Quote:
Originally Posted by Alohamora
I always thought the vote was intended to choose which book was most likely to pull in the most readers/discussion participants. I say make it clear that a vote is a commitment to read and discuss the book(s) voted for. Making it into a commitment to discuss whatever book is choosen feels like too much to ask for.
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Ideally, we'd like a committed core who
are willing to discuss all the books. It's a courtesy; you'd like others to read the book you nominated if it won, so it's something you extend to them in turn. Anyway, it's something to shoot for.
Realistically, not everyone is going to read every book. Sometimes life happens. Sometimes the book isn't available. The huge advantage of keeping books in the inexpensive to free range is that there's much less of an argument for passing on it. At least try it! A good discussion can make an unliked book interesting, and you may be surprised at that.
There's some wiggle room here. Since as I said, life happens, the assumption would be that someone didn't read a book because s/he couldn't, and not because s/he wouldn't, so long as they keep it to themselves. Moreover, droppers-in are fine and so long as someone who voted for a book showed for the discussion, the assumption would be made that they'd show up in any case; people who vote for a book that loses and then don't participate at least haven't swayed the vote away from a choice the participants will discuss.
But ultimately, we need people who show up most if not all the time. And people who show up all the time for the discussion are entitled to pick the books they'll read.