Deliberation and decision are different jobs
A deliberative process needs evidence, facilitation, discussion, and time for participants to revise views. Nicolas is not designed to manage those parts.
Its fit comes later, when participants have alternatives in front of them and need to express support, opposition, and strength of preference.
Why a post-deliberation vote can still be nuanced
Even after deliberation, participants may still care at different intensities, which a majority vote can flatten into winner and loser.
Quadratic voting gives the process a way to preserve intensity in the final signal while keeping the cost of strong preferences explicit.
Good use cases
Good fits include prioritizing recommendations after a workshop, choosing among policy alternatives after evidence review, or finding which proposals carry deep concern.
Poor fits include unstructured discussion, public comment collection, moderation, sortition, or evidence management.