On Feb 7, 2008 4:23 PM, Peter M. Shane <<email obscured>> wrote:
> I've been loosing following this thread, but find myself wondering -- is
> everyone using "consensus" to mean the same thing? Some posts seem to aim
> towards something like unanimous agreement. Others seem to mean something
> like "general agreement," even if there remains substantial dissent. Yet
> others seem to mean just a majority conclusion, so long as the dissenters
> buy into the legitimacy of the process. What, exactly, are you all
> talking
> about?
>
> Best, Peter
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Thomson [mailto:<email obscured>]
> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 10:12 AM
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: Re: [Consult] Building consensus online
>
> Michael, I think it was the word "force" that sparked my comment - I'm not
> sure if it's really an objection. Miles has now clarified that he didn't
> mean quite what I took it to mean.
>
> Where I'm coming from, basically, is the relatively low level of
> participation in almost all online spaces (low compared to, say, voting in
> elections). It is about point (a) in Michael's labelling of my points:
> individuals and interest groups are not under any pressure to participate.
> That means that (1) there's not seen to be an active marketplace that's
> worth selling into, and (2) legitimacy is weak so action is unlikely
> (unless
> the forum is sponsored by an institution that's committed to acting on its
> conclusions).
>
> This may be getting a bit off topic from Steven's original question, which
> is more about point (b). But actually I wonder whether one reason for
> difficulty in reaching consensus is that the participants don't really
> believe it matters. We may heckle the guy spouting off from the soapbox,
> but
> the discussion with him won't change the way we vote.
>
>
> Member profile for Pete Thomson:
> http://groups.dowire.org/contacts/petethomson
>
>
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