From: bap@shrdlu.com   
      
   On 2024-01-27, Keith F. Lynch  wrote:   
   > Bernard Peek  wrote:   
   >> The Chengdu Worldcon was voted in by a democratic process.  The   
   >> results were predictable.  The blame, if that's the right word,   
   >> lies with the members who voted them in and also those that had   
   >> the opportunity to vote against but didn't.   
   >   
   > The great majority of voters were people in China.   
   >   
   > The main thing Kevin Standlee got in trouble for was publicly   
   > revealing, early at the DC Worldcon, that the number of mail-in votes   
   > for Chengdu was so high that even if everyone present in DC were to   
   > vote against Chengdu, it would still win.  It was against the rules   
   > for him to reveal anything about the vote totals until the voting was   
   > over, but I'm glad he did it, since it let everyone at the con who   
   > didn't want the con to be in Chengdu to avoid wasting their money by   
   > voting against it.  They would lose, and their voting fee would just   
   > go straight to China.   
      
   That's democracy in action. There are more people outside fandom than in it.   
   There are more SF fans outside the US than inside it.   
      
   >   
   > Maybe voting should be restricted to people at the con.  It would be   
   > in some sense "democratic" if everyone on the planet who paid a voting   
   > fee were to vote this November that the next US president will be some   
   > random Communist Chinese guy who is no fan of free speech, but most   
   > Americans probably wouldn't be happy about it.   
      
   If voting was open to everyone on the planet then I wouldn't be surprised if   
   most Americans were unhappy about the result. Restricting the vote to an   
   elite corps would be one way of keeping Worldcons like thay have been.   
      
   First establich that this is desirable then if it is achievable.   
      
   --   
   Bernard Peek   
   bap@shrdlu.com   
   Wigan   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)