MobileRead To see or not to see: 2012 Voting

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Looking at the November vote what is see is 12 votes for A Canticle For Leibowitz and 59 votes for something else (including 11 votes for Hyperion). If we really wanted the book most people would want as a first choice to achieve this with the current polling software limitation the procedure would be a preliminary vote as is done now (open or closed) and then a head-to-head contest between the top two in the first poll. If a single poll is retained then an open poll at least allows people some means to express their second choice when apparent that their first choice has no chance of being selected; particularly useful when the contest comes down to second choice versus highly undesirable choice.

We did have what most people wanted as first choice. Notice the book with the 12 votes? That was the one most people voted for. Why would we need a run-off vote? We wouldn't. We already had the winner and the winner was what most people chose. It wasn't a case of "the books I was going to vote for won't win so I'll vote for a different book". It was a case of "I have no idea the current results so I'll vote for the book I want most". Notice how we didn't have a clear run away vote for two or three different books? We on;y had such because when the open voting got to a certain point, people figured they won't waste their vote on a book that won't win and vote on one that has a chance. So that then limits what's voted on. That makes the winner maybe not the true winner. It skews the results and makes then not the actual results. November was a very good vote. It's shows what can be accomplished if we vote truly.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I would agree. In fact “Each month, we should alternate between Hidden and Viewable” and “All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Viewable” should be combined in comparison to “All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Hidden”

Yup. Because to state the obvious, those are the votes opposed to a hidden vote only. If it turns out that's the majority, it would be a travesty to ignore that.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yup. Because to state the obvious, those are the votes opposed to a hidden vote only. If it turns out that's the majority, it would be a travesty to ignore that.

I disagree. “All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Viewable” is opposed to "All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Hidden”, “Each month, we should alternate between Hidden and Viewable” is not.

Each of those categories stand on their own. Those who do not want to alternate have two other choices - All viewable or all hidden. Those who do not want any hidden have the choice of "all viewable", and those who do not want any viewable have the chose of "all hidden".

There is a choice for every preference. All who really wanted "All viewable" should have voted for it, because, if I'm reading the comments correctly there would have been at least 3 additional votes for viewable and 3 less votes for alternate. Based on the current count, that means there would have been 8 votes for All viewable and 7 for "alternate".

Edit: Of course if this poll had been hidden then no one would have tried to vote for the "most popular selection" and the outcome would have been closer to what the majority wants.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yup. Because to state the obvious, those are the votes opposed to a hidden vote only. If it turns out that's the majority, it would be a travesty to ignore that.

Welcome to Canadian politics. We have a government with a majority of seats, but less than 40% of the popular vote. Does that really actually make sense? No, but that's how the vote works.

I don't care either way what it is outside of not really wanting it to switch every other month which is just a gigantic hassle for those running the contests.

[WT Sharpe]

It's plain to see that very few want All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Viewable, but it begins to look as if we'll need a run-off vote between All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Hidden and Each month, we should alternate between Hidden and Viewable. I suspect that in a choice between those two, most would choose the latter.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

...I don't care either way what it is outside of not really wanting it to switch every other month which is just a gigantic hassle for those running the contests.

Switching every month should be no problem. All I need to remember when setting up the poll is whether we're in an even or an odd month.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Switching every month should be no problem. All I need to remember when setting up the poll is whether we're in an even or an odd month.

So can we have the vote for the two classic months not hidden and not open?

But to be serious, can anyone here honestly say that classic is an easily definable legitimate category no matter how much you may like or dislike it? And if it is definable, can you define it so it takes into account old classics, new classics and every classic in between? Because if nobody can actually define it, then it's not really a category.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So can we have the vote for the two classic months not hidden and not open?

We could have them be translucent.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

We could have them be translucent.

I nominated a book that I thought was a classic that you thought was not. There's no reason that sort of issue should ever come up in a clearly defined category.

[narflet]

Originally Posted by The Terminator

The one thing that I see lacking in the poll option is being able to have a first, second, and third choice. So you can say ------- would be your first choice but if nobody else votes for that your vote would be carried over to you second choice.

So you could still vote for the book that you really want to read even though it's not doing so great in the current votes. I think that would mean less wasted votes.

I voted hidden, because that's all I've known and I'm fine with that. However, after more thought this stv/run-off type vote would actually be my first preference.

I'm aware that it isn't possible with the forum's inbuilt polling. Would it be possible using some other website's polling system that can be embedded in the 1st post of the thread? I don't know if any online polling software offers that kind of voting software; is it worth looking in to?

[JSWolf]

I think someone would have to custom write such.

[Kevin8or]

We could have hidden vote, followed by a runoff vote of the top two choices. The runoff vote would mitigate the "wasted vote" problem. OTOH, adding a run-off might be a case of "making a mountain out of a molehill."

[The Terminator]

For the record "I did vote for 100% hidden"


Of the current choices I like that best.

[WT Sharpe]

All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Hidden. (17)
All Book Club Polls in 2012 should be Viewable. (7)
Each month, we should alternate between Hidden and Viewable. (10)

While it's clear that few want all open polls, it seems that if we add those who wish the poll to be viewable and those who wish it to be viewable at least half the time, we have a draw between viewable and hidden.

I'm going to close this poll and start another, to run for 5 days, with only two questions, which I think may reflect better on what people actually want:
1) Should the Book Club Polls always be Hidden?
2) Should the Book Club Polls alternate each month between Hidden and Viewable?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

While it's clear that few want all open polls, it seems that if we add those who wish the poll to be viewable and those who wish it to be viewable at least half the time, we have a draw between viewable and hidden.

I'm going to close this poll and start another, to run for 5 days, with only two questions, which I think may reflect better on what people actually want:
1) Should the Book Club Polls always be Hidden?
2) Should the Book Club Polls alternate each month between Hidden and Viewable?

When you go with that logic, hidden still wins.