Some personal news
> It’s not just that I think these models have a lot of journalistic value...do they, though?I'm actually not so convinced in the journalistic value of FiveThirtyEight. It's something I've thought about before.FiveThirtyEight's political forecasts absolutely provide a desirable service! Who doesn't want to know who will win an upcoming election?But is it good for people to know who is more likely to win an election? Are these predictions beneficial to society or democracy? I sometimes think they may actually be harmful, decreasing voter turnout by convincing people (correctly or incorrectly) that the result is preordained.That's not to say Nate Silver is doing anything wrong by making FiveThirtyEight available, but he tends to talk about it as a sort of public good. I'm not sure whether that's accurate.