Proposed Officer Position: Poll-Master

[SilentConfusion]

Stuff in spoilers is the original proposal. The amended proposal follows.

Spoiler :

I propose we elect an officer to be responsible for constructing the polls in a way that is fair to everybody, rather than anyone posting whatever poll they want.

My main reasons for wanting this officer position made:

1. If we have someone who is responsible for creating polls, we have someone who can be held accountable, if problems arise.
2. Someone who can be held accountable is more likely to make every effort to make sure that polls are gotten up on time and handled fairly.
3. Polls that are handled fairly may help to avoid avoidable conflicts that could rise from confusing or slanted polls.

Not a main reason, but a side benefit is that all polls will be conducted in a consistent format, which could help to avoid confusion.

Being an elected position if people think the polls are unfair an election can be called for a replacement.

There is an obvious issue with having only one person make the polls as we want everyone to be able to have whatever they want polled. This is a complete and true democracy after all, not a republic posing as a democracy. To solve this problem I propose a thread be made called "Polls Needed" or something similar, in which anyone can post what they want to be polled.

One of the primary responsibilities of the "Poll-Master" would be to make sure that whatever anyone posts in that thread gets polled, and polled fairly.

EDIT: All feedback or amendment proposals regarding this idea are welcome as always.

FRIENDLY AMENDMENTS:
The Poll-Master does not take responsibility for constructing the polls fairly, but instead takes the responsibility for reviewing the polls posted to determine if they are fairly constructed.

If the poll-master determines that a poll is not fairly constructed, they are responsible for making suggestions to the poster and making sure that a replacement poll be conducted.

In the event that this officer is not active or away the Captain (or another elected officer) can temporarily assume the responsibilities of the poll-master.


Candidates so far:
Norton I
remake20

 

[SilentConfusion]

Since I am advocating that such an officer position is important, I would not feel right about not offering myself as a candidate. I need no positions, but I believe this is something we need. My reasons are shown above. I will say nothing else except that I will spend much effort helping the team in any way I can regardless.

EDIT: Being assured to have a qualified candidate, I have withdrawn my candidacy.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Good idea Maybe people who are interested in being a candidate for Poll Master should post here.

I think having an elected Poll Master who posts all the requested polls in a consistent, fair manner is a really good idea. One way we could do it is to put your suggested language/wording of the poll in the "Requested Polls" thread. That way people could look at it and say whether they think the wording is fair. (We could also use this thread to correct any errors before the poll is posted.)

One issue is, what happens if we need a poll and the Poll Master is away? In that situation, I think that the Captain (or another elected officer) could be a backup for this role if a poll is needed and the poll master is unavailable.

After a day or so for interested candidates to announce that they want to be in the election for Poll Master, we should go ahead and have the election IMO. That way the Poll Master will be in place, just in time to resolve the issue with the "Tech Trading Poll"

 

[Tinkerbell]

Great idea!

 

[SilentConfusion]

Good idea Maybe people who are interested in being a candidate for Poll Master should post here.

I think having an elected Poll Master who posts all the requested polls in a consistent, fair manner is a really good idea. One way we could do it is to put your suggested language/wording of the poll in the "Requested Polls" thread. That way people could look at it and say whether they think the wording is fair. (We could also use this thread to correct any errors before the poll is posted.)

One issue is, what happens if we need a poll and the Poll Master is away? In that situation, I think that the Captain (or another elected officer) could be a backup for this role if a poll is needed and the poll master is unavailable.

After a day or so for interested candidates to announce that they want to be in the election for Poll Master, we should go ahead and have the election IMO. That way the Poll Master will be in place, just in time to resolve the issue with the "Tech Trading Poll"

You raise a good point about considering what happens if the Poll-Master is not available. I would accept the friendly amendment that "the Captain (or another elected officer)" be a backup. Nothing should keep polls from happening in a timely manner.

I am not sure how I feel about the Poll-Master jumping into decisions about already constructed polls, as the introduction of this office may be seen as just a way to influence current elections. It is my stance that unless an overwhelming majority wants to redo a current poll that any current polls be allowed to proceed as they were set up.

 

[wideyedwanderer]

I am not sure how I feel about the Poll-Master jumping into decisions about already constructed polls, as the introduction of this office may be seen as just a way to influence current elections. It is my stance that unless an overwhelming majority wants to redo a current poll that any current polls be allowed to proceed as they were set up.

I do feel the tech trading poll should be redone.

 

[fireflames]

I second TB.

And I agree with WEW about the tech trading poll. I'm not sure this is the thread for that discussion exactly, but it may be best suited of those that already exist. If we do decide to redo it - and I don't have enough experience to know whether this is possible to implement easily - I would like to see a poll in which we can vote for multiple options with weight given to reflect an order of preference.

 

[wideyedwanderer]

I think we should elect a pollmaster before redoing the tech poll though.

 

[fireflames]

I think we should elect a pollmaster before redoing the tech poll though.

Agreed. It would be good to have an arbiter here. And handling this sort of thing is definitely within the scope of this position, I think.

 

[Norton I]

I am opposed to the idea of having one person responsible for setting up polls. It means there will always be extra delay between the moment somebody wants to have a poll, and the time it appears on the forum. Besides, there are many active and capable people who can set up a good poll themselves. This would just increase the bureaucracy (which is only good if it means extra gold and hammers )

I do agree that it would be good to have a poll arbiter, who checks if the polls are well-constructed and who will resolve problems with polls. The tech poll is a good example of matter that needs attention.

If the function is reduced to that, I'd volunteer

 

[SilentConfusion]

I am opposed to the idea of having one person responsible for setting up polls. It means there will always be extra delay between the moment somebody wants to have a poll, and the time it appears on the forum. Besides, there are many active and capable people who can set up a good poll themselves. This would just increase the bureaucracy (which is only good if it means extra gold and hammers )

I do agree that it would be good to have a poll arbiter, who checks if the polls are well-constructed and who will resolve problems with polls. The tech poll is a good example of matter that needs attention.

If the function is reduced to that, I'd volunteer

The idea of the thing is to ensure that fair polls get conducted. I am open to any idea that will accomplish that. I think an arbitrator role could work. And I could agree to the amendment that "the officer take on the role of arbitrator with the responsibility and the power to decide whether a poll has been properly constructed, and making suggestions for how to redo the poll in a fair manner."

I will amend the first post to state this along with inserting Sommers amendment about the role being taken on by the Captain (or other officer) in the event that the poll-arbitrator cannot be reached.

In that case I guess you would be willing to offer yourself for candidacy, Norton. Please just post back to confirm that.

I would like to get the election for this up and running ASAP, so if anyone else wants to nominate themselves please post here as soon as you can.

 

[Norton I]

Sounds good, I'm volunteering! I just written up my view on the tech poll in the tech poll thread.. so you have an idea of what to expect if you vote for me

 

[fireflames]

... it would be good to have a poll arbiter, who checks if the polls are well-constructed and who will resolve problems with polls...

My emphasis. I'm with NI here. This should be the foremost responsibility of the position. Quality polling can do a lot to for the efficiency of the team and, obviously, poor polling can bring us a crawl (I'm looking at you, tech trading poll). I'm glad that polling is going to be central to the operation of Team AMAZON, but only if whoever holds this position is clever and eager.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Seeing that Norton I is interested in the position and convinced that he would do a good job, I will respectfully remove my name from consideration. I offered myself just to make sure we had someone to do it because I think it's very important.

So as of now we have one candidate: Norton I.

If anyone else is interested please speak up. I hope this will be decided soon.

 

[wideyedwanderer]

Seeing that Norton I is interested in the position and convinced that he would do a good job, I will respectfully remove my name from consideration. I offered myself just to make sure we had someone to do it because I think it's very important.

So as of now we have one candidate: Norton I.

If anyone else is interested please speak up. I hope this will be decided soon.

I think either of you would make good pollmasters, but it would indeed make more sense for Norton (or someone else) to do the job since SilentConfusion is the de facto leader of the Intelligence team, and he'll probably have enough on his hands.

 

[wideyedwanderer]

I saw your proposal on the tech trading thread Norton. It was very good.

 

[SilentConfusion]

I say we give this no more than another day. Then it will have been posted long enough for everyone to see it and make any comments or nominations they want.

We want to get game setting polls done ASAP, so we can start the game.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Now that the Captain's election is over, I would say that everyone who wants to run is available... So we don't need anymore delay.

If someone else announces that they want to run for Poll-Master by 5PM EST then SilentConfusion can post the election poll. If we have an election 24-48 hours is plenty of time.

If no one else announces their candidacy by then, we will just announce Norton I as the uncontested Poll-Master.

 

[Loev]

Great idea

 

[remake20]

I candidate myself. I suggested this to Sommer in a PM before we got our private forum and IIRC he wasn't in favor of the idea, but oh well. I don't really know what to put inn an application, but I promise before I make polls that I will think about them and make sure they're fair. And if any of you thought I'm not very good cause everyone is criticizing the tech poll, I bet you would have do it the same way.

Oh and I posted this before reading norton's comment and I was going to do that anyway.