voting

Hello,

(I cross-posted this message to http://www.wechange.org/node/97 . I will be updating the remote version with link, corrections, etc, so see there for updates if your read this long after I posted it).

I would like to introduce you to a php voting API that I wish to develop further and for which I'd like to create a Drupal module. It is a complementary alternative or even replacement to the Drupal voting API.

Please, don't consider having a heart attack just yet. Please, read further and decide later.

Allow me to start from the beginning...

A world of alternative voting systems

It is a sad fact that for most people, whenever they think about voting or election, they can only think about what is known as "plurality voting", the voting method whereby you can only select one choice among many. Unfortunately, this voting method is demonstrably very bad.

One of the major VotingAPI improvements that's been in the pipeline for a while is an overhaul of integration with the Actions module. At present, the voting_actions module is used to set up specific vote results that will trigger things like promoting a node to the front page, or unpublishing it. There are some problems with the approach, though. First, there was no way for module authors to provide 'built-in' voting actions. Everything had to be set up by users. Second, there was no way to make decisions about action execution based on the content rather than the vote. In other words, polls need 10 votes to be promoted, but stories need 15. Third, there's really no reason that the functionality should be in a separate module -- actions integration should be exposed as an API for module writers, and should be tweakable by users who want more customization. It's a bit like the Views module philosophy: modules can expose default bviews, but users can make their own or override the defaults. To that end, the new VotingAPI actions system has been re-written. All the core code IS present, though the end-user UI for creating and overriding actions is still being written.