I simply see no reason not to. My entire influence on the polls is limited to giving every entry either 0 or +1 points, the whole point of the poll is for each of us individually to influence our opinion to that extent, and so I do. I don't see any ethical difference between retracting a givin vote, never having voted for a person in the first place, or giving them a vote.
Retracting votes is practically desirable for a few reasons, as mentioned by myself and a few others. To elaborate on my own above example, one is bound to like some entries more than others. The differences in one's opinion between some may be slight, but there is likely to be a significant difference between your very favourite and the one you just barely decided qualified for your vote. If elimination were to say come to a question between these two, you voted for both, and they are tied for last, I think it would absolutely make sense to retract the vote for the one you barely decided to vote for. Again this is because the purpose of the poll is to allow everyone to input their 0/+1 influence in an effort to distill the collective sum opinion of which entry is the least favourite, and that's what you're doing here, doing what's in your ethical power to keep the entry you think is better in.
Now, I'm NOT saying rec lists are unethical, but just to put this all into an interesting perspective, consider the alternative to this, telling lots of people to vote for the one you prefer instead of the above vote retraction. One is absolutely living in a fantastic fantasy land if one honestly thinks those people you recommend that entry to are going to give a fair shake to the one you didn't recommend. Unless you recommend people read both of them and give no hints to lead people lean towards the one you favour, you are throwing a big ole pile of bias into the system. Rec lists may SEEM nicer, but I submit they are actually less ethically clean than simply quiety retracting one vote when two you voted for are at the bottom. Which again, I am absolutely not saying I think people shouldn't do rec lists, I'm just saying that I don't see how one can knock tie breaking vote retraction while upholding such.
Re: Why I Would Remove a Vote
I simply see no reason not to. My entire influence on the polls is limited to giving every entry either 0 or +1 points, the whole point of the poll is for each of us individually to influence our opinion to that extent, and so I do. I don't see any ethical difference between retracting a givin vote, never having voted for a person in the first place, or giving them a vote.
Retracting votes is practically desirable for a few reasons, as mentioned by myself and a few others. To elaborate on my own above example, one is bound to like some entries more than others. The differences in one's opinion between some may be slight, but there is likely to be a significant difference between your very favourite and the one you just barely decided qualified for your vote. If elimination were to say come to a question between these two, you voted for both, and they are tied for last, I think it would absolutely make sense to retract the vote for the one you barely decided to vote for. Again this is because the purpose of the poll is to allow everyone to input their 0/+1 influence in an effort to distill the collective sum opinion of which entry is the least favourite, and that's what you're doing here, doing what's in your ethical power to keep the entry you think is better in.
Now, I'm NOT saying rec lists are unethical, but just to put this all into an interesting perspective, consider the alternative to this, telling lots of people to vote for the one you prefer instead of the above vote retraction. One is absolutely living in a fantastic fantasy land if one honestly thinks those people you recommend that entry to are going to give a fair shake to the one you didn't recommend. Unless you recommend people read both of them and give no hints to lead people lean towards the one you favour, you are throwing a big ole pile of bias into the system. Rec lists may SEEM nicer, but I submit they are actually less ethically clean than simply quiety retracting one vote when two you voted for are at the bottom. Which again, I am absolutely not saying I think people shouldn't do rec lists, I'm just saying that I don't see how one can knock tie breaking vote retraction while upholding such.