Re: Fwd: FYI: Site Local

[Eric Rescorla <ekr@rtfm.com>]

itojun@iijlab.net writes:

> >> > By my current quick count, we are at 33 YES, 35 NO.  This brings the
> >> > total count to 135 YES, 55 NO...  which is getting a bit too "rough",
> >> > don't you think?
> >Normally I wouldn't weigh in on this, but since it was sent to us...
> >
> >I don't think that you determine consensus by adding up
> >the meeting + the mailing list. They're independent sampling
> >events. With that in mind, I'd say this is *very* rough.
> 
> 	on the mailing list Margaret asked people who *did not* attend the
> 	meeting to express their opinions (yes or no), so adding the numbers
> 	up do make sense.

I'm afraid not. The problem is that response rates vary dramatically
depending on how you sample. When people are in the meeting room,
they're much more likely to respond than when they have to vote
on a mailing list. This creates bias that makes adding up the
samples inappropriate.

-Ekr