1) Whoever comes in 2nd place in the regular TL selection balloting
Pros
More democratic meaning the community is more likely to be happy with the choice of ATL.
I don't really know how it can be called "More democratic". Everything else about this project is pretty democratic enough.
More people involved in the choice meaning that the ATL is likely to be well rounded, reliable and experienced.
The TL won't be an idiot, Jagged. They'll pick someone smart. Seriously.
The ATL is more directly accountable to the community than if option 2 is chosen.
Mhm. That's kind of apples and oranges, though. If a decently well-respected user is chosen, then I don't see why everything wouldn't be cool.
The ATL will have to give reasons why they would make a good TL which acquaints the community and the TL selection panel with the ATL and gives them practice for becoming TL in the future.
This is a fair point, but still, when it's time for them to become a TL, they'll make their post then. I mean, come on, it's not like people don't know who each other are around here...
Cons
The TL and the ATL may not like each other, get on well or otherwise mesh.
Yeah. This is why this choice is really silly ... I mean,
really ask yourself, why would we want to impose an ATL on the TL rather than just let them pick one themselves?
Less well known or less popular users will be less likely to be chosen, regardless of experience.
That's kind of just a fact of life, man. You have to start somewhere, and it's not ATL. Either way, a complete unknown won't be selected; not by the panel, and not by the TL.
2) Allow the Topic Leader to select their Assistant TL
Pros
The TL will (hopefully) choose someone they are well suited to working with, who may be able to support them better than (potentially) someone they have not encountered much before.
...Why would a TL be worse at
selecting a partner for themselves than
a panel? This is not a matter of consensus >ing credentials. In general, I think that's true. But this is choosing someone to work with. Why would you want to have them appointed, rather than just chosen by the TL, who it's going to affect? The TL himself is the important one.
The ATL will (possibly) be less likely to undermine the TL's authority in any way e.g. by ending or starting discussions or polls when the TL is not happy for this to occur.
Whatever. I mean, an ATL that can do their job is an ATL that can do their job. I think that either way, such an ATL will be chosen. The only question is why a panel should make a decision of who's going to be who's partner rather than just the person themselves, when the TL, who really matters,
is selected by the panel.
Also, maybe the reason that the person who got in second
didn't get in first in the first place is because so many of the TL leader board voted
against him or her.
Example: TAY and Gorm (who pissed a lot of people off) both nominate themselves. TAY gets 11 votes. Gorm gets 1. Gorm becomes the ATL even though the only person who actually wanted him to be the TL was the
one person who voted for him. (Respect, Gorm. I'm just using it as an example.)
Cons
The TL may choose someone the community deems unqualified for ATL.
Nah. I've addressed this.
The TL may only choose his/her friends.
Yeah, and the panel selection process isn't a popularity contest
at all, either.
Not that I think it's legit a popularity contest ... I just think that it's silly to say that that's a factor with this but not a factor with the other alternatives.
The TL may choose someone who is not That interested or dedicated to the job (i.e. not enough to submit themselves for TL).
This can be fixed by a beautiful little thing called Common Sense. Don't restrict it to people who nominated themselves to be TL, because some of them might not want to be Assistants, and there are other people who would! So just have the TL send out a PM to his pick for ATL first! It's
the TL's assistant. And if they're up for it, then they've got the job. That's how it works, period. Everywhere. So come on.