Good thread squid.
Here is my idea.
Right now, the voting process is too difficult. I understand that we have voting rules to curtail vote bombs and frivolous votes, but what good is a system that refines votes AND discourages votes?
Voting in America is not restricted at all, and no one needs to give a reason for their vote. Now I understand this is possible partly because there are millions of votes, not a case that is true for Dart.
We can free the votes, making it super easy to vote, but still having it be counter-productive to vote unfairly. How?
Assign value to votes.
Let every voter have a vote designation. Liberal, conservative, libertarian, etc. This designation cannot be changed except by petition to a mod.
A vote by a conservative for a conservative gets the conservative debater one vote point.
A vote by a liberal for a liberal gets the liberal debater one vote point.
But a vote by a conservative for a liberal gets the liberal debater 2 vote points. And a vote by a liberal for a conservative gets the conservative debater 2 votes.
Here are the advantages of this system.
1. It forces debaters to consider the POV of people who do not share his view, it makes him a better debater.
2. It forces debaters to be more civil to the view he is debating against, as voters with that view hold a heavier vote.
3. Better debaters win more often because their wins will be due more often to having convinced more people with an opposing view.
4. Because voters will not have to post essentially another entire debate, more people will vote.
5. This system will greatly reduce the work the mods have to do in monitoring and managing votes.
6. It will greatly reduce the drama in voting as any vote, regardless of RFD will be viable as long as the voter meets the voting requirements.
Mods will still have the authority to remove votes they think are fraudulent in some way, or ask a voter to further explain his vote.
Mods will refuse frivolous changes of designations simply to give bigger votes to whom that voter likes. Either by restrictions on how long a designation must be kept before it can be changed, or how many times it can be switched at all.
Both liberals and conservatives MAY be tempted to mis-designate themselves so that their votes for their real choices carry more weight. But then that would conversely mean they get lesser votes in their own debates.
One weakness would be the people who never debate, but mis-designate themselves and vote.
The solution to that is having the 2 tiered voting system apply only for members who have a certain number debates themselves in a certain time period.
And if ones debate topics consistently contradict ones requested designation, mods will catch it and refuse that designation.
Anyone will still be able to give as long and as detailed an RFD as they want.
What does Dart think?
