How active are you in AVEN's elections?

[SkyWorld]

I've been wanted to do a poll like this for a while. I'm curious to know people's thoughts and how active members are in AVEN's elections, especially in the first three questions. Obviously I could see for myself in poll numbers in previous elections, but not necessarily the frequency of how much members participate.

 

For the last three questions, I have a prediction that most people pay more close attention to moderator elections than PT or DT for these reasons:

• Moderator elections are more frequent than PT/DT elections
• Moderators came first before PT and DT took place
• Moderator actions are seen more visibly than PT/DT's work behind the scenes or off-site
• There are (usually) more candidates running against each other in Moderator elections than PT or DT

 

Not too sure how accurate the last reason is. I'm talking about elections with 3+ candidates. I think it depends on the forums and the high demand for moderator positions. Sometimes there's only one or two candidates in a moderator election, but sometimes for forums like JFF there would be 3+ candidates running. Of course this isn't always true, PT/DT had and does have elections with 3+ candidates, but (I may be wrong here) there are more elections with 3+ candidates in moderator elections compared to the others. And this may be a cause and effect thing, given that PT/DT came afterwards. 

[deltaX]

I always pay attention to when AVEN elections are happening, and vote in each one.  I usually participate in the Q&A as well, as long as there aren't too many people who get to the thread before me stealing all the good questions.

 

As for which elections I pay most attention to, I'd have to go with DT, but I'm a bit of a special case   I was running in the first DT election, and I was following the second one very closely because I was a DT member at the time.  I wanted to make myself available in case the candidates had any questions (which actually did happen), and I also was just really curious who it was I would be working with.  I'd say I pay equal attention to the moderator and PT elections though.  I don't usually have any special attachment to them like I do with DT, but I still find AVEN elections very interesting to follow.

[Starry Sky]

1 and 2. All the time. I always pay attention to elections. Being part of AVEN staff gives you access to a lot of stuff and it's important to be aware of who you're giving your trust to. I don't really participate in Q&A's; I don't think I've ever asked questions. I do, however, spend A LOT of time following the Q&As. I read them over and over and over. I'm a slow reader with poor reading comprehension... So many of my hours are invested in election Q&As.

 

3. Most of the time. Sometimes I forget to vote... I typically wait until the last day(s) of the voting period to cast my vote to read over the Q&A billions of times and really think through my decision. It's hardest when I'm really torn between candidates, which are normally the elections I forget to cast my vote in. 

 

4-5. I pay equal attention to all of them. However, I think if there are to be any Declass elections while I am still a DT, I will likely end up paying most attention to those because I will be working with them and probably even if not as a DT because I have more interest in it having been a part of DT. 

[SkyWorld]

Ah, I haven't mentioned my own votes. :'D I voted for all the time on questions 1-3 and pay equal attention to all of them on questions 4-6. I like to know things. Simply put.

[King Al]

I hate to admit it, but I don't know where to find them. That and I never know when they are going on. Apart from the most recent one about needing project team members. 

But if I did, I'd be pretty invested in the whole process.  

[SkyWorld]

1 minute ago, Acciuga said:

I hate to admit it, but I don't know where to find them. That and I never know when they are going on. Apart from the most recent one about needing project team members. 

But if I did, I'd be pretty invested in the whole process.  

They're usually linked at the top when you are in a forum. They first announce the nominations in the Announcements forum, and the actual election takes place in the AVEN Elections forum found here: http://www.asexuality.org/en/forum/33-aven-elections/

[King Al]

Just now, SkyWorld said:

They're usually linked at the top when you are in a forum. They first announce the nominations in the Announcements forum, and the actual election takes place in the AVEN Elections forum found here: http://www.asexuality.org/en/forum/33-aven-elections/

I see. Thank you. 

[Anthracite_Impreza]

I don't participate at all, I'm not bothered.

[WhenSummersGone]

I'll be honest and say I don't really care about them in a neutral way. I may see a topic here and there but otherwise I don't get involved.

[Grumpy Alien]

I always pay attention to them but there have been a few elections that I wasn't even aware of. I like that it appears at the top of every page now.

[Piotrek]

I don't vote in the elections. I rarely even realize they are taking place or what stage they are at. I'm not involved enough with this forum to care who is running it.

[Perkins]

I pay some attention if I notice they're happening which isn't too often. I read through the candidate statements a bit, vote if anyone stands out.

Sort of depends on the forum, if it's not one I go in then I don't consider it my business.

[Skycaptain]

I've always been an active participant,  although I tend not to ask questions,  as others usually beat me to the draw 

[SkyWorld]

Interesting results so far. I feel like I probably would have gotten more votes in at first if the recent topics listing showed recent topics from all forums. I'm not sure if that has been fixed yet or not? 

 

Hopefully I get more peeps.

[Perissodactyla]

I just discovered this poll now. When I started answering, I assumed you would have some questions about what motivates people to give attention to elections or why they ignore them. Also what would make people more interested or engaged in the governance of the community via campaign related communication or why people are alienated from democratic process on AVEN.

 

A sequel poll  might suggest why members are apathetic and if there are changes to the process that would increase participation.

 

[Sally]

I used to pay attention and vote for mods, but I think I just became trusting that all the mods would be good, and that's turned out to almost always be the case.

[ProtectorOfTheLight]

I'm really new and didn't even know there are elections.

[Joe the Stoic]

I don't think I have been on this site long enough and through enough elections to vote properly in this poll.

 

And for a long period, AVEN was just too unusable due to the way the old site was, so I missed some that happened then.

[Kelly]

I pay attention to every and all elections.

[deltaX]

3 hours ago, Kelly said:

I pay attention to every and all elections.

I would hope so

[Guest]

Honestly, I'm opposed to the idea of mod elections...the whole thing just seems very unnecessary to me (along with other stuff like declassifications and ban appeals). I'd prefer it if the existing staff just chose the next mods, without all the fuss.

 

I've seen a few of the Q&A bits in the past...they're good for giving an idea of how someone would cope under some kind of torture/interrogation, but overall I don't think they give any clue of how competent the person would be as a moderator.

 

If someone I personally like is one of the candidates, I've voted for them regardless of their (or their opponents') answers.

[Perissodactyla]

On 12/18/2016 at 11:33 PM, euco said:

I just discovered this poll now. When I started answering, I assumed you would have some questions about what motivates people to give attention to elections or why they ignore them. Also what would make people more interested or engaged in the governance of the community via campaign related communication or why people are alienated from democratic process on AVEN.

 

A sequel poll  might suggest why members are apathetic and if there are changes to the process that would increase participation.

 

I totally forgot about this discussion thread, although I asked about the topic of AVEN election-participation yesterday in another discussion thread about the policy regarding qualification requirements for campaigning.

 

I don't know how many other people are interested in why so few people care about voting in the AVEN elections.

I'm curious what others feel about this.

 

I quote myself here from the other discussion, hoping some people can address the topic.

 

 

 

22 hours ago, euco said:

I just now began to read this discussion a little and wonder if you guys have made a graph of election participation, especially the number of people who vote.

 

It feels like the usual number of voters in an admod election is around 50-60, but I haven't looked closely at all election figures.

 

I notice that the total number of AVEN staff is 40

https://www.asexuality.org/en/staff/

but I assume some or many staff people don't vote in the admod elections. (?)

 

If someone has already studied the changing level of election participation over the years, it would be useful to view it.

Also, maybe there are factors that increase or decrease AVEN members' interest in the elections over time. (?)

 

50-60 members voting, with many of those being staff members, suggests a quite low number of non admod members who actually care enough about elections to vote, obviously. Or?

 

Although I and many others may not think about these topics very often, still we may receive an impression that there is a big focus on the ambitions and engagement by people pursing admod status who probably could also more strongly consider why so few people seem to care enough to comment and vote on these elections.

 

Has this been discussed among you?

 

I super value and respect all the necessary and wonderful hard work you admods/staff put into AVEN, but I just can't help wondering what the deal is with such low voting participation.

 

21 hours ago, euco said:

Thank you! Unlike elections in the 'real' world, which emphasize persuading potential voters to register, I've always felt it was a little weird how there is so much ambition to 'join the admod team', but barely any attention given to 'registering' voters... or addressing why members appear so apathetic.

 

I guess that role could eventually become a type of admod position or agenda itself, perhaps related to an existing role. And maybe I'm clueless and someone already works with enhancing voter engagement. (?)

 

It's very encouraging and nice to know that there has been at least one discussion of the topic, and I'm sorry i missed that.

 

=======

 

Just found these references to the topic of election participation. Not sure those are the one's you referred to.

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/148516-how-active-are-you-in-avens-elections/

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/154885-improving-aven-elections/?page=3#comment-1062242564

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/129212-changes-to-aven-elections/#comment-1061488608

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/154885-improving-aven-elections/?page=3#comment-1062242764

 

 

 

[Pramana]

It would be interesting to see how many members pay more attention to AVEN elections than they do to municipal/provincial/state/national elections in which they are eligible to vote.

[Ruru+Saphhy=Garnet]

I'm not really active in Aven elections.

I've only voted twice. I mainly pay attention to mod elections.

On 12/31/2016 at 5:21 PM, Kyon. said:

Honestly, I'm opposed to the idea of mod elections...the whole thing just seems very unnecessary to me (along with other stuff like declassifications and ban appeals). I'd prefer it if the existing staff just chose the next mods, without all the fuss.

^^This ☝👍

[arekathevampyre]

I am not into politics (if this is even politics) so yeah , I am and (will always) be inactive . 

[Hermit Advocate]

I really haven't given any of the elections much notice. I should probably pay more attention.

[iff]

@SkyWorld

 

This poll is being locked and moved to the read only Census archive for it's respective year. As part of ongoing Census organization, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, the polls will last for one year from now on. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to re-start new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

 

iff, Census Forum Moderator