On Sat, Feb 19, 2022 at 06:04:28AM +1100, Chris Angelico wrote:
Popularity is a *terrible* way to judge ideas. I'm currently fighting with another platform on that same topic.
Can we ask which platform?
All you can see from a system like that is how many of the popular ideas get implemented. It says nothing about how many good ideas end up languishing with a small number of votes, simply because they never reach critical mass and not enough people see them.
Rather like the way we tell people to publish on PyPI and see if it becomes popular.
Does GetSatisfaction allow downvotes? If yes: how do you stop a vocal few from shooting down any idea they don't like?
Nothing like Python-Ideas then :-) Typically voting systems only allow logged-in users to vote, and you can only vote once. You can change your vote at any time, but a vocal few is limited to only downvoting once each, they can't vote a thousand times each and overwhelm the popular voice. Same applies to up-voting.
There is no way to make a popular vote fair.
That's an odd take. A better take is that, fair or not, popularity is not necessarily a good judge of what works well in a language. Language design requires skill and taste, and it is not obvious that the wisdom of the crowd extends that far. -- Steve