SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the I-thought-the-name-was-bacconmuffinnews dept.
After several early attempts, we have settled on a process for deciding on the final name for this site currently known as SoylentNews.org. You'll need to log in and go to: userprefs/homepage and check the box marked "Willing to Vote" if you'd like to participate (do this now, the submission round will go out soon). The vote will occur using an email-based solution loosely based on the Debian/Condercet method that we cooked up. Note: checking this box will indicate that we are scraping your email address from the database for participation (this is completely opt-in). If you wish not to participate, just make sure this box is unchecked (this is the default).
We are opening the floor to name suggestions. If you have suggested a name earlier, you'll need to re-submit it through this email voting system. Though we prefer available domains, if you have pre-purchased a domain (eg: to prevent squatters), by submitting the name you are stating that you are the owner of the domain(s) and will give it without strings attached to this project if it were to be chosen.
The criteria for an acceptable name:
- Unique and free of obvious trademarks
- Ideally be a bit technological/geeky and signal the site is "news"
- Domain should be available in all permutations: .com/.net/.org
- Easy to pronounce
- Easy to type
- Easy to 'market' or has a "hook" (imagine a mug with the name, a logo, slogans, plays on words, etc.)
- Passes the girlfriend / wife / significant other / random person at work - test
This is how it will work:
- The first round will go out asking for name submissions
- Submissions will remain open for 7 days
- The community will vote to yield 5 names
- Staff will vote and produce 5 names
- A final vote on all 10 names will be held
- At this point, the staff will have a second full vote on the same ten items the community voted on
- The result of this vote, and the community vote, including its runoff, will then be published
- The staff vote is the final decision. We have to live with this. But the community will have a powerful influence on the final staff vote.
If you're interested:
NCommander adds: So its finally here, and I wanted to apologize for the long delay before this actually happened. To the editoral team, please bump this to the top of the index for the next 24 hours so everyone gets a chance to see it (click 'fastforward' then save to autoupdate the timestamp). I promise a Featured Story option is coming in the next major update so we don't have to deal with this!
(Score: 2) by AudioGuy on Friday April 11 2014, @08:35PM
Expect three emails.
The first is asking for name submissions. It will have a section that looks something like this:
--- BEGIN VOTE ---
VOTE IDENTIFER: comvote
VOTING MODE: COLLECTION
VOTERID=nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
[my ranking] Proposed Poll Item
[9] soylentnews.org
--- END VOTE ---
Hit reply, and add your name suggestions like this:
> --- BEGIN VOTE ---
> VOTE IDENTIFER: comvote
> VOTING MODE: COLLECTION
> VOTERID=nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
>
> [my ranking] Proposed Poll Item
>
> [9] soylentnews.org
[9] coolestevah.com
[9] frumstat.com
[9] myname.org
>
> --- END VOTE ---
And then just hit SEND with no other changes.
Please do not discuss either your submissions or your votes publicly until we have reserved the top ones for the runoff vote. If one of yours is a top choice, we will contact you about this just prior to the runoff vote.
THE SECOND EMAIL is used to rank all the names collected. You can rank them using the numbers 1-9, and generally should rank according to your own feelings. Don't use a number more than once. You can use them all, or if you feel some are well under your favote, you can use lower numbers only. You do not have to use them in order.
That email will have a section in it that looks something like this:
--- BEGIN VOTE ---
VOTE IDENTIFER: comvote
VOTING MODE: FIRSTVOTE
VOTERID=nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
[my ranking] Proposed Poll Item
[](1) soylentnews.org
[](2) red.com
[](3) blue.org
[](4) green.us
[](5) purple.com
[](6) chartreuse.org
[](7) lightmauve.com
[](8) bluish.org
[](9) tan.tv
[](10) brown.net
[](11) pink.org
[](12) ltblue.se
[](13) gradient.net
--- END VOTE ---
Though with hundreds of people adding names, that could be a VERY much longer list. But you only need to rank at most nine, not all of them. Just your top nine favorites.
Hit reply, and rank like this:
> --- BEGIN VOTE ---
> VOTE IDENTIFER: comvote
> VOTING MODE: FIRSTVOTE
> VOTERID=nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
>
> [my ranking] Proposed Poll Item>
>
> [3](1) soylentnews.org
> [](2) red.com
> [2](3) blue.org
> [1](4) green.us
> [](5) purple.com
> [8](6) chartreuse.org
> [](7) lightmauve.com
> [4](8) bluish.org
> [](9) tan.tv
> [](10) brown.net
> [](11) pink.org
> [](12) ltblue.se
> [9](13) gradient.net
>
> --- END VOTE ---
Don't try to clean up the text, just insert your single numbers in the brackets. And hit send.
THE THIRD EMAIL is the runoff vote.
This works exactly like the vote above, except there will be fewer choices (just 10) to worry about.
Your best strategy for this vote is to vote only for your top choice, and perhaps your second with a lower number. So you might give your top choice a 9 and your second choice a 5. You might even only vote for one, since in a close race your second number could actually break a tie - and not in your favor.
(Score: 2) by lhsi on Saturday April 12 2014, @12:54PM
When ranking, are we ordering them so your favourite gets the number 1 rank, or is it a number of "points" to give out, so your favorite should be given a higher number with more points?
Early on in the comment I thought it was the first (ranking), but at the end it looks like the latter
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Monday April 14 2014, @03:18PM
When you receive the vote email: "9" is the top choice, 1 is the least favorite. Think about it as how many points you are giving each. No need to vote for every name, you could simply add "9" in the brackets to your favorite option and hit "reply."
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Monday April 14 2014, @03:20PM
Or think about it like you are moderating the entries, what "score" do they get?
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 1) by KritonK on Saturday April 12 2014, @04:26PM
For the name suggestion phase:
The instructions I got in the mail say that I should hit "reply", add my suggestions to the bottom of the list, and hit send. Hitting "reply" will prefix every line of the original message with "> ". Is this OK, or should I remove these characters? If I should leave them, should I prefix the lines that I add with "> "?
The list in the mail consists of the single entry "[9] soylentnews.com". Should I erase that "9", as soylentnews.com is not an item that I've added myself, or should I leave it there?
(Score: 2) by AudioGuy on Saturday April 12 2014, @06:31PM
What your mail program does to the reply is fine, including prefixing the '>' mark. Do not try to remove those, the program expects them.
You do not need to prefix yours with '>' either, the program expects that.
You do not need to erase anything, the program is expecting that. Really. :-)
It really IS just, hit reply, add your item as shown, hit send.
By the way, I have seen some of these come in now:
There is absolutely no need to add 'soylentsnews.com' to this list, and adding it more than once will have no effect. This first email is just for collecting new names, and I guarantee soylentnews.org WILL be on the list (ONCE) when the actual vote happens, so if that is what you favor don't worry about it.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 16 2014, @02:47PM
Shoulda just used Debian's "devotee" which has all the bugs worked out of the weirder formatting problems and peculiar ideas of ranking (like multiple selections at the same level, refusal to even comment on certain options, etc)
https://vote.debian.org/~secretary/devotee.git/ [debian.org]
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Friday April 18 2014, @04:23PM
...and requires PGP signed emails.
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 21 2014, @01:14PM
True but I was getting at the idea that its easier to patch out a test such that it always passes, than to re-implement all the parsing code.
Or to really be a jerk it would be a great excuse to set up keyserver.sn.org for semi-ACs and link to the real keyservers for non-ACs, to enforce encrypted email.
(Score: 2) by stderr on Tuesday April 22 2014, @02:28PM
No, it doesn't.
Devotee is a collection of multiply smaller programs, each taking care of their own part of the voting process. If you don't want to deal with all the PGP stuff, you can simply skip the program that checks the PGP signature.
I have actually said so multiple times already, e.g. a month ago, when I was still on #staff:
(Those timestamps are CET. It would be Mar 21 13:28:34/13:29:02 UTC.)
I know NCommander ignored a lot of the stuff I wrote on IRC (after all, that is why I left staff), but maybe he wasn't the only one ignoring me? You were on #staff at the time.
alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" #
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Tuesday April 22 2014, @05:51PM
I missed that, I was at work at the time and talking to colleagues. For what it's worth, I was really hoping that you did look into Devotee, it seemed like the best option. I had no intention to offend you by looking into another solution. I was waiting to hear about your efforts, and was pursuing another avenue, and along the way I couldn't keep track of every effort. Unfortunately, you left the staff and at that point, it didn't seem like I could do more. Again, I apologize.
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2) by stderr on Tuesday April 22 2014, @07:37PM
I did look into Devotee, but when I left staff, I didn't think there was any reason for me to keep working on something related to SoylentNews (or whatever the name will be). I did continue to look into Devotee for other reasons. :-)
As I think I have told you before, I wasn't offended that you or anyone else were looking into other solutions. People should do that.
As I also think I have told you already, I didn't leave because of you. If you look closely at the comment you replied to, it may contain a small hint (ok, a big hint) about why I left.
alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" #
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:56AM
I accidentally sent my vote reply back from a different email account (all my primary email gets carboned to another account, and since I use them interchangeably I don't always notice right off which one I've got selected in SM when I'm reading/replying). Since I see it has this Voter ID number thingee, that shouldn't make any difference, right?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by AudioGuy on Tuesday April 22 2014, @07:40PM
'Since I see it has this Voter ID number thingee, that shouldn't make any difference, right?'
Correct. Only the ID counts, you are welcome to send from earth orbit, if you can get there. :-)
(Score: 2) by hankwang on Sunday April 20 2014, @11:54AM
Just sent in my vote. I hope it registers as I intended; it all appears to me rather fragile and error-prone. So many "DO NOT"s in the instructions makes me worry that my mail client will confuse the parser.
Because of the huge number (90) of options, I felt it necessary to make a shortlist, assign numbers on the shortlist, triple-check that there were no double numbers in the shortlist, then manually copy my numbers to the quoted email, meanwhile being distracted severely by the fact that every item in the email was prefixed by a number. It's like putting #define FOUR 3 in a program and then only using the macro everytime you use the number "3". (Try it, it will drive you crazy)
It would have been better if the mail simply asked: put up to nine domain names in your order of preference, the most preferred one first. Only the first nine domain names will be counted. It does not matter whether they are on a single line or not and anything that is not a domain name or VOTERID will be ignored. Don't worry; our parser will handle HTML,BASE64-encoding, and quotation characters just fine; please leave the VOTERID somewhere in your email.
Avantslash: SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org]
(Score: 1) by Maddog on Monday April 21 2014, @12:33AM
Like you I also did an external offline sorting, deleting my obvious dislikes and whittling away down to 9 items. I then put my numbers back into the email and almost clicked send. BUT, I reviewed the instructions again and the numerical ordering note caught my eye, "A higher number means you like this choice better."
I had committed they lay-persons approach to list making by having number 1 my highest preferred choice, my bad (goes back and does corrections).
This process does seem somewhat error prone...I wonder how many others might skim over that instruction point.
(Score: 2) by AudioGuy on Tuesday April 22 2014, @07:50PM
So many "DO NOT"s in the instructions makes me worry that my mail client will confuse the parser.
This is our way of trying to give it the best chance possible.
This is something which is brand new and has never been used for this before, so there is always the possibility of problems. It was written knowing full well that would be the case, so it saves all intermediate steps and anything that gets kicked out for any reason will be checked by hand.