On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:28:21 am Frank Heckenbach wrote:
Prof. Harley Flanders wrote:
I add 1 vote for Ada; 1 against C++.
So if we go for Ada, you will actively contribute, and if we go for C++, you will actively obstruct the project? Or what exactly does the negative vote mean?
I don't wish to speak for the Professor, but in the Python community it is very common to give informal votes on suggestions.
+1 is considered a vote in favour, -1 a vote against, and 0 means to abstain.
Sometimes people will give fractional or multiple votes, to express strength of feeling: +2 would be "strongly in favour", -0.5 would be "weakly against", +0 is "I don't really care either way, but lean very slightly in favour" and -0 similarly very slightly against.
A positive vote is not a promise that you will contribute to the proposal, only that you are in favour of it. Similarly a negative vote is not a threat to obstruct it.
Such votes are generally used to gauge community feeling. Its rare for anyone to tally the votes, and even when somebody does, the decision is still not made on the basis of democratic vote. (However, it would be very rare for the Python development team to implement something that had overwhelming community opposition.)