Boycott the Vote!
 

Until the administrators remove the "I voted" logo from username posts of those who have voted in the FT election, I am calling on those who have not yet voted, to boycott the TalkBoard vote. This is an intrusion on our privacy and goes against the basic principles of democratic participation. I have been a candidate on three occasions and would normally encourage a high turnout. But this action is a return to the Salem Witch Hunts and cannot be tolerated in our community.

I respectfully ask for an explanation of this practice, why it was adopted and at who's initiative.

It's not April 1st, is it?

Some things I just don't understand. What's the problem here?

Rita

A voter player hater? :)

This has to be a joke, it really has to be.

You can disable the avatar if you do not want the fact that you voted to be publicized.

Simply go to MyFlyerTalk and click on Edit Avatar in the Settings and Options area on the left side of your browser window.

Not only can you disable an avatar, but you also have a choice of which I Voted avatar you would like to display, if you prefer to display an avatar at all.

I hope this helps.

Regretably, is is not a joke.

In democratic elections, public disclosure of who voted and who has not voted is probihited by law. Your vote and the fact that you even voted is considerated private. There is no disclosure of those who votes and those who choose not to vote.

While the 'voted logo' has probably the intention to rallying the voting population to get out and vote, this measure has the consequence of revealing to the public eye who has not voted. This measure is an invasion of my privacy....

and I therefore protest the use of this logo.

This still does solve the problem of complete privacy. There should be no logo at all.

Not really -- it is easily removed.

Yes, for a few seconds it will be revealed that you voted but the same is true when you walk into a voting booth -- everyone seeing you go in and go out has a darned good idea that you voted but not for whom.

That is not true in many jurisdictions, including Washington state. There have been many public figures who were surprised to face public scrutiny for not voting.

In the US, when you go to vote, they give you a sticker that says, "I voted". You're not forced to wear it, but most citizens are *proud* to vote, and display it so. I guess from your reaction it's not the same up north.

As Canarsie has pointed out, you can turn this avatar off, so I don't see what the issue is.

This is not an issue, as one can easily disable the avatar prior to voting if desired.

For those of you who want to vote but do not want it to be known publicly that you actually voted, first disable the avatar by following the instructions I provided earlier in this thread.

Problem solved.

I'll take responsibility.
As many who have posted to this thread have indicated, it is solely to try and remind members that we have elections going on. After the past election, a few members asked about why there was not a higher voter turnout, and others commented on how it was not promoted enough, etc. etc. So as this election period was close, i first thought of having a pop-up window appear reminding every visitor to FlyerTalk to vote. The tech guys said they could do that but thought we might hear a few complaints from those who would confuse it with or compare it to an ad. Fair assessment, so i went back to the drawing board. What method could i come up that might serve as a reminder that the TalkBoard elections were going on since we have disallowed general campaigning except for personal emails to known members and signatures.

So i thought this I Voted campaign could serve that purpose since as noted, we designed it so that members could self-select for the I Voted to be displayed or not.

But we did think this all through and tried to come up with a way to get more of the voters out, plain and simple. For a vast majority of members of FlyerTalk, they will be reminded of the voting which is going on now, which is its only purpose.

I'm sorry if you took it any other way and in case you wonder, as soon as the elections are over the buttons all go away.

I think it worthy to continue to get the vote out and to you and airbus320, my apologies that you have taken the intent any other way.

Randy

P.S. And a Salem Witch Hunt? Really?

This is FlyerTalk, after all -- Headquarters of Hyperbole™.

Kudos to Shareholder for starting this thread. While I do think it is a great idea of promoting the election, it would have been better to disclose this avatar thing upfront.

Maybe someone can include the information about the avatar in the election sticky as well as the information how to disable it.

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:

Ditto from my perspective too. ^

Is this just the controversy, of real or feigned outrage, "needed" in order to ramp up interest and vote counts? :D

I always intended to vote but had forgotten about it until I saw someone's "I voted" avatar. So it was a helpful reminder for at least myself.

I, too, don't see what the big deal is.

Am I missing something? I haven't seen any voting logos? Does this disappear for those of us who are FT premium users?

Anyway, does it really matter who knows whether you've voted or not? As others have put it, somewhat more succinctly than I, it's not as if TB is a form of government or the like. At the end of the day, IJAIBB.....

The issue to me is that, by slapping the avatar on and not telling people that you can turn it off, it is forcing people to wear the sticker until they figure out that they don't have to wear it at all. This is why, IMO, the "I Voted" sticker analogy in real life isn't comparable -- the poll worker doesn't come and slap the sticker on you, then not tell you that you can take it off.

I'm glad to know that the avatar can be removed. I just wish that this were better noted up front, though.

Mike

In your profile, there is an "Enable Avatars" checkbox.

Maybe Karl Rove is doing a bit of side work at FT? ;)

Wow GU, I think you may be on to something here ;)

When I first saw the "I voted" tag, I immediately thought, "oh my," and I agree with airbus320 and the initial sentiment of Shareholder that these tags are a bad idea and ought to be removed.

A related question: For a FTer who hasn't voted, could they still go and activate the "I Voted" avatar (without actually voting)?

I obviously can't test this myself, having already voted!