Re: [s-d] Re: [s-b] Nweek 71 Ballot

[Jeremy Cook <athena@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 11:35:40PM -0400, Daniel Lepage wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, is there any reason why you prefer to vote to 
> spoon-business instead of through the wiki?

<rant>
So glad you asked. I have noticed a general tendency among organizations
of all types to do everything through a web interface, regardless of
whether or not this makes sense, because the web is more popular than
any other part of the Internet. I still wince when people confuse "the
Web" with "the Internet".

My main objection to web interfaces in general is basically the same as 
my main objection to graphical user interfaces: there's no easy way to 
automate filling most of them out for use in scripts, just as there's no
easy way to automate moving a folder when you move it through a GUI
instead of "mv foo bar". This may be fine for some end users, but it's
just another example of companies serving only the lowest common
denominator, typically Windows users.

My rule: "On general principles, never do anything through a web 
interface when there's a decent alternative."

Oh, but you asked about Nomic. Many reasons. There's currently no way of
adding comments to the vote. With a graphical browser, which is all that
most computers have, the Wiki requires pointing and clicking, which is
far more inconvenient than typing 'YES' or 'NO'. There's no way to
customize votes, e.g., 'yeah', or 'might as well'. And I don't want this
game to ever move to a point where the only Forum for an action is the
Wiki, so I am protecting my rights to vote on s-b by using them.

The Wiki is certainly useful for many tasks, and I'm glad we have it.
But it's far from the ideal. Even if the above problems were all fixed,
when I email, I'm writing a text document, and I get to use the greatest
human creation in all history, vi.
</rant>

Zarpint
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