Copied over Motivation for 'Why This Tool?' page.

Author: patcon

why-this-tool.md

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 title: Why This Tool?
 permalink: /why-this-tool/
 ---
+We're using an open source software tool called [Pol.is](https://pol.is/home).
 
-More information about why we're using Pol.is.
+Why are we using this tool? The developers have said it best [on their
+website](https://docs.pol.is/welcome/Motivation.html):
+
+> We wanted a comment system to be able to **handle 'big' and stay coherent**. If
+millions of people were going to show up to a conversation, the internet needed
+something that would scale up.
+>
+> We wanted people to feel **safe**.
+>
+> We wanted people to feel **listened to**.
+>
+> We wanted people to be able to **jump into a conversation** at any time in its
+life-cycle. We did not want them to feel intimidated or exhausted by the
+complexity of what had already occurred. That meant ditching threading and
+direct replies, so that comments didn't twist into a tangled nest.
+>
+> We wanted everyone to be able to **get a sense** of what others felt, and what the
+consensus was, in seconds.
+>
+> We wanted to **preserve minority opinions**. We don’t use downvoting to invalidate
+upvoting. We don't use upvoting to invalidate upvoting. If we did, like other
+comment systems do: 200 upvotes + 200 downvotes = net zero votes. That math
+obscures the fact that there was some minority who felt differently, which we
+take as data to preserve. As we iterated, this took the form of creating and
+showing opinion groups.
+>
+> We wanted to create a system that **increased the number of roles available**. More
+roles means more data, and more interesting outcomes. Somewhere south of 1% of
+users comment. Most users lurk - read but don't interact in the community.
+Pol.is typically sees 10x more people vote than those who comment.
+>
+> We wanted to **produce lots of usable data**.
+>
+> We wanted to **show people as grouped with those who felt similarly**. It's
+satisfying and validating to find your tribe.
+>
+> We wanted to **restrict** the power of individuals to ruin a conversation with bad
+behavior.
+>
+> We wanted to **avoid the echo chamber** effect of social networks.
+>
+> Most generally, we want to:
+>
+> * **provide transparency**,
+> * **produce insight**,
+> * **decentralize power**
+>
+> in all kinds of organizations of people everywhere on Earth.