MobileRead September 2011 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In other words, you aren't voting for what you want, your voting for what someone else wants.

How can the quoted text be interpreted that way?

I am sorry you feel you cannot vote if you cannot see what others have voted for before you cast your vote.

And neither do I read the quote as that being the reason. I read it as the reason being the pm part of the voting. I could of course be totally wrong here, but that way of voting definitely appeals way less to me than doing it the current way. Hidden or not.

I'm not against trying a hidden poll, but I still don't see why it has to be such a big deal. And don't say "it's not" and then keep coming back to the issue.

Maybe we should have a poll wether to have open or closed voting! Only problem would be wether to keep that poll open or closed...

[DiapDealer]

It ain't broke IMO, so put the fixit kit away.

It's not like you'd ever be able to verify that a blind poll for a particular month would have turned out any differently than the current polling method would have, anyway.

I don't vote often or participate regularly, but when I do come to this thread, I enjoy reading the "why you should consider this book" posts. The whinging about a selection method that's no better or no worse than any other?... not nearly as interesting.

[Nyssa]

I'm happy to see that Storm Front is gaining some traction. I think I'm going to start reading it tonight.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

We have had this discussion before and currently the forum software does not support a blind vote. It was decided it was going to be too much for PilotBob to do it via PM. So I am volunteering to do it via PM and it will be 100% fair and above board.

How do we know that it would be? You could skew the results whichever way you wanted. I'm not casting aspersions on your honesty, but it seems to me that an open vote is much less subject to "manipulate" than the process you're proposing.

[Asawi]

To feel comfortable with a poll through pm I would need to have the results posted with what user voted for what book. The same as now, except it wouldn't be visible until voting was over. That way everyone can see that their vote indeed has been handled correctly.

I still prefer today's system though. I think the "pre-result" discussion is interesting (as long as it's actually about the books).

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I'm happy to see that Storm Front is gaining some traction. I think I'm going to start reading it tonight.

I think I might read it soon as well! Got the PDF eBook through the library, but I'm on the waitlist for the ePub book 1-6 collection and might wait for that instead of dealing with the PDF.

I'm also on the wait list for "Bruno...", who of course has no chance in this poll, but still got my attention (and vote).

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I'm also on the wait list for "Bruno...", who of course has no chance in this pll, but still got my attention (and vote).

Bruno sounds good to me, also, and I plan to read it. Even when I don't care for the winner, I usually find a book or three I'd like to read among the nominations.

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by issybird

Even when I don't care for the winner, I usually find a book or three I'd like to read among the nominations.

Me too! The ones that grab my interest usually don't win, but I don't care much about that. Adding to my growing TBR list...

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by issybird

Bruno sounds good to me, also, and I plan to read it. Even when I don't care for the winner, I usually find a book or three I'd like to read among the nominations.

I do as well, which is why I like being in the book club, and why my TBR list is so ridiculously long.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In other words, you aren't voting for what you want, your voting for what someone else wants. This sort of thing is what a blind vote is meant to do away with. It's meant for you to vote for what you want, and not vote based on what someone else voted for.

It's sort of the way people vote for president. The usually vote for the major parties because they don't think the Libertarian or Green candidate will win even thought they would prefer if they did. So, they vote for the least of two evils.

My son has suggested ranked voting, which I guess some other countries use in their elections. So, you rank each option so you can list the one your REALLY want as number 1, then your second pref as 2, etc.

Of course, our polling system doesn't allow for such stuff. Perhaps there is a third part voting system that we could use... but, I think that would lower participation unless it could be done inline here and still only allow 1 vote per user without having them log in there too.

As Jon said, I was never against a blind vote, I would have done it, but the forum doesn't do it "yet". However, it never bothered me of the voters enough to manually tally votes or ranks.

BOb

[alansplace]

i've felt that i'd not been around here long enough to participate in this voting discussion, but i do have a few questions/thoughts. how is it that some folks post that they can tell who voted for which book? i can't see how to do that. as to the ability to see the current results, could it be made to not show the bar chart to you till after you have voted? then the running results couldn't sway your vote.

and maybe some folks are taking this discussion a bit to seriously?

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Before you vote, you can push the view poll results link which will show you the number of votes and who voted. After you vote, you can click on one of the number of votes recieved. they don't look like links, but they are actually links.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alansplace

i've felt that i'd not been around here long enough to participate in this voting discussion, but i do have a few questions/thoughts. how is it that some folks post that they can tell who voted for which book? i can't see how to do that. as to the ability to see the current results, could it be made to not show the bar chart to you till after you have voted? then the running results couldn't sway your vote.

and maybe some folks are taking this discussion a bit to seriously?

Just click on one of the vote tally numbers in the results and it will show you who voted for what.

I don't think it's an issue of public vs private votes... it's more of an issue of the results being viewable PRIOR to the polls closing. In US elections you can't see a running tally of the votes for the very reason that it CAN sway voting because people don't like to back a looser.

BOb

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^Before you vote, you can push the view poll results link which will show you the number of votes and who voted. After you vote, you can click on one of the number of votes recieved. they don't look like links, but they are actually links.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Just click on one of the vote tally numbers in the results and it will show you who voted for what.

I don't think it's an issue of public vs private votes... it's more of an issue of the results being viewable PRIOR to the polls closing. In US elections you can't see a running tally of the votes for the very reason that it CAN sway voting because people don't like to back a looser.

BOb

i now get it,

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I don't think it's an issue of public vs private votes... it's more of an issue of the results being viewable PRIOR to the polls closing. In US elections you can't see a running tally of the votes for the very reason that it CAN sway voting because people don't like to back a looser.

BOb

No, but pre-election polls usually give people a very good idea of who's a serious contender, which works out to the same thing.

It's perverse in a way that now the law says that news media can't release projected results once a vote starts until after the polls close. Apparently, early calls depressed late voting, which oddly enough could affect an outcome.