Voting in the Monthly Group Read polls

[Benjamin]

Hello folks,

There has been previous, as well as current frustration with the monthly group read dynamic that has been going on for some time. That dynamic being, with a few exceptions, that not very many folks 'participate' in the monthly group reads that go on.

For me though, the real kicker is that certain books that get high vote totals, and are selected for the group read, don't actual see any meaningful participation by those voters who voted for the book. It seems to me that the point of the group read is to gather folks around a common book and get a nice dialog going, allowing for a robust airing of opinion of that read. If folks aren't reading the book, or a are reading it in silence and not saying anything... less dialog or discussion actually happens.

I guess what I am asking of folks, to get this discussion going, is what does an enjoyable group read actually look like to you? Do we all agree to read a book and convey our opinions telepathically? Do we not convey our opinions at all and simply nod at each other that we read the book?

It kind of feels like these group reads are little more than buddy reads... its just that I have to depend on a much larger voting audience to vote for the right book rather than me try to convince Bill, Marie Therese, Mimi and a few other regulars that reading X book would be lots of fun.

This post is not intended to intimidate or provoke... but to engage in meaningful dialog with the rest of Literary Horror.

[Whitney]

We fixed this in one group by no longer sending out a mailing to all members with a link to the poll. By only announcing that voting was open for a new book within a group thread, the drive-by clickers with no actual interest in participation were eliminated.

[Marie-Therese]

This is definitely a persistent problem and one that I and other mods have puzzled over. I'd hate to restrict voting to a chosen few but we're not having especially good luck getting genuine engagement from those who do vote when we open the polls to everyone in the group.

I really don't understand the mind-set of those who vote for a book but never engage in the relevant threads. Do they just want to see what others think? Do they plan to read but everyday life catches up with them and they never find the time (this I get!)?

I think Whitney has a good suggestion-only post polls on in group threads and not broadcast via a group-wide message. This should cut down on the drive-bys and those who never participate in the group. What say the rest of the mods and active group members?

[Whitney]

Marie-Therese wrote: "I really don't understand the mind-set of those who vote for a book but never engage in the relevant threads. ..."

My thought is that they are habituated to drive-by clicking. "Here's a link to a poll, now click on the book that is most interesting, or the one you've heard of." I don't think a plan to actually read and discuss is even in most people's minds.

[Bill]

I like Whitney's suggestion of not broadcasting the invitation to vote. That's pretty trivial to implement. I'm all for trying that for September's Monthly Read, since we're already committed for August.

I had another idea: we'll give current monthly read participants more weight in the next poll (one vote counts as two? etc) But that's more annoying to manage.

[Benjamin]

Yeah... Whitney’s suggestions makes a lot of sense. It won’t prevent folks from voting though... but it will make things a little harder for the casual voter to cast a vote. We can see how it goes. If the problem persists... we look at something else. I wonder if there is a way to restrict access to polls to only specific members in the group and not just anyone in the group. That would be far easier than weighting the votes of actual ‘participating’ members.