Three people out of four dislike SDL

[Timon Gehr via Digitalmars-d]

On 12/01/2015 06:26 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 12/01/2015 09:18 AM, Timon Gehr wrote:
>> On 12/01/2015 03:01 PM, Saurabh Das wrote:
>>> now told that 75% of the community doesn't like the change.
>>
>> I'm sorry to enter this discussion, but that's simply not what the poll
>> is saying. It should be very obvious that the poll is basically
>> meaningless.
>
> Independent on the topic at hand - wondering what your reasoning is. I
> just took a look and there are 205 votes. Not a large number, but quite
> a lot more than any voting we saw in the past (when consensus was
> proclaimed after like 15 votes :o)). Intuitively I agree with you, but I
> wonder at what point numbers become large enough to capture meaning.
> Thx! -- Andrei

It's a question of process. When a poll should return results meaningful 
for motivating plans of action, it is conducted in roughly the following 
manner:

0. It is decided that a poll makes sense. (Ideally by means previously 
agreed upon.)
1. The consequences of the different outcomes are specified.
2. Arguments for each option are made available. (Somewhat optional, but 
there certainly shouldn't be any bias and/or vitriol in the original 
announcement!)
3. Steps are taken to ensure everyone affected gets a reasonable chance 
to vote. (Ideally, those who are not affected should not be allowed to 
vote, but that is hard to enforce in practice.)
4. The voting takes place, with a deadline defined well in advance.
5. The consequences that were initially specified are applied (after the 
poll has closed).

To support those points, just re-check the results. Since this thread 
has started (with a suggestion to take actions based on the poll), the 
answers have basically evened out. It is currently at 48% vs 52%:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=565587f4e4b0b3955a59fb67

This effect wasn't as strong when I wrote my previous post, but it does 
not surprise me at all. I myself have still not taken the poll of the 
troll, and I am quite confident that there are others with a similar stance.