I recognize that the intent of the logo was to promote voter participation.

However an unintended consequence of that initiative was to infringe upon the principle of voter anonymity.

The avatar should not have been set to default mode. It should have been set to an option to advertize and promote voter participation.

For an American to set the standards for any democracy with respect to voting is a huge April Fools Joke. Your country set the standard for rendering the very concept of democracy meaningless with the 2000 Presidential vote where the candidate receiving the most votes lost! Not only that, the Supreme Court intervened to stop any true vote in a state that could have changed the final results...and led to a change in the ultimate results.

And now the world knows the scandal of turning over voting to private corporations that make machines that can be tampered with and leave no evidence trace!

Further, the USA is the only country that requires those wishing to vote to register the party they intend to support!

I suggest this decision by FT reeks of this same self-serving hippocracy. If you need stickers and stars to prove you're a good citizen, then go back to kindergarten. I stand by my original complaint that this is a violation of personal privacy and yet one more "enhancement" to FT that needs serious reconsideration.

I am going to vote today, but not for the FT board...but rather in my local civic elections. And I don't need a "good citizen" sticker to praise me for doing this... This is not Iraq or any country that requires your thumb to be ink stained to prevent double voting. This is plain insensitivity and stupidy.

And I still have not had an answer as to who's idea this was and when it was passed by the current TalkBoard.

I believe Randy indicated that he wanted a way to let people know that voting had started.

I find much of the other comments in your post to be knee jerk rhetoric. The phrase, "Making a mountain out of a mole hill" comes to mind.

Can the avatar not be set as a default mode? ;)

Could I just remind people that FT is not a country and therefore trying to suggest that elections should be done in the same way as would be carried out in the US of A is simply incredulous. For one, we are not all American! (I am well aware that some posters complaining are not American either)

Finally, could I remind some of you that in some western democracies, one is required to vote by law (Donkey votes however are accepted).

Personally I think the idea to publish who has voted is fantastic as it does mobilise the general community to vote. It’s not as if the board is publishing who you have voted for anyhow.

Agreed. Thanks for your and your staff's creativity.

I'm in favor of it. Too many people don't even know there's an election going on. ^^

as pointed out by others in many, if not all U.S. jursidictions this is not true.
In N.Y. not only is whether you voted or not public information but so is your voter registration..ie republican, democrat, independent etc.

I do not agree with this policy and agree that it is an invasion of privacy, however you can't say that it is prohibited by law, at least in the U.S.

I say more choices of Avatars! ^
These are good, but maybe a nice Uncle Sam head would do the trick!

The USA as a whole does not require this, some states do. I started a thread here to discuss voter identification, so as to keep this thread on-topic.

You may want to look upthread to post 13.

How do I get rid of the "I voted twice" avatar? ;)

And when is that free turkey gonna arrive?

go to MyFlyerTalk and then click on Edit Avatar

The current Talkboard was not consulted on this idea, but if we were I would have supported it 100%. All this talk about laws, democracy and privacy are just plain silly. Comparing this to presidential elections, or any other government election for that matter borders on insanity.

Who on earth cares whether or not you voted in the Flyertalk Talkboard election? Personally I think the avatar is great, and I am proud to show that I did my small part in helping make FT a better place.

Until I read this post, I was open-minded about the issue. :D Now, however, I'm taking the avatars to be akin to getting ink on the finger when voting. People that want to hide the ink on their finger have to either wear a glove or wait for it to disappear over time. I consider the post in this thread about removing the avatar to be akin to that glove-wearing or gradual disappearance. :D

To be perfecty honest, until I saw Shareholder's post I didn't even notice it. Now that I do (notice it ;) ), I don't see what the big deal is about. I voted, and if the fact that there is something making note that, causes someone else to vote... so much the better :cool: