Originally Posted by
JonNYC
It's a nice effort
but the post was completely incorrect.
If a referendum in real-life (as opposed to here) is held and it passes 51-49-- it "won" by 2%.
If the result was 59-39-- it passed by
20%. Which would then be described as a "landslide."
...
Well, that is not entirely mathematically true either. I'm lacking the correct word in english, but a 59% to 39% result won by 20
percentage units, not by 20%. In fact, it won by 51%, ie the winning side is 51% larger than the losing side (59/39=1,51).
(See, you can have a 51% lead for free! I'm not only honest but also generous
As I said, I wasn't out to defend the math, just to say that I understand the reasoning behind it. IMO no dishonesty was meant by the commenter.
About the landslide, I guess that term is somewhat dependent on ones cultural environment. For me personally a 60-40 is nowhere near a landslide. For me, a 60-40 contains one small majority and one large minority.
Originally Posted by
JonNYC
I'd also add-- but most certainly cannot support/prove/know, obviously-- that if the results of the poll were the exact opposite (20% margin against) that those who oppose this feature would be bandying that result about as "a clear rejection of turning FT into Facebook!" and "a decisive defeat for this dumb idea!" And they wouldn't be talking about "well, only a fraction of FTers voted, so...." and/or "well, if you look at it, it's still basically not far from 50/50, right??"
Be honest-- you
know it's true.
I wouldn't, but you are probably right this would happen either way a poll would go. So how about - we agree on setting ourselves above that?