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[2020] The “Close Calls” Mini-Poll
I think all of them together is good. There are about 32 but that should hopefully still work.
I’d prefer all of them but if we have to choose one list I’d prefer the second.
I prefer the first list, but am good with whatever option most folks want.
I definitely want to do a close calls poll, but I don't really know what I think about which list or the combination of lists. I have so many favorites on both lists that it will be hard for me to narrow down to just eight on either of them, or twelve (or whatever the decision is) for the combined list. ???
Since I like both lists and both lists share some of the same prompts, I'd like the combined list and would like to be able to use more than 8 votes.
I 💯 want this to happen. I highly prefer combined list with extra votes, but if it’s only one list I don’t hugely have a preference.
I’ve seen some concern over the idea that we already have a female author list etc but that doesn’t overly worry me - I think people just won’t vote for that one again because of what’s already set in stone on our list.
This is so fun!
Can we vote for this and the present round of voting this week? Between that and frantically trying to finish the second round of the summer reading challenge, I’ll be well entertained.
I agree with the comments in the previous thread that all these prompts can be submitted at any time again. I'm not sure I understand the need for a separate poll like this. I also feel like these lists are too overwhelming. We literally just decided to reduce to 15 suggestions in mini polls, and now we're going to have a poll of 20 or more suggestions. I have no preference on the lists if this is the way we're going.
I definitely would like to have this as a poll as well! I could go with any set of these prompts, but I would prefer the one that contains close calls that result from top-minus-bottom. This seems more fair since that's how you normally determine close calls, and as someone said earlier, bottom votes still count.
If we are going to have such a poll, I prefer the second list.
I vote for whichever one of those 2 lists accounts for up votes AND down votes because, as someone said before, down votes should matter. I don't think we need our votes to be drowned in a list as large as the combined list. The number of choices at hand are overwhelming, and our votes will probably end up too spread out again for clear winners. I think this would be excellent as its own weekly mini-poll in lieu of a week with 15-20 NEW suggestions.
Avery wrote: "I definitely would like to have this as a poll as well! I could go with any set of these prompts, but I would prefer the one that contains close calls that result from top-minus-bottom. This seem..."
I agree with this. Without actually looking at the content of each list, I think the one that takes into account down-votes needs to be used as we gave people an option to downvote so should be including that data.
Maybe it's just because I'm looking at this so late (after midnight) at the moment, but I'm finding it pretty overwhelming to try and figure out which list, etc. I'm also not convinced it is necessary at this point. Even though we are "behind" at this time of year, I don't think it's such a problem unless we are consistently getting few results with each poll. Every year we seem to complain that the process is moving too slowly or that we are behind, and it always works out in the end.I guess where I'm confused about this is because, as others have mentioned, any of these suggestions can be resubmitted at any time. At first glance, my main concern with any of the lists above is that they all seem to have some prompts that feel a bit repetitive with what we already have (ie. the female authors lists). It's possible that people would just not vote for those since we already have something similar, but it's just as possible that these will be voted for and we end up with two very similar prompts on the final list.
I'm all for trying something new, but I'm a bit confused about the need for this. If last week's poll is any indicator, votes get split quite a bit when there are many options that people like on a single poll, so I don't really see how putting all of the group's favourites together is really helping that.
I'm honestly not crazy about even having a close calls poll.
I have found the list really interesting. There were a few I was presently surprised to see on the list. I know sometimes I vote for prompts because I like them even though I think they have no chance of making the top. I’d like the idea of this close vote poll because I think it is good to vote for prompts that members overall like. I do see the concern of the votes being spread out like last week.
I mean, it probably can’t get worse than a one prompt result!
I really don’t care one way or the other and can see arguments on both sides. I think we should use the up-down list out of fairness. There are some prompts there I voted for, a couple I’m excited by or would like to end up on the final list. But if my favourite prompts never make it I can use them to add extra challenge when making my final list. I’ve always been interested to see how many of the books I read in a year I can retro fit into the list of rejected prompts. If I get some spare time I may just do that for this year.
I can see the logic in including the ones with downvotes, as we're more likely to get a clear result! I do prefer the second list, but as it's the majority opinion we should probably go with the first. There are definitely a lot of prompts on both lists I'd like to see have another chance.Since we're struggling to get a lot of winners from each prompt, it's worth giving this a try, I can't see a real reason to object, unless you hate every single prompt on there. ;)
I think I down voted about 75% of the first list's prompts! I would prefer the second or the combined one
I am surprised this is being considered at this time. One change has already been included this week, with the 15 suggestions. This seems like an element of panic has set in. We still have time left for things to change regarding the voting, where any of these prompts can be used again.
I honestly think it's frustration rather than "panic". Every week there are loads of great ideas and then we get one measly prompt added.
Mod
I think if a poll has a ton of prompts that are well-liked then it's harder for a prompt to get it, especially if some of them have a ton of votes. That means a prompt may have gotten in if it had just been submitted in a different poll. So those prompts should be given a fair shot.
I know looking at the lists above, there are a ton of prompts on there that I really love and some that seems to be really well-liked.
We may be behind in the process but I'm not all that worried about that. There's plenty of things we could do down the road to speed it up. It's only August, after all.
This isn't reactionism, just a chance to do something a little different and a fun way to try to include more of what people have loved into our final list.
I think it's a fun idea and it doesn't feel like panic at all. This process is fun and anything that makes it even more fun is a bonus.(Of course a poll of all close calls is by definition a poll of only well-liked ideas. So I don't think this is getting us away from THAT. But it will definitely give us a good result.)
Yeah, I don’t see this as a panic response or even one of necessity. I see it as a fun vote.
I don't like the idea of choosing from a list with the down votes removed. We all get the option of using our votes how we wish, which means down votes have just as much value as up votes. If we'd all only up voted, those lists might look very different, as all those down votes would have gone to up voting something else.As a few people have said, all these prompts can get another chance already in the regular polls - if they're popular, they'll get re-submitted and seconded, no problem.
It seems a bit early, I'd be happier with this if it was October. I think maybe that's why I'm not enthusiastic about this. I usually love any excuse for a poll!
I like this idea, it's a great way for prompts to get a second chance. It'll be a fun vote. That being said, I prefer the combined list. And I agree with previous suggestions that we maybe allow more votes on this one.
I like the idea of this poll. I prefer the list that accounts for the down votes. The combined list with 32 or so prompts seems to long and will cause all of the votes to be too spread out.
I also do not see the need or the "fun" in a close calls only poll, especially one with so many prompts. If we are going to have to do this then the voting should be between 15 prompts. Too many choices is going to dilute the results, again.
I think this is an awesome idea! So many good prompts didn't make it. I for one will really enjoy another chance to vote for them.
I think we need to wait a while for this type of poll. If people wanted them that badly, they could have been resubmitted already.
I think we should remember before writing this off because we think the votes will be diluted, that so far we’ve been pretty terrible at predicting results. 🤷♀️
From what I understand this wouldn't replace the normal poll. So even if the results were diluted it wouldn't matter so much about only one winner.
Chinook is right, predicting the way polls go has been dismal this year. :)
This sounds like fun to me, I like second chances! But too many choices are overwhelming, I'm going with Up-Votes
Ellie wrote: "I honestly think it's frustration rather than "panic". Every week there are loads of great ideas and then we get one measly prompt added."Agreed. Even the more common two prompts is frustrating when there were 5-10 perfectly good ones not selected.
If there is going to be a close call poll I feel like it should be much later in the process. What about future close calls? But then if we wait til later the list will be really long. Downvotes should definitely be taken into consideration as that is the whole point of voting for prompts you don't like. I am also interested in the definition for close call. The poll results post lists close calls and polarizing topics and there haven't been that many this year but the list is quite long by comparison.
Can you explain the difference between Polarizing vs Close Call vs Eliminated and how the votes are tallied for each category?
Mod
Poll 1:
Winning Prompt a - 85 total
Winning Prompt b - 83
Winning Prompt c - 81
Close Call Prompt - 70
Polarizing Prompt- 75 up votes and 68 down votes
All other prompts have totals between -50 and +50
Poll 2:
Winning Prompt a - 65 total
Winning Prompt b - 62
Winning Prompt c - 55
Close Call - 48
Polarizing - 57 up votes and 45 downvotes
All other prompts have totals between -50 and +35
That’s all purely arbitrary and not exact but gives a little bit of an idea how things are panning out.
So a prompt with, for example, 48 votes would look a lot different on different polls. So once I added them all to a single spreadsheet, some of those prompts that weren’t really close to the top in their poll, showed up as close in the totals. Since it would have been close to the top if it had been in a different poll, with a lower top margin.
The patterns in voting have been different this year, in that some polls have prompts that are extremely clearly well-liked while others still have a clear top (a big gap between a top section and other prompts) but with less favor. For instance top prompt in poll 1 being 85 in one poll and 65 in another (arbitrarily).
Mod
1) No close calls poll
2) Close calls poll including only those that would be close calls when looking at up votes and down votes
3) Close calls poll including only those that received the most upvotes (down votes nonwithstanding)
4) Close calls poll including both lists
would allow everyone to have a chance to give their preference, and we could go from there.
Emily wrote: "Are we going to have a poll to decide if we will have this poll? I think that giving the options as:1) No close calls poll
2) Close calls poll including only those that would be close calls when ..."
I think that would be most fair at this point, especially given the mixed nature of the comments we've seen so far in terms of people's general interest.
It did seem like the mods were set on having a close calls poll at some point, so maybe include an option for whether to have the close calls poll now or later? If at all.
Will the link be posted in the first comment (Message 1) when it’s time to vote? Just wondering, because the links are a bit hard to find sometimes because there are so many comments. Thanks!
Mod
I’m leaning towards just including the full list, with 10 votes available. Largely so that we can avoid having another poll about a poll. It seems like if people downvote the prompts again, they just will lose again. But it gives people a chance to change their mind about them if they want.
Mod
Mod
I would (selfishly) like it if it sort of fell in between, to extend the fun. So after a list is created, we have that day of waiting, then the vote opens, and then one day later open the vote for close calls too, and have the results the day after the regular poll, and then open up for suggestions for the next poll. But only do it that way if it's not TOO much extra work for the mods to stagger it like that.
Is it just me, or does 10 votes for over 30 suggestions seem like a very small amount? At the moment, it’s changed to 8 votes for 15 suggestions, so you can vote for or against just over half the suggestions. Until now it’s been 8 votes for 20 suggestions, so it seems a bit out of proportion to increase the number of votes by 2 while increasing the suggestions list by more than 10... Or am I just overthinking it??!
Mod
It would be good to know what's happening before the next round of suggestions, so we don't resubmit anything that's going to be in this poll.
But there’s never been an overlap between these polls, unless a prompt has been re-submitted into the process at a later time.
In order to switch things up a bit and give some of the popular prompts another chance at “winning” a spot on our 2020 list, we will be having a “close call only poll”.
To keep things a bit centralized, I’m creating a topic for discussion now. A link to the actual poll will be posted in this thread at a later time.
As of the 10th mini-poll, that would include:
- A book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to
- A book published in 2020
- A book with a title of 5 or more words
- A book written by an author who passed away in the last five years
- A book related to one of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell)
- Three books linked by the saying "Beauty, Brains, Brawn”
- A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
- Three books in the same genre from different countries
- A book from the "1000 Books by Women" list
- A book related to Earth Day
- A book where the main character is an immigrant
- A book featuring an otherworldly presence (alien, ghost, god, character from a dream, monster, person from another realm, etc)
- Roll the Genre Generator twice, pick one of those two options and read a book in that genre
- A book by a Canadian author
- A book about friendship
- A book with flowers or greenery on the cover
- A book with more than 20 letters in the title
- A book with an ensemble cast
- A book with water on the cover
- A book by an author not from the Anglosphere (English-speaking nations that share cultural & historical ties to the UK)
- A book about a weird or unusual subject "
- A book whose title contains an honorific (Mr., Mrs., Doctor, Lord, Lady, etc.)
[Adjusted due to ties)
Now, if we chose to go purely by the number of 'up-votes', that would be:
- A book written by an author who passed away in the last five years
- A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
- A book featuring an otherworldly presence (alien, ghost, god, character from a dream, monster, person from another realm, etc)
- A book published in 2020
- Three books linked by the saying "Beauty, Brains, Brawn”
- A book on the longlist for the Women's Prize in Fiction for any year
- A book from the "1000 Books by Women" list
- A book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to
- A mystery novel by a person of color
- A book from an American Library Association’s Notable Books List
- One of the ""most anticipated"" books of 2020 (e.g. The Millions, Book Riot, LitHub, etc.)
- A book related to a NASA mission name
- A western
- A book related to Earth Day
- Three “own voices” books, from any marginalized group, inspired by the colors of the rainbow
- A fantasy book
- A book where the main character is an immigrant
- Roll the Genre Generator twice, pick one of those two options and read a book in that genre
- A winner of a foreign literary prize
- A book related to the 1920s
If we combined the lists:
- A book about a weird or unusual subject
- A book about friendship
- A book by a Canadian author
- A book by an author not from the Anglosphere (English-speaking nations that share cultural & historical ties to the UK)
- A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
- A book featuring an otherworldly presence (alien, ghost, god, character from a dream, monster, person from another realm, etc)
- A book from an American Library Association’s Notable Books List
- A book from the "1000 Books by Women" list
- A book on the longlist for the Women's Prize in Fiction for any year
- A book published in 2020
- A book related to a NASA mission name
- A book related to Earth Day
- A book related to one of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell)
- A book related to the 1920s
- A book where the main character is an immigrant
- A book whose title contains an honorific (Mr., Mrs., Doctor, Lord, Lady, etc.)
- A book with a title of 5 or more words
- A book with an ensemble cast
- A book with flowers or greenery on the cover
- A book with more than 20 letters in the title
- A book with water on the cover
- A book written by an author who passed away in the last five years
- A book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to
- A fantasy book
- A mystery novel by a person of color
- A western
- A winner of a foreign literary prize
- One of the "most anticipated" books of 2020 (e.g. The Millions, Book Riot, LitHub, etc.)
- Roll the Genre Generator twice, pick one of those two options and read a book in that genre
- Three “own voices” books, from any marginalized group, inspired by the colors of the rainbow
- Three books in the same genre from different countries
- Three books linked by the saying "Beauty, Brains, Brawn”
Happy Discussing :)