Meh to AV (my version)

This post just collates a handful of my tweets on AV, for those who missed them earlier today:

Please, anybody who intends to vote #no2av, do it because you understand both systems and believe FPTP is better. No other reason. #yes2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

Not caring is NOT a reason to vote #no2av. It would be better for you to spoil your paper, and allow those who do care to decide. #yes2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

Not understanding the question is not a reason to vote #no2av. If you cannot make an informed decision, then spoil your paper. #yes2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

Preferring STV is not a reason to vote #no2av, as STV is not an option. Choose between the two boxes on the paper, or spoil it. #yes2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

I understand that the wording of the question is misleading. To make this clear: neither a #yes2av nor a #no2av result means further reform.—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

Being misled by either side is not a reason to vote #no2av. If you don't want to find out the facts, spoil your paper. #yes2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

I am not being facetious. A large number of spoilt papers will send a message to those who are paying attention. #yes2av #no2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

I believe that #yes2av is the right choice. But I am trying to make it clear that there is a third option when you cast your vote. #no2av—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

Your voting options are: #yes2av, #no2av, or draw a big cock on the paper. Please do the third if you're unsure.—
Julian Yon (@julianyon) April 19, 2011

If you are unsure what AV is, I would encourage you to read my previous article on the subject. A number of people say that they found it helpful.

News travels fast, nonsense travels faster

“RIP Johnny Depp” is currently a trending topic on Twitter. I’m pretty certain that, were he dead, the BBC would have picked up on it. I’ll be perfectly happy to admit I’m wrong if I am (after all, people do die unexpectedly), but I’m going to guess that somebody has produced some misinformation, and thousands of sheep have believed it without question and passed it on. People do that. But what’s interesting about it happening on the Twittervine is that news agencies are starting to rely on social networks to give them the heads up on what they should be reporting. People are going to start gaming this. It’ll be interesting to see what rumours get started in the election run-up.

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Since joining Twitter, more and more I’ve found myself wanting to write essays that don’t fit into 140 characters. I’ve never been particularly verbose; I’ve always just scraped the word requirements in academic contexts, if I managed to complete the assignment at all. But my head is full of stuff and it needs somewhere to overflow occasionally. So it seems it’s time to start a blog, and actually update it.

I’ve decided not to self-host. I have mixed feelings about this, because I have mixed experiences of using hosted services. But we’ll see how things go. At least it’ll be one less system to administer.