Voting FAQ: Difference between revisions

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(Terminology changed on main site making this section confusing. Plus, "no vote" has other meaning on sections above.)
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In practice this means that voting works like this:
In practice this means that voting works like this:
* if your edit manages to get at least THREE unanimous votes (all yes, or all no) before the edit expires, then it is approved or rejected as appropriate.
* if your edit manages to get at least THREE unanimous votes (all yes, or all no) before the edit expires, then it is approved or rejected as appropriate.
* when the edit expires, if at least one vote has been cast, then the mod is either applied (if more YES than NO) or rejected.
* when the edit expires, if at least one vote has been cast, then the edit is either applied (if more YES than NO) or rejected.
* otherwise (if the mod expires, and there are no votes cast yet), then the mod stays open until the first person votes either "yes" or "no" - that single vote then decides the fate of the edit.
* otherwise (if the edit expires, and there are no votes cast yet), then the edit stays open until the first person votes either "yes" or "no" - that single vote then decides the fate of the edit.


===What's the difference between "Abstain" and "None"?===
===What's the difference between "Abstain" and "None"?===

Revision as of 15:07, 18 July 2009

Frequently Asked Questions: General FAQ · Account FAQ · Editing FAQ · Introduction to Voting


Purpose

This pages answers FrequentlyAskedQuestions about voting on addition, changes and deletions of MusicBrainz MetaData. See HowVotingWorks for some more detailed documentation.

If that still doesn't help, please find us in one of the MusicBrainzForums or via the ContactUs page. If you would like to update the content of this page on the wiki, feel free to do so but please do not add questions without answers.

FAQ

What's this voting business?

Since the database is going to be huge and mistakes are going to be made, there are several mechanisms in place to check as much stuff as we can every step of the way.

When you propose a change, it is entered in the database provisionally, and will be voted on by other editors. A change will remain provisional for a period of seven days before the change becomes permanent. In that time, everyone who checks the edits pages gets to vote for or against it. If a change is voted down, it is discarded and the data reverts to the original.

How does the voting process work exactly?

See HowVotingWorks.

Firstly, the edit is entered into the system. Next, the system works out whether this edit should be auto-applied or not (see above, 'Which edits get "auto-applied"?'). If yes, then the edit is immediately applied, and the editor credited (their "edits approved" count goes up by one). End of story.

Otherwise, the edit is left "open", any associated data is marked has having edits pending, and voting begins.

Each time a user looks at the main edits page, the system fetches a list of all edits which are open (i.e. still in the voting process), and on which this user has not yet cast a vote. The web server then shows them the first (i.e. oldest) few edits. The user then casts their votes on those edits (Yes, No, or Abstain), and they go around the loop again.

If you vote 'No' to an edit, it's helpful if you also leave a note as to the reason why. This

  • helps new users to learn how to make better edits in future, and
  • acts as a point of departure for a discussion as to what the correct edit should be.

Every now and then (actually, every hour on the hour), the "ModBot" ("Moderation Robot") wakes up. It's the ModBot's job to see how voting is going for each open edit, and decide if each of those edits should stay open for more voting, or be closed and applied, or be closed and rejected. The ModBot also checks for edits which the original editor has asked to be deleted, and deletes them.

For each open edit, exactly one of these things applies (checked in order):

  • if the edit is marked as "to be deleted", then the edit is deleted (i.e. it is "undone", and then marked as "deleted").
  • if the edit has failed some dependency or other, then it is rejected with an appropriate status (e.g. "Failed Dependency", "Failed Prerequisite", "Internal Error" etc). In these cases, the ModBot often adds a note to the edit explaining what happened.
  • if the edit has expired, and at least one non-abstain vote has been cast, and there are MORE "yes" than "no" votes, then the edit is applied.
  • if the edit has expired, and at least one non-abstain vote has been cast, and there are FEWER OR AS MANY "yes" than "no" votes, then the edit is rejected ("Failed vote").
  • if there are NO "no" votes, and at least THREE "yes" votes, then the edit is applied (i.e. this can happen before the edit has expired. This is known as a "unanimous yes").
  • if there are NO "yes" votes, and at least THREE "no" votes, then the edit is rejected, "Failed Vote" (i.e. this can happen before the edit has expired. This is known as a "unanimous no").
  • otherwise, the edit stays open, and voting continues

In practice this means that voting works like this:

  • if your edit manages to get at least THREE unanimous votes (all yes, or all no) before the edit expires, then it is approved or rejected as appropriate.
  • when the edit expires, if at least one vote has been cast, then the edit is either applied (if more YES than NO) or rejected.
  • otherwise (if the edit expires, and there are no votes cast yet), then the edit stays open until the first person votes either "yes" or "no" - that single vote then decides the fate of the edit.

What's the difference between "Abstain" and "None"?

Short answer:

  • Abstain means I don't know.
  • None means I don't want to vote (yet).

Long answer: Any voting page only shows you things you haven't voted on yet. If you "abstain" on an edit, that's counted as a vote, and you won't be shown that edit again. On the other hand, if you use "None", that's just as if the edit hadn't been shown to you - a vote from you is not inserted into the database, and thus the edit in question will remain in your "not yet voted on" list (as a result you'll probably be shown that edit again on the next page). Using "None" is exactly the same as leaving the yes, no and abs options all deselected.

Why can't I vote on edits?

In order to vote on others' edits, you need to have at least 10 accepted non-autoedits and your account must be at least 2 weeks old.