Seeking good web sites for Debian tools

[Ian Zimmerman]

David> They didn't say that "the best number of choices is 0, 1 or 2",
David> just that too many is bad.  Presumably there is an optimal number
David> for each situation where people feel that they can get exactly
David> what they want, but without being overwhelmed.  It's probably a
David> factor of many things, including whether the person in question,
David> as the article says, is one who says "ok, well, as long as it's
David> good enough for me", or instead "I want the best!".

The second attitude in itself is asking for trouble, IMHO.  Other than
that, I agree.  But it's hard to see who should be responsible to
choose the magic number in each case.

David> Politics and election systems are interesting too, but I think
David> there you have to concentrate first on an election system (like
David> Australia's IRV, or Debian's Condorcet) if you want to change
David> things, rather than considering "choice fatigue", which most
David> likely won't play a factor any time soon.  The centralized system
David> we have is due to the rules of the game.

I've been spotted at Green meetings so I had opportunity to think about
this.  I think you have it at least partly backwards.  The rules are
what they are because the two majors made them such, after they got a
big scare from the Populists around last century turn.  That's when
"fusion" (ie. official ballot cross-endorsement) was made illegal in
most states.  New York is the exception and that is precisely why
that state's politics is still relatively lively.

David> If I may editorialize a bit, sometimes it's not bad to be pushed
David> to the center - consider Europe in the 1930's.

Unfortunately, moving closer does not always mean moving to the
center...

-- 
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Pessimist: The schedule is a whole two weeks ahead of us.