Voting
What Is alt.gothic Convergence℠?
Convergence℠ has it's own page which explains, but we feel it's worth reiterating the core purpose here. alt.gothic Convergence℠ is the annual party put on by the denizens of alt.gothic for the denizens of alt.gothic and ALL their friends that squishes together hundreds of net.goths from around the globe and their friends into a single city for a weekend of socializing, booze, musical events and sweet debauchery.
Voting Overview
Every year we have to decide where to hold the next Convergence. Some poor mad fools take it upon themselves to put together bids to host it in various cities. If more than one group that wants to put it on is ratified, then there's a vote. This page covers off what you need to know when that happens.
2008 Ballot
The ballot of cities to host Convergence 15 will be announced here and on alt.gothic.* newsgroups once the proposals have been submitted. See the Timeline for more information.
The Discussion Period
The discussion period, in which the public will endlessly debate every little detail about every proposal, will begin as specified in the Timeline.
The 'Afterglow' mailing list also exists for discussions concerning Convergence.
Voting System
Peter: Is this still correct? Upon final verification of this years voter database, announcements of the opening of the vote will be emailed to each validated voter.
Upon logging in during the vote period, voters will be able to log in to Convergence Voter Database and place their vote.
This year's voting system will be determined once the number of bids is known. Likely it will be a single transferable vote or similar.
What Is The Email "Ping"?
All eligible voters for the following Convergence voting period will receive a "ping" email to verify their email address is still valid and does not bounce. This email will originate from webmaster@altgothic.com. This is to remove the detritus from year to year of expired accounts. If you are registered to vote, you should receive a ping, you do not have to do anything with it, and do *not* reply to it. If you do not receive a ping, you need to register to obtain your vote.
Who Is Eligible To Vote?
In order to be eligible to vote for the location of Convergence 14, you will need to be a Registered alt.gothic Convergence℠ Voter.
You get into the database by either:
- Being friends of the C*B*L. If we know you, and you want to be part of Convergence then all you have to do is buy us booze. This is about friends after all.
- Going to Convergence, and the organisers sending us your information after the fact. If the organisers of a given Convergence do not send us your info, we’re not psychic.
C14 attendees should be automatically included, because the ticketing system is part of the same database.
How Can I Tell If I Can Vote?
Log in to the Convergence Voter Database
How Do I Register To Vote?
If you did not receive an email "Ping" from altgothic.com with preliminary voting instructions for registered voters within a week of April 1, 2007, then you are not in our current database and therefor not registered to vote.
You may register to vote for Convergence 15 by either:
- Buying a ticket to Convergence 14.
- Buying the C*B*L a drink, asking nicely and giving us your e-mail address.
The information from this registration will be used for Convergence Voting purposes ONLY, and will not be used for any other purpose, nor released to any other party.
When Is The Convergence Voting Period?
See the timeline
The Voting Timeline
This changes every year and so is on a separate page, conveniently enough named Timeline.
Continuing Reform
This voting procedure is obviously not perfect. As with all aspects of Convergence, it is a work in progress and everyone involved is intent on improving this process, as well as all aspects of Convergence as it continues to evolve. We hope as time goes on that those of you who attend and enjoy Convergence will work with us to continue this evolution, from the initial manual, Usenet public vote that we did for Convergence 1.
Questions and Contact
If you have any questions about past Convergences or the C15 voting process, feel free to either post to alt.gothic, alt.gothic.convergence. Links and reference resources are available in Main_Page this here wiki
All official correspondence will carry the [C14 vote] subject tag and a document ID, date and version number.