orthodoxy.)
One inspiration is a suggestion for US Supreme Court reform: greatly expand the court, hear more cases, but randomly assign a subset of judges to each case.[1] A litigant cannot know what specific magistrates will hear a case, and even a highly-packed court could produce minority-majority panels.
Where voting can be fuzzed, the majority's power is made less absolute, more uncertain, and considerations which presume that such a majority cannot be assured, one hopes, would lead to a more inclusive decisionmaking process. Some specific mechanisms;
- All members vote, but a subset of votes are considered at random. The larger the subset, the more reliably the true majority wins.
- A subset of members votes. As in the court example above.
- An executive role (presidency, leader, chairmanship) is rotated over time.
- For ranged decisions (quantitative, rather than yes/no), a value is selected randomly based on weighted support.
Concensus/majority decisionmaking tends to locked and unrepresentitive states. Fuzzing might better unlock these and increase representation.
Notes
- A selection of articles on Supreme Court reforms and expansion, from an earlier G+ post: https://web.archive.org/web/20190117114110/https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/9btDjFcNhg1 Also, notably, court restructuring or resizing has been practiced: "Republicans Oppose Court Packing (Except When They Support It)".
- Jonathan Turley at WashPo, suggesting 19 justices:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fate-of-health-care-shouldnt-come-down-to-9-justices-try-19/2012/06/22/gJQAv0gpvV_story.html - Robert W. Merry at The National Interest, agreeing:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/court-packing-revisited-7123 - Michael Hiltzik at the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-scotus-20180629-story.html - Jacob Hale Russell, at Time, suggests 27 justices:
http://time.com/5338689/supreme-court-packing/ - And Glen Harlan Reynolds, at USA Today ups the ante to 59 justices:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/02/make-supreme-court-lots-bigger-59-justices-more-like-america-column/749326002/ - Dylan Matthews at Vox, pointing at several other suggestions:
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/2/17513520/court-packing-explained-fdr-roosevelt-new-deal-democrats-supreme-court - From the left, Todd N. Tucker at Jacobin:
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/06/supreme-court-packing-fdr-justices-appointments - Scott Lemieux at The New Republic:
https://newrepublic.com/article/148358/democrats-prepare-pack-supreme-court - Ian Millhiser at Slate:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/02/fdr_court_packing_plan_obama_and_roosevelt_s_supreme_court_standoffs.html - Zach Carter at Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hey-democrats-pack-the-court_us_5b33f7a8e4b0b5e692f3f3d4 - A pseudonymous piece by "@kept_simple" at The Outline:
https://theoutline.com/post/5126/pack-the-court-judicial-appointment-scalia-is-in-hell - And a dissenting opinion from
Justice ThomasJosh Blackman at National Review:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/07/supreme-court-nominee-court-packing-not-feasible/ - As well as some alarm klaxon sounding from The Daily Caller:
https://dailycaller.com/2018/06/28/democrats-pack-supreme-court/
- Jonathan Turley at WashPo, suggesting 19 justices:
14 votes -
A history of voter suppression in Georgia – in pictures
7 votes -
Why critics find Kavanaugh's Wisconsin mail-in voting opinion 'sloppy'
6 votes -
Are you a foreigner interested in what will happen in Chile on Sunday? Read here…
20 votes -
How prepared are these seven battlegrounds for the election? A readiness report
4 votes -
Vote safely: How to find a trustworthy election ballot drop-off location
17 votes -
Behind in polls, Republicans see a silver lining in voter registrations
6 votes -
Inside the Republican plot for permanent minority rule
25 votes -
As states prepared mail-in ballots, Postal Service failed to update at least 1.8 million addresses
5 votes -
The non-voter
12 votes -
In Georgia’s chaotic primary, as many as 1,000 voters may have cast ballots by mail and in person, secretary of state says
9 votes -
Who gets to vote in Florida?
10 votes -
Online voting is much more difficult to do securely, and a fundamental problem with the concept is that most voters won't be able to understand whether it's secure or not
21 votes -
Judge voids 50,000 absentee ballot requests in Iowa county
10 votes -
The truth about voting by mail and election fraud | Real Law Review
5 votes -
The history of electoral ballot design
5 votes -
Women won the right to vote 100 years ago. Why did they start voting differently from men in 1980?
7 votes -
One IT guy’s spreadsheet-fueled race to restore voting rights
15 votes -
The Bush-Gore recount is an omen for 2020: An oral history of the craziest presidential election in modern US history
16 votes -
United States Postal Service (USPS) files patent for a blockchain-based voting system
24 votes -
How will voting by mail work for you?
Are you able to vote by mail? Are you signed up to do it? Would you actually put your ballot in a mailbox or drop it off somewhere?
20 votes -
There have been thirty-eight statewide elections during the pandemic. Here's how they went
5 votes -
What can we do to support voter turnout in the US elections this fall?
There is an important election in the United States this fall, and we've all heard a lot of concern expressed about efforts to suppress the vote. Under the shadow of all the other issues we're...
There is an important election in the United States this fall, and we've all heard a lot of concern expressed about efforts to suppress the vote. Under the shadow of all the other issues we're currently facing as a society, I know a lot of people who are asking "what concrete actions can I take to make a difference?" It seems like helping to get out the vote is one very important action.
So here's a question to the Tildes community: what suggestions do you have about how we (as individuals) can help get out the vote this fall? Big or small, donating money or doing physical work -- what can we do?
15 votes