ZNet Articles
ZMag Articles
ZCommentaries
ZAudios
ZVideos
Blog Posts
Books
Explain, Please
By Michael Albert at Jan 27, 2010 |
|
I am confused. I am troubled. I am even depressed - and I don't get depressed often.
We put up a poll on vision and strategy. It is here. We thought thousands would take it, perhaps even tens of thousands. We even thought people would write blogs talking about the content and the experience, including clarifying their views. But so far, only 250 people have taken the poll and merely a handful have commented about it.
Yes, I know, by some standards that's a whole lot of people. After all, the poll is long. It requires thought. People are busy.
To facilitate the polling, we went to considerable expense to make it technically congenial. You can take it a little at a time or all at once. You can change your answers any time, should your views alter.
We also worked hard to make it socially congenial. You can have your preferences tally into the totals but keep your name out of it - or you can make your answers visible under your name as well as tally into the total, whichever you choose.
Finally, we worked hard on the questions, too, of course. We got feedback from dozens of people, incorporated their ideas, etc.
More our reasons for asking folks to take the poll seem compelling, at least to me:
(1) It would be nice for all ZCom users to be able to see what the community of users think about these issues - our agreements and our disagreements.
(2) Beyond being nice to have that kind of information available for all, we can all use the information to inform our writing, commenting, etc., as well as our soliciting content - seeking in all these pursuits to air difference and perhaps even resolve some.
(3) If there turns out to be a lot of agreement on issues, that could even inform how people build projects, movements, and organizations, revealing what will be appreciated and what will encounter opposition, at least in this audience.
Honestly, we thought the only nagging flaw was that we can't ourselves make the poll available on all left sites. But perhaps there is some other problem, too, that we overlooked.
In my view, this is no small matter. For the most part, for decades, there have been few if any serious accountings of the views of social critics, radicals, and revolutionaries. We all sometimes say radicals think so and so, or radicals think thus and such - but we are merely guessing, or even worse, we are projecting. It is about time we tried to change that.
Is the poll perfect? Of course not. No poll is. But this poll is pretty good, It covers lots of dimensions of concern, reveals diverse sides of issues, etc. More, the poll doesn't stand alone. If one feels something is unclear, or incomplete, one can blog along with it, to explore points further, to register doubts or concerns, etc.
I won't go on. It should be clear by now. I am confused, troubled, and even depressed at the relative hesitance people seem to have at taking this poll. I admit - I don't get it. We all talk about participation - but then, too often, when the opportunity arises, we all find something else to do. I am sorry, but that's my burdensome, irritating, and upsetting mood...
There are 350 Resocers. Fifty, which is one out of seven, have taken the poll. There are about 400,000 people who use the site about a fourth of whom have entered their email addresses. 230, or less than one in a thousand, have taken the poll. I know that everyone is busy - me too. I know that everyone has doubts that any effort they might put into taking this poll will pay off - me too. Maybe those factors can explain a percentage of the total who could take the poll not doing so - maybe even half of the Resocers and two thirds of the other users. But does it explain 85% of the resocers and 99.9% of all users? Not for me it doesn't.
So, how about taking the poll? Okay?
And if you have a reason why folks would not take it - other than being busy - perhaps you can let me know. So I can leave my confusion, my concern, and my depression about this behind!
The poll is not quite front and center
By Corbett, Jean-Francois at Feb 09, 2010 14:22 PM
I am a daily user of the ZCom site, and I hadn't noticed the poll until yesterday.
Since I like to participate in active debates, I usually navigate directly to the ZSpace page. But the poll isn't visible there.
I went to the ZNet page proper last week, where I saw the "Endorse our proposal" box. I read it and being quite excited about it, I immediately clicked on the "Endorse" link... which means that I completely overlooked the last paragraph where the poll is mentioned.
So for me, the poll was completely overshadowed by the "Fifth Internationale" proposal!
I finally noticed a link to the poll yesterday; I can't even remember where. Anyway, I've started taking the poll.
Reply this comment
Re: The poll is not quite front and center
By Albert, Michael at Feb 10, 2010 17:40 PM
The poll is overshadowed, at the moment, by the endorse request - because the poll request was front and center for weeks on end - and now the endorse request is more central, though the poll link remains
Reply this comment
are voluntary polls truly representative?
By Cohen, Daniel at Jan 30, 2010 18:27 PM
Is your goal here to get a representative sample of all ZCom users?
If so, I think asking people to respond on a voluntary basis is not the way to do it. The problem with such voluntary polls is that the results are not truly representative of the whole population. Rather they represent only those who choose to respond, and these people won't necessarily have views that reflect the whole.
I think the problem now is that people sense the poll is not going to be truly representative, and so they see no point in responding.
Instead of a voluntary poll, I suggest you do a random sample. You've said that about 100,000 people have entered their email addresses. Pick a certain number of these people at random, and ask just those people to complete the poll. This will tell you, within a certain margin of error, what the whole community of ZCom users thinks.
Reply this comment
Re: are voluntary polls truly representative?
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 19:11 PM
The goal is to get what we can get - honestly. It is to have resoc participants on the one hand, and sustainers, and writers, take some time and enter their views on these questions. Then, depending on numbers who do it, it will tell us more or less. The hope is, also, that people will toggle to let others see their answers, which I would think we would all be quite willing, even eager to do.
Will it somehow tell us the views of the whole community? No, Though, it will tell us the views of those who reply. That's good, though, if lots reply.
Would yours tell us the views of the whole community. Nope. Suppose we picked 100 people, randomly, to ask. Roughly the same percentage of folks would reply as now - maybe one or two, therefore. Or let's say a way higher rate replies - 5. That tells nothing. So we send 1000 random requests, instead of 100,000, as we did, and we get 3 replies, or 10, or even 20, say, or 50. The number replying will also always be a self selected group more interested in replying than those who didn't.
As to whether the results so far are indicative, or not. I actually think they probably are pretty indicative. They are pretty much what we expected - and I think while the percentages would change some if 100,000 people replied, it might not change all that much. That is my guess, anyhow. Of course, we can't know, unless lots do take it.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: are voluntary polls truly representative?
By Cohen, Daniel at Jan 30, 2010 21:57 PM
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by saying the goal is to "get what we can get." If you mean the goal is to find out, as best as we can, what the community thinks, then shouldn't you want there to be as high a percentage of respondants as possible? It seems to me people will be much more likely to respond if they know they are part of a group of 100 people, rather than being one of 100,000. I don't understand your saying that even if a higher rate replies, that will tell us nothing. If you are getting an even lower rate now, then why does this lower rate tell you anything?
Reply this comment
Re: Explain, Please
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 08:48 AM
My comment replies are all on the new - ruby - site, please...they do not move back to this site. It is time to start using the new site....
Reply this comment
Re: Explain, Please
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 08:48 AM
My comment replies are all on the new - ruby - site, please...they do not move back to this site. It is time to start using the new site....
Reply this comment
Re: Explain, Please
By Primc, Matic at Jan 30, 2010 07:07 AM
I would like to say i was completely unaware of this poll until i read this blog post. I don't recall getting email about it. I am now aware that notification is on front page but i only noticed it after i already took the poll. Could be how i read the site.
On the other hand i have to say i found the poll very good. It covers a very broad area and it forced me to organise my thoughts to be able to answer all of it. I urge everyone to do it especially because you can do it in stages with time to think inbetween.
Reply this comment
Re: Explain, Please
By Primc, Matic at Jan 30, 2010 07:07 AM
I would like to say i was completely unaware of this poll until i read this blog post. I don't recall getting email about it. I am now aware that notification is on front page but i only noticed it after i already took the poll. Could be how i read the site.
On the other hand i have to say i found the poll very good. It covers a very broad area and it forced me to organise my thoughts to be able to answer all of it. I urge everyone to do it especially because you can do it in stages with time to think inbetween.
Reply this comment
I need more time
By Kurkulos, Maryellen at Jan 29, 2010 20:34 PM
Hi Michael, I'm not sure in which category I fall but I haven't finished the poll yet. I'm about 1/3 through. The last couple of weeks - actually since the Brown fiasco - have been more hectic than usual. And I only gave it a good block of time _after_ your email appeal.
I can't speak for other folks, but one problem that has been significant for me for a long time is using my time efficiently. I'm sure I'm like so many other people who are juggling more things than are comfortable (indeed, why should living be juggling at all?) and it is only recently that I have taken a new approach that seems to be working somewhat better than past attempts. A long story I won't bore people with but suffice it to say it's been a big challenge. However, despite the fact that I consider the poll a priority, I just haven't been able to find time this week. And this weekend is cramped until Sunday afternoon!
I think Andre's suggestion of several gentle (or not-so-gentle) reminders is necessary. Perhaps spaced out by interims of a week each time? Not sure.
However, I want to do the poll justice and have been taking it in sections - perhaps that's another issue, maybe folks in general are turned off by its length right off the bat despite how careful you've been to design it to save answers.
I will go back to it now for a bit and will try to give you some feedback for other issues I have. But... I've run out of time!
Reply this comment
Re: I need more time
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 01:08 AM
Starting and needing more time is fine, no problem, of course. If 10,000 people, or 100,000 people were in various stages of taking it - there wouldn't be a problem. We could all be patient and in time we would all get a very useful accounting of where a whole huge mass of serious leftists stand on very important issues.
Time is a huge part of it, i am sure. BUT - time is ALWAYS a matter of priorities. I do a lot of things too, both personal and work related and political, like everyone who uses the site.
However, I virtually never give being too busy as an explanation of why I am not doing something because there are always things that I am doing, which means I am always choosing, and that is the real reason - if I don't do something, I just didn't find it as important as any of the things I did do.
So what shortage of time does is limit how much we can do, of course, which means we will do fewer things, which means each thing we do ha to rank higher in priority than others that we would also do, if we had more time, but aren't doing. But still, there is a reason why things - in this case taking a poll - drop down on our priority list
Those are the reasons I would like to know.
My days are busy, but if something comes along, unexpected, I deem important, I just do it, and something less important, waits.
If we look at who has taken the poll, I am pretty sure it isn't the case that they all have way more time on their hands than all the other users who are not taking it. The difference is how people view its potential value.
Okay, if I was just a site user, not the person maintaining it, and I got an email describing the poll, and saw the messages, would I take it? Well, If I used the site a whole lot, and generally found it very valuable - still, probably not instantly. Polls? Not my thing. But, if I got another mailing, a bit of an entreaty, saw it front and center, etc. I would take a look. On seeing that it is serious, and on realizing how interesting it would be, how useful it would be, to know where people stand on all these important issues, yes, I would take it, and be very eager to have others do so too.
So what I am wondering is, would I be rather dumb having that reaction - or would I be sensible?
What would I set aside - some reading, some tv, some time just chatting, an hour of sleep - there are lots of things - the things I routinely set aside when I get too busy to do them.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: I need more time
By Johnson, Theodore at Feb 03, 2010 09:00 AM
Michael, Perhaps the despair you are feeling over the poll is related to the (very) high hopes you held/hold for the poll and what it will tell us all about a diverse range of opinion. While I think you are generally right on the mark here, the sense of priority and importance you are attaching to the poll may simply not be transmitting to the broad mass of potential respondents. Sure we all have things to do, and it is only a matter of priority to get the poll done. But perhaps people just aren't really feeling the NEED to take this poll. Yes, it is kinda long. Yes, it can be a bit challenging at points, although I must say I thought the challenge of giving specific answers and organizing my thoughts better was more than worth it. Yes, the interactive saving features and the ability to go back and change answers even after the poll is completed are very nice features and it is clear a lot of time and effort went into making the poll. I just don't get the sense, aside from reading this blog, that people really see the importance of the poll, at least not in the same light that you do. I am not sure if that is just a problem of communication or not really believing in what the poll can tell us or simple apathy.
I guess I read the email and started working on the poll, although it took me a few days to complete it, but maybe the solution would be to give it MORE visibility and stress the importance of it. Through additional emails? Through stressing not only the hope for what it can tell us about ourselves, but perhaps by demonstrating that it is somewhat NECESSARY in order to move forward and build? Its hard to say for sure, I just feel like your hopes for the poll aren't mirrored by most of the users of Znet, hence the the let down on your part and the lack of interest on the users part.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: I need more time
By Lucker, Andy at Feb 07, 2010 11:01 AM
Michael,
I'll probably get to answer the rest of the questions whenever i get back to a regular work schedule. I wanted to write a quick response, though, before i forgot to explain. After reading some of this, i feel kinda guilty. :(
In relation to time, i (and i'm sure others) rank tasks with ones we will see the most implication. Like people being more apt to attend a union meeting during a negotiation, than one not during a negotiation.
At first, i was very excited when taking the poll...as it dragged on, i got tired and couldn't take it. Some of the questions were worded in ways that i thought were very directed, which may be what others mean by "textbooky"...? For example, after while, it seemed like a test on answering the correct parsoc answers, which i realize probably isn't what you intended it to be. I'm sure you had the best intentions with the test, but it seems to only be concerned with parsoc, and more specifically, the abstract aspects of parsoc already advocated on Z. You probably had very genuine intentions to see what percentage of ZMembers were Parsoc advocates.
On another note, i kinda of agree with part of what Crip Moorey said...i'm not sure it is an accurate assessment of Z travelers. The only people i know who would probably finish the poll are already Parsoc advocates; i would imagine others wouldn't have the ambition. I would predict that most non-Parsoc Z travelers would read and answer some of the questions obscurely.
For example, in relation to a broad Left, i don't recall distinctions between popular v. united fronts - this is an essential to most anarchists and trotskyists, and other fellow travelling socialist revolutionaries (i.e., Orwell). Another confusion i had was in relation to having to remind myself that i thought broad Left was supposed to mean, in this poll, anti-capitalists. So, would we not be trying to incorporate mainstream unions into the broad Left, even if they don't currently have revolutionary consciousness? I was somewhat confused in quite a bit of the "broad Left" section. It addressed questions you discuss a lot in public speeches and i see a lot of ZArticles about, but not a lot of issues the rest of anti-capitalists address as fundamental questions.
Reply this comment
Placement
By Guimond, Andre at Jan 28, 2010 20:46 PM
Coming from a print and online advertising/marketing background, my first thought whenever there's a lower level of participation than expected for any given activity is: Where was it advertised, how, and how often?
I noticed that on the "old" ZNet top page, the poll is called out below the "new" ZNet announcement - not exactly premium placement, unfortunately. Using a paragraph of regular text to do it isn't exactly catching eyes, either, unfortunately. On the new site, it's in a much better position, but it could still use a bit of... well, "zing," for lack of a better word. (Sorry, I don't mean to be negatively critical at all, just trying to help.)
My suggestion would be to use a yellow box, or any kind of box available, to call out the poll above the main navigation bar, right below the ZMag and ZVideo boxes. Extend it across the entirety of the page, and use big, bold text and a short, direct call to action to say something along the lines of, "Take the new Z poll! Your ideas will change the world." Or something less hyperbolic, of course...
Plus, people LOVE free stuff. Is there any way you can give away 10 free sustainer accounts or DVDs or books or something for participants? If you can, say it loud and proud in the same big call-out box at the top of the site.
Finally, EMAIL BLAST. So important. And don't be afraid to do a few of them, 5-7 days apart. I remember seeing emails about the new site, but nothing sticks out about the poll. Again, though, keep it short, direct and bold and call out any incentives you might have for people to take the poll. (Plus another mention of the new site at the end couldn't hurt, either - it really is a fantastic improvement over the old one. When will it fully replace the old site?)
I'm taking the poll right now and it's incredibly thorough and very well-designed. The ability to hide/show your answers and see others' responses is a nice touch that should get people more involved before and after taking the poll, too. It really deserves to be taken so hopefully it starts getting the attention that it needs.
Don't be afraid to contact me directly if I can be of any further help - I always enjoy putting my corporate-capitalist experiences to use for something good. Best of luck!
Reply this comment
Re: Placement
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 00:53 AM
The poll has been announced in emails and is front and center. We have done things the same way and had - literally for one petition we did, 120,000 signups. The problem is not that people can't see that it exists. As to giving away things free - we give everything we can already, and don't believe in it. As to visibility, it is visible. So, honestly, I think the problem lies elsewhere...
The poll is long and takes time. It requires that one - even if only in a poll - say what one believes, wants, likes, dislikes - and I think both those things come hard for people. That's fine. But, yet, we are about changing the world - this is not going to be the hardest thing we have to do....so to speak.
Reply this comment
Re: Placement
By Guimond, Andre at Jan 28, 2010 21:08 PM
One more thing about the poll itself: it might be too late already with people having already taken the poll, but I would suggest changing "I am marginally concerned either way..." to "I neither agree nor disagree". The midpoint on any survey response should always provide the option for neutrality and I would argue that the term "marginally concerned" carries a slightly negative connotation. I know for sure that there are a few answers already halfway through the poll that I would have marked as "neither agree nor disagree" but that I would not mark myself as "marginally concerned" about so I'm leaning towards a positive or negative response when that wouldn't be my first answer. Hope that makes sense.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: Placement
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 00:49 AM
Honestly, no, it doesn't make sense, at least to me.
There are what, Five answers, I think. They are obviously on a scale from highly negative, through neutral to highly positive. The most the poll can reveal is a rough broad leaning among the group.
Can I be blunt - it is just a poll. Why read into it. Why get so textbooky - given the five choices, you choose the one that is closest to your view. That seems easy enough, unless your view is really unclear - which is fine, but in that case, you are undecided, meaning you don't feel strongly - but instead feel on the border between two choices, presumably,, so fine, pick one, and then later, if your view changes, you can pick the other. IIt is not a test...
Reply this comment
Re: Re: Re: Placement
By Guimond, Andre at Feb 01, 2010 20:45 PM
"It is just a poll"? This, after you write a blog post that starts by talking about how depressed you are with the lack of responses to the same poll? It's funny how it suddenly becomes "just a poll" when people bring up both valid criticisms *and* give constructive feedback - neither of which you seem able to take, so why even ask for our help in the first place? You talked in another response about people choosing specifically to do something because they prioritized it over any other possible choice at that point in time. A lot of people have done that here trying to help you and, to my surprise and disappointment, you seem to have chosen to spend a lot of time dismissing us all out of hand.
And by "textbooky" you mean what, that you have some kind of disdain for professionalism in these sorts of things (e.g. polls, surveys)? Is it better not to be "textbooky" than to be such when it comes to an area where you can easily pick up, oh, say, a textbook, and learn all about how to properly design a survey? It is a well-researched and long-established fact that in survey design these things are true: have 5 or 7 possible answers for questions where a scale applies, the mid-point being completely neutral, make your questions as clear and simple as possible, and at the very least, try not to make the phrasing of every second question lead the respondent into answering how you want them to. If you don't do these basic things, don't be surprised when either A) nobody responds, or B) your data is either completely invalid (e.g. remarkably consistent from all respondents).
For example, who is going to answer negatively to a question phrased like, "A political system I would most favor would opt for institutions that offer maximum civil liberties to all, including freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, organizing political parties and other organizations, and especially protesting, also allowing for diversity so individuals and groups can pursue their own priorities so long as doing so does not interfere with the same rights accorded to others"? Civil liberties? Disgusting! I greatly disagree!
Really, whatever, it's your poll and you're going to use it for whatever purposes suit you. The only reason I'm sure that anyone gave any feedback on it at all was because you asked; some people kindly replied, trying to help, others were a bit more critical, sure - but a response was what you wanted and you got it... I just think it's really too bad how you handled it.
Reply this comment
And now...
By Howe, Tim at Jan 28, 2010 16:01 PM
And now after trying to take the poll I finally gave up. I find many of the questions extremely frustrating. Some are so verbose that I don't feel the same way about all of their aspects. Some are so vague that I am not quite sure what they are trying to ask (3a). Some seem like they contain a trap, trying to get me to agree or disagree to very different things as a set as if they were inexorably linked. I find the general verbiage to be unnecessarily complex, which really sucked any possible fun out of it. If the ideas are so complicated that they need to be explained this way, then my answers can't be expected to be so simple.
I also get the sense that the questions are more about Parecon specifically than about "left vision and strategy". So, again, just speaking for myself, it's frustratingly complex and has a dishonest feel to it. Maybe some others felt the same way(?)
Reply this comment
The user who created this comment no longer exists.
Re: And now...
By Moorey, Crip at Jan 30, 2010 01:32 AM
While not wanting to go as far as Tim in my criticism , I must admit that the wording put me off too. There are several questions that I still haven't answered because I just can't figure them out. Several others I answered with no confidence that what I selected was what I meant.
It's not just the poll, I find the vocabulary used in much of Mr. Albert's writing (and a lot of other ParSoc focused writers too) far too confussing and difficult to understand. My bad, perhaps, but it wouldn't surprise me if this was at least one of the reasons a lot of the left's theory gets put down half read.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: And now...
By Administrator, Site at Jan 30, 2010 18:56 PM
Crip,
Can you give a few explicit examples of confusing questions, please, from the poll.
As to parecon or parsoc terminology - again, can you give some examples? Of course it is necessary to use some words or labels for new things, that are new. The only way around that is to have nothing new. But it can be made horribly obscure, I agree - or quite accessible. We try for the latter - all the time. It is hard to reply, without examples.
For example, take the term balanced job complex. Well, obviously it has no meaning other than within parecon discussion - because it is something new to that discussion. But it should always be defined when used, and the definition should be clear, etc.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: Re: And now...
By Moorey, Crip at Jan 30, 2010 20:32 PM
The questions I have left unanswered are:
5b, 8b, 19a. 19b, 19c, 19d, 19e, 20, 21, 30a, 30b, 43, 45, 49b, 49c, 59. Some of them because I didn't see the point of them after making earlier answers. Some because I don't understand, and some because I don't have an answer that fits with the options available.
Some vocab I see as obstacles:
"A revolutionary organization" tired images of berets and AK47s
"I am marginally concerned either way..." implies 'couldn't give a monkey's' rather than 'undecided' or 'Neither agree nor disagree'
"aims that transcend sustainability" how does one transcend sustainability?
...there are more, but I think I might come over as bringing up semantics. It really is, though, isn't it. It's all about meaning or at least 'perceived' meaning.
I think that answering a lot of the questions in this poll is only truly possible for people who have read and understood the ParSoc theories. It doesn't seem aimed at the broad readership that I think Z has.
I don't profess to have read (let alone understood) any but a fraction of the materials available on this site, but I'm sufficiently intrigued to keep on plodding through it. I took the poll because I respect what you're trying to do here, and know that reader participation is the only way for you to accurately form ideas on future direction.
Reply this comment
Re: Re: Re: Re: And now...
By Albert, Michael at Jan 31, 2010 16:47 PM
As the poll describes - there are questions that cover the same ground from two directions...thus some redundancy. Why not answer both? They actually are there to help people understand, even at the cost of extra words.
If you don't understand a question, why is that a problem? Write a blog asking its meaning - someone will answer, and then you can go back and reply to it or not, as you choose.
If you have no answer to a question, you can skip it - sure.
Then you wonder about some wording -
"A revolutionary organization" tired images of berets and AK47s -- well that is up to you, perhaps your images - I don't have any such images nor do most people - I think - but, more, since the whole poll is about what attributes such a thing ought to have - this seems, honestly, a bit silly, or it does to me, anyhow. If someone likes those images, so to speak, they will answer and it will reflect it. Your answers would not reflect that...
"I am marginally concerned either way..." implies 'couldn't give a monkey's' rather than 'undecided' or 'Neither agree nor disagree' - Actually, In the context of the five answers, it obviously means, while I might feel marginally more one way or the other - it is not enough of a difference to mark anything other than this neutral choice (or maybe I don't think the issue matters and so have no opinion, or I am undecided, etc. In all these cases, my liking or disliking the claim is marginal, at most...compared to the other...
"aims that transcend sustainability" how does one transcend sustainability?
It mean aims for ecology that go beyond merely trying to stay alive. Sustainability is about the most minimalist ecological aspiration one could have...this means having higher aspirations...is all.
For any of these, you could have just taken the poll, and written a blog saying you were a little concerned about whether you interpreted a few points correctly - indicating them. People would clarify, and you could always fix your answers if you had gotten a wrong impression.
I don't see the slightest reason why one ha to have thought about parsoc - much less support it - to answer these questions. In case after case one could take a different or very contrary position than someone who likes parsoc or parecon. It is aimed at anyone who is anti capitalist, mainly...
On the other hand, you are certainly right that a person coming to the site, say, who is just browsing or getting involved but has no developed let, radical, or revolutionary views, developed over time, ought not take the poll. It wouldn't make much sense - it is for people who have some vision and strategy, clearly...
Reply this comment
The user who created this comment no longer exists.
Re: And now...
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 01:17 AM
Polls get verbose because if they are really succinct people will read them every which way, and the relevance of answers will drop. My guess is, if you think about any question, and just relax about it, it will be clear.
How can there be a trap? What kind of trap. It is a poll - not a test, not an admission exam. There aren't right and wrong answers - there is just your opinion, and other peoples. And you don't even have to opt to let anyone see your answers.
Are there questions that bear on parecon or parsoc, sure there are - ALL OF THEM - likewise they all bear on feminism, anarchism, marxism leninism, market socialism, capitalism, etc. Are there questions about specific aspects of parecon - yes, some, though actually way less than their could be. The poll emerges, as noted in its descriptions, from the reimagining society project - taking the positive assertions from all those essays, then asking the authors of the essays to add any others they wished to and to fix any wording, and then asking about all of them. It pretty much offers up everything any of the people who wrote essays for that project - and the rest of the people too - asked to be put in it.
How can a poll, asking people their views, in which they can take anything from one extreme to the opposite extreme on each point, be dishonest? Even if it didn't go out of its way to put in everything any of 350 activists from all over the world, of diverse perspectives, who wrote an essay, or then read the draft of the poll and offered ideas, wanted included.
Really....
Reply this comment
Problem may have been technical?
By Howe, Tim at Jan 28, 2010 15:30 PM
I can only speak for myself, but when I got an email asking me to take a poll, I went to the site to take it and could not find it. I went to the link in the email and no poll was to be found. I logged in and looked around and could not find it. I only now know where it is because of the link in this blog post.
Reply this comment
Re: Problem may have been technical?
By Albert, Michael at Jan 30, 2010 01:18 AM
Tim, I don't know what to say - except it is front and center on the new site, which is where it resides.
Reply this comment