Change.gov/Open for Questions

Overview

The "Open for Questions" section of the change.gov web site uses a free tool called Google Moderator which allows registered website visitors to post questions and vote on the questions posted by others. Questions may be posted to any of several predefined sections; once posted, a question may be neither edited nor moved to a different section, though it apparently may be deleted by the author. Votes may be changed at any time while voting is active.

Unlike many such web sites, the Obama-Biden Transition Team has deployed this tool only during specific intervals (two, as of this writing on 2009-01-01), and then has answered a specified number of the most popular questions (possibly the Top 5, but I'd have to check).

This system implements some of the core ideas in InstaGov, though on a very minimalist/bare-bones level.

Weaknesses

• There is no way to combine multiple questions into a single question which might then get more votes; fortunately, there appears to be no restriction on the number of questions one may vote for, so you can vote for several versions of a question (favoring the more popular ones) in hopes that one of them will make it into the short list.
• There is no easy way to save voting results for future reference; the results appear in a pop-up when you hover over the results bar-chart, and do not show up even in the "DOM Source" in the FireFox web browser.
• There is no way to differentiate between voting for a question because you have a particular opinion on the subject or because you want to know Obama's opinion. For example, if the question is "Will Obama prosecute Bush?", a "for" vote could be intended to mean "I think he should", or "I want to know Obama's opinion". Although the text of the site clearly indicates the latter, it is also very easy to assume the former, and many people may be voting accordingly.

Notes

2009-01-01 Top 10 results for "Fitzgerald"

retrieved 2009-01-01 10:20 EST; vote counts copied manually -W.

1. "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor - ideally Patrick Fitzgerald - to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

   — Bob Fertik, New York City (Additional Issues)

   13,807 favor, 530 against

2. "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

   — Moon (Foreign Policy)

   3726 favor, 141 against

3. "Will you appoint a special prosecutor to look into and file charges if necessary (we all know it's necessary) against key members of the Bush administration? Maybe even Patrick Fitzgerald, to avoid any partisan political accusations?"

   — kyn, seattle (Additional Issues)

   3104 favor, 139 against

4. "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

   — rainm1100, Colorado (National Security)

   2454 favor, 98 against

5. "Are you going to tell Fitzgerald to prosecute Bush, Cheney and other membes of his administration for the crimes they have committed?"

   — William (Additional Issues)

   1835 favor, 71 against

6. "Will president-elect Obama appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warentless wiretapping?"

   — jerry v, oakland, ca (Additional Issues)

   1659 favor, 50 against

7. "will you appoint Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Prosecutor to investigate the crimes that occurred during the Bush Administration?"

   — billy, salt lake city (Economy)

   1596 favor, 60 against

8. "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping? I would sugggest Patrick Fitzgerald!"

   — Piana1, California (Additional Issues)

   1323 favor, 26 against

9. "Will president-elect Obama appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping? Please."

   Ana, St. Louis, MO (Additional Issues)

   1319 favor, 33 against

10. "Patrick Fitzgerald is doing what no others have previously done to clean up IL politics, and it is no secret that both Dem's and Rep's would like to see him gone from the scene. Will you retain Patrick Fitzgerald in his IL post? I certainly hope so!!"

    ECK, Winnetka, IL (Additional Issues)

    1123 favor, 102 against