Voting Time!

[Virgil Showlion]

As of this post, there have been 1566 votes by 145 voters. However, the distribution of votes over time is unusual.

Ordinarily we would expect a "short-tailed distribution", where the voting rate would start at a maximum and then rapidly dwindle to nothing over a short period of time (two or three days).

Instead we've had 3-4 disconnected "waves" of voting, with the most recent one being yesterday. Numerous members log on weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc. At this point, it's not unreasonable to expect the total number of voters would continue to rise in waves if the poll was left up for several more weeks.

Having said this, i) the election has gone on long enough already, and ii) although the number of votes has increased, the relative standings of the candidates has remained virtually unchanged over the duration of the poll. In other words, each wave tends to vote in the same way as the waves before it. We're not seeing any unusual phenomena such as pro-mmhmm voters voting late, pro-Virgil voters voting early, etc.

We have roughly 300 active (i.e. logged in) members on any given weekday, hence ~150 votes is very respectable. I'd imagine most of the non-voters don't interact with the candidates enough to have any strong opinions on their candidacy. Not voting is the responsible thing to do in such cases.

[deziloooooo]

Jun 11, 2014 9:38:10 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

As of this post, there have been 1566 votes by 145 voters. However, the distribution of votes over time is unusual.

Ordinarily we would expect a "short-tailed distribution", where the voting rate would start at a maximum and then rapidly dwindle to nothing over a short period of time (two or three days).

Instead we've had 3-4 disconnected "waves" of voting, with the most recent one being yesterday. Numerous members log on weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc. At this point, it's not unreasonable to expect the total number of voters would continue to rise in waves if the poll was left up for several more weeks.

Having said this, i) the election has gone on long enough already, and ii) although the number of votes has increased, the relative standings of the candidates has remained virtually unchanged over the duration of the poll. In other words, each wave tends to vote in the same way as the waves before it. We're not seeing any unusual phenomena such as pro-mmhmm voters voting late, pro-Virgil voters voting early, etc.

We have roughly 300 active (i.e. logged in) members on any given weekday, hence ~150 votes is very respectable. I'd imagine most of the non-voters don't interact with the candidates enough to have any strong opinions on their candidacy. Not voting is the responsible thing to do in such cases.

I am surprised that there have been only 145 or so voters participating in the vote...to me very few considering membership of the site...While I have been here since day one or two or three I am not very active here anymore.  I think it is one of the better sites both by content and variety of topics available for discussion and also well moderated..I do remember back in the day , and while I enjoyed the give and take and battles and actively participated , will admit it was like what the so called  wild west was supposedly like...we have become civilized which I guess over all is a good thing..and I give credit to Moon ..no toleration for the unruly and the moderators who have been here a long time...While definitely finding some with a attitude of being on a high horse and at times over bearing I admit they have done a good job and thus reason site is so long lasting...Possible such a low turnout..my opinion granted ..is because of overall  happiness over the running of the site or just plain indifference and lack of interest...good luck to all who are voted in....

[Deleted]

i) the election has gone on long enough already,

You can tell we're Canadian, this is a really short time for an American election.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 11, 2014 10:28:27 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

i) the election has gone on long enough already,

You can tell we're Canadian, this is a really short time for an American election.

I have a theory that the length of time it takes to complete an election is inversely proportional to the relevance of the outcome.

Hence if we consider an election that takes four weeks to complete to have one unit of relevance (in terms of meaningful policy differences and the probability that candidates will actually make good on their campaign promises), then an election that takes eight weeks will only produce 1/2 unit of relevance (i.e. will have 50% as much impact on anything as the issue settled by the four-week election), and an election that takes 104 weeks, such as the US federal election, will have approximately 1/26th the relevance of the four-week election.

This has to be multiplied by "amount of money controlled" and a constant of proportionality (that I estimate to be ~1/10) to be turned into a final magnitude.

Hence supposing the Canadian federal budget for one year is $300 billion, the difference between electing the Conservatives versus electing the NDP, say, during a four-week Canadian federal election would amount to a $30 billion difference in the allocation of funds.

If we consider a $3.5 trillion dollar budget for the US federal government, the difference between electing the Republicans versus electing the Democrats during a 104-week US federal election is computed to be $13.46 billion. Hence although the US populace theoretically wields control of a vastly greater pool of funds, the relevance induced by two-year-long elections limits Americans' effective level of choice to just under $15 billion dollars. Big-budget items such as wars, healthcare reform, taxation, etc. are in practice completely indiscernible between the two parties, which is understandable considering they're both controlled by essentially the same interests. The $15 billion difference in funds allocation is mostly made up things like whether contractors produce "Obamacare" versus "Romneycare" signs, or whether the White House Press secretary says things like "orderly withdrawal" instead of "stay the course" during press briefings.

Making the value per capita drops Americans' influence by another factor of 10, meaning that each American has approximately 1/20th the relevance to the governance of America than each Canadian has to the governance of Canada.

All we can really do is pity them.

[Jaguar]

Geez.

[moon/Laura]

I am going to be very clear about something right now. THERE WILL BE NO PUBLIC GLOATING about any of this. I can't stop it behind the scenes but i will NOT be putting up with it here. Do it and you will get a day or two off. there's no need to rub salt in the wounds.

[Jaguar]

Holy Crap, I made it. looking at the results first I thought I blew it.

[Jaguar]

Thank You to everyone who voted for me, it's very much appreciated. This Board is a community and it's everyone's input that makes it a success. Namaste

[The Captain]

WOW!  I made it in also.

However, I must note the margins were very close in several instances so I'm humbled and very appreciative of those who voted for me.

We have many very good peeps put themselves up and I believe we would have been well served by anyone on the ballot.

[Virgil Showlion]

Muh ha... muh ha ha HA! Muh ha ha HA HA Ha hAAA hA Ha HA HA!



... *ahem* ...

I humbly thank all those who voted for me.

[mmhmm]

Thanks, folks - those who put their names into the hat and those who voted.  Looks like we'll have a good team.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Thank you for participating in the election process. Please take down your annoying yard signs. Your "I Voted" stickers can be exchanged in the forum gift shop for a snowglobe depicting our beloved Moonbeam happily surrounded by flakes ... er, snowflakes. (grin)

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Congrats to all.

When will the write in votes be counted? I'm sure I won a seat and I did vote for myself 20 times.

[Deleted]

How are you going to handle the 3 way tie for 14th place? Not a complaint! A question!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Jun 11, 2014 11:37:26 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

How are you going to handle the 3 way tie for 14th place? Not a complaint! A question!

.  .  o O (Isn't it a two-way tie for 14th place?)

I can't speak for Moonbeam when it comes to tie-breakers (of course). But I, for one, am sort of envisioning a Max Max Beyond Thunderdome sort of fight-to-the-death scenario. "Two men enter, one man leaves"  Which (obviously) is why they never put me in charge of these sorts of things.

[Deleted]

Ooops, I saw one of the 4th as 14th. I'm okay now

[midjd]

Wow - I am absolutely floored by the poll results and feel very honored. Thank you all!

[moon/Laura]

Jun 11, 2014 11:37:26 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

How are you going to handle the 3 way tie for 14th place? Not a complaint! A question!

What would it matter? They'd all be in anyway.

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2014 11:53:18 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Jun 11, 2014 11:37:26 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

How are you going to handle the 3 way tie for 14th place? Not a complaint! A question!

What would it matter? They'd all be in anyway.

With 3 at 14 one would be 16th. I thought you were only putting 15 in.

[Jaguar]

I'm trying to find the Like button, it's right beside the Edit button, yucky.

[chiver78]

haha, yes Sugi. there's way more buttons on your screen now than you're used to.

thanks to all who voted for me, I'm astounded to have ended up with the 2nd most votes. very humbled by that. I also want to welcome the new moderators, and thank the exiting ones for their time and patience with me as I learned the ropes. you will be missed behind the scenes.

[The Captain]

Jun 11, 2014 11:32:59 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Congrats to all.

When will the write in votes be counted? I'm sure I won a seat and I did vote for myself 20 times.

Wait, I didn't think you were from Chicago?

[Peace Of Mind]

Congratulations, everybody! 

[moon/Laura]

Later, the bottom 3 positions - 18, 17 and 16 - didn't get in. everyone else did. it was very simple.

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2014 12:03:35 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Later, the bottom 3 positions - 18, 17 and 16 - didn't get in. everyone else did. it was very simple.

Yep, I just misread the number in 14th place. My bad

[Peace Of Mind]

Jun 11, 2014 12:15:25 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

Thanks to all for taking part in the election, and certainly, thank you for your confidence!  Thanks also to everyone who stepped forward to run, which is not necessarily easy to do.  I look forward to working with our new team. 

Now to my campaign promise.  While I will be off to Men's League tonight and therefore cannot put a chicken in my pot, since I have done so in the past I have already fulfilled my campaign promise, technically.  You are welcome.

With the help of Virgil and others we have raised a tremendous amount of campaign finances which will no longer be needed for campaign purposes.  As my pockets are not big enough to hold it all, my vehicle is now backed up to the loading dock, taking on freight.  Thank you very much indeed.

One of the larger donors, Msnm, will soon be taking over advertising and information sharing for this site, along with their new search feature bada-bing.  Another donor, Mark Zuckerbrucker, will be handling administration of this board, under the new FaceBoards name.  Trust me, it is for the best.

Well, I see Moonbeam coming with a hook and a posse of deputies, so I am off for the moment.  But let me say one more time, thank you all, and I plead my 5th amendment rights officer......

Screw that!  Where's the wine we were promised?! 

[Iggy aka IG]

Congratulations everyone!!! 

[ZaireinHD]

RATZ!!
of course I missed out!

[Deleted]

Ohhhh shiny new buttons!

On a serious note, thank you to all that voted for me. To be perfectly honest I was surprised at the sheer number of votes I got, considering my "young" (to the group) status.

I promise to be fair in my moderation (which I HOPE will be VERY infrequently needed!).

[ZaireinHD]

Jun 11, 2014 12:03:35 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Later, the bottom 3 positions - 18, 17 and 16 - didn't get in. everyone else did. it was very simple.

WOW! I may have missed out on voting! but I am extremely excited by the results!
Congrats everyone!
for new comers and fantastic job for those that remained.