[2020] Voting for Close Calls Mini-Poll

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next set of prompts! But as we discussed before the process began, we are going to open the poll one day after we've gathered the suggestions. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, do some research or ask for recommendations.

Voting will open on Thursday October 3 and results will be posted on Tuesday October 8.

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favourite and least favourite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- The poll will be open for five days, so you don't have to rush and vote straightaway
- The prompts with the more "positive" votes (top minus bottom) will be announced shortly after the end of the poll and added to the final list (expect between 2 and 5 depending on how the votes are spread)
- We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile. We’ve introduced this for two reasons:

1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.

2. Unfortunately a very small number of people have voted more than once per poll and so we are asking for this information to prevent duplicate votes.

As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.

Close Calls Poll:
The prompts for this poll were chosen from previous polls. The mods have limited these prompts to the ones with both high upvotes in previous polls, and a high ratio of upvotes to downvotes.

Voting for this poll will be the same as previous polls... 8 total votes to use up or down however you choose.

Poll Entries:
You are encouraged to go back to the suggestion and voting threads for more information about each of these prompts, and discuss the prompts below!

A book related to one of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell)
Polls 1 and 8

A book featuring an otherworldly presence (alien, ghost, god, character from a dream, monster, person from another realm, etc)
Poll 3

A book with a title of 5 or more words
Poll 4

A book related to Earth Day
Polls 5, 9, and 12

A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
Poll 7

A book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to
Poll 7

3 books linked to the saying "Beauty, Brains, Brawn”
Polls 8 and 11

A book written by an author who passed away in the last five years
Poll 9

A collection of short stories or essays
Poll 9 and 15

A book where the main character is an immigrant
Poll 10

A book with a cover that reminds you of the sky (either sky-like colours or an actual skyscape)
Polls 10 and 14

A book with at least a 4.4 average rating on Goodreads
Poll 12

A high fantasy or epic fantasy
Poll 13

A book featuring a scientist, fiction or non-fiction
Poll 13

A book about/involving social media or technology
Polls 14 and 15

Vote here:
https://www.surveymoz.com/s/2UGYX/

[Jillian]

I think, I will be voting 4/4 in this poll. There are some I really like and some that I don’t like so much. It will be interesting to see what and how many make it.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think it will be really interesting to see how the voting goes on this one! Because these prompts were all well-liked, I'm wondering if we will see more people going all in on the upvotes.

I would honestly be okay with most of these getting in... I have two that I'll downvote and the rest will be upvotes, I think. Narrowing down my upvotes will be the struggle!

ETA: Looking back at my voting, I voted for:

- 5 senses
- LGBTQIA+
- Beauty, Brains, Brawn
- author who passed away

So I'll probably upvote those... which leaves two votes left after downvoting the two prompts I had previously downvoted. Hm.

[Bec]

okay this was interesting. I first went through and did a first cut of voting based on what jumped out to me now. Then I went back over my votes for the previous polls to see how I voted for them back then. Of the 15 I top voted 5 previously, down voted 1 (twice, same one) and the rest were neither nors for me. 3 of those I previously voted for were in my upvotes again and my down vote is still a down vote.

I kind of feel like Earth Day has had it's chance. It's already been in 3 polls and hasn't got through. This was one I didn't up or down vote for in any of the polls, but it doesn't appeal to me so I may down vote it this time given it's already had it's fair chance (haven't decided yet).
The same could possibly said for those who have already been through 2 polls and not got in (senses, short stories/essays, cover reminds of sky, social media/technology).

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

To be fair, the sky prompt was first submitted as “A book with a cover that reminds you of the sky at your favorite time of day” and then it was resubmitted to this one.. I included the poll number for the first submission because there was discussion on the thread about people liking it but wishing it was worded differently, but they really are two distinct prompts.

Sort of the same with the 5 senses. It was first submitted as it is here, then resubmitted as a multi-week poll. I included both poll numbers because I thought they were similar enough to contribute to discussion, but definitely two distinct prompts.

The rest that you listed were submitted basically as is listed though.

[Bec]

Emily wrote: "To be fair, the sky prompt was first submitted as “A book with a cover that reminds you of the sky at your favorite time of day” and then it was resubmitted to this one.. I included the poll number..."

Yep good point!

[Kathryn]

I think Beauty, Brains, Brawn has been in twice as well - week 11 as well as week 8.

Edited to add the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I thought so too, Kathryn, but I must have deleted the duplicate from the Rejects tab on the community spreadsheet! Thanks for that... I’ll edit the first post above when I get back to a computer.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I do think the popularity of these prompts is why they were resubmitted, and I don’t think you should hold that against them. We only look at winners within polls, so it’s possible that they just happened to go against some tough prompts in the weeks they were submitted!

I’d say vote for your favorites and ignore what other people voted for in previous polls.

[Kathryn]

Emily wrote: "I’d say vote for your favorites and ignore what other people voted for in previous polls..."

Absolutely!!

Interestingly, only one of these has been on my lists to vote for - for the rest I either voted against them or didn't vote either way. Not that not voting either way means I didn't like them - as you say, I probably just ran out of votes to use with other ones I liked (or disliked) more in that week!

[Chinook]

I think I’m most excited about the social media/tech one because I really want to read The Subtweet.

At most I’ll use one downvote. Perhaps none.

[Bec]

Emily wrote: "I’d say vote for your favorites and ignore what other people voted for in previous polls.."

Oh yes I definitely will too...just don't love Earth Day enough to vote for it and given it's been in so often I feel like I'm getting sick of it being mentioned. If I down-vote it, it will be because I don't love it -but the fact it's been mentioned so often may be causing me to not love it (whereas I had it as not voted for previously).

But of course it should be in the poll as it was a close call...and people should vote for it if they love it!

[Chinook]

For the Earth Day prompt, is probably read either The Sunlight Pilgrims or Love in the Time of Global Warming and I’m super interested in both of them, so it’s a definite upvote for me.

[Angie]

If I don't change my mind before the poll goes up, I'm going 5 up and 3 down.

[Rachel]

Bec wrote: "Emily wrote: "I’d say vote for your favorites and ignore what other people voted for in previous polls.."

Oh yes I definitely will too...just don't love Earth Day enough to vote for it and given i..."

I'm with you on this one. I didn't love the Earth Day prompt to begin with either, and also kind of feel that after 3 tries, it likely would have got in if it was popular enough already. Maybe that's because we usually limit resubmissions after three tries, if I'm not mistaken? I'm not saying it shouldn't be on this list since this poll is a unique case, I'm just saying that may be why it's striking some of us as being mentioned a lot.

On the other hand, I'm glad my social media suggestion made it onto the list! For some reason, I was sure it wouldn't quite make the cut. I'm probably going to end up voting 4-4, or maybe 5-3.

[Ellie]

There's 10 I upvoted , including one I suggested and I think only one downvote (recently deceased author). So it's going to be tough narrowing down my votes. There's definitely a few I want more though.

[Serendipity]

Did the beauty, brawn and brains prompt ever get resubmitted as just a one book prompt or am imagining that? Seeing it here amongst all the single book prompts has led me to believe that while I like multi-book prompts I’m less likely to vote for them when they are up against single books. It may not make any sense but it feels unfair that a vote could count for three books or just one book.

[Serendipity]

Anyone else going to wait until the results of the 16th poll are put before voting here? My feelings for Earth Day May vary depending of the fate of the geography/geology prompt.

[Fourevver]

Serendipity wrote: "Anyone else going to wait until the results of the 16th poll are put before voting here? My feelings for Earth Day May vary depending of the fate of the geography/geology prompt."

Yes, my idea exactly. If the geography/geology prompt makes it, I won't vote for Earth Day. I think these prompt are rather similar

[dalex]

O yay! So exciting!

I didn't super love the BBB prompt when it came up previously but since then I've tentatively added it my rejects challenge so I am definitely upvoting that one.

There are a few others I upvoted when they were first on a poll and will most likely upvote again. And there are a couple I really disliked, and still do, so those will be downvotes.

I cannot wait to see the results of this poll!

[Nadine in NY]

This is a nice list (of course!). I love Earth Day and Social media, I really hope they make it in this time.

I’ve never really understood the Beauty/Brains/Brawn idea. I just don’t know what I would read for those. I guess “beauty” could be a pretty cover? “brains” could be a non-fiction book so I can learn something? but what’s “brawn”?? (I hate long books, so it’s not that!!) I guess a romance novel with a muscled guy on the cover? hahahaha But still, that’s three random books, they won’t really be connected.

[Ellie]

I probably wouldn't have tried to connect beauty, brains and brawn but I liked having an option to read about brains! That's probably a niche interest though. I wasn't sure about brawn but someone suggested a large/powerful animal. However I'm not sure I would vote for it now because there are other prompts I like more.

If we had the multi-week prompt win, would that limit the number of other prompts that could also get through?

[dalex]

Nadine wrote: "I’ve never really understood the Beauty/Brains/Brawn idea. I just don’t know what I would read for those. "

Reposting what I said in the multiweek prompt thread about "brawn"...

Synonyms for brawn - robustness, toughness, powerfulness, mightiness

So I’m thinking you could do something about emotional strength or abuse of power or something instead of muscles or sports or whatever.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

We currently have 10 prompts available on the list. If 2 or 3 get in from the 16th poll (just estimating), that would leave 7 or 8 prompts available.

If BBB gets in, that would use 3 of the available, which would still allow 4 or 5 other prompts to get in (or, if the votes play out, have one last mini poll).

Thus, if BBB wins, that won't really restrict other prompts from winning as well.

[Liz]

Good to know, Emily.

[dalex]

Some thoughts about "brains" for the BBB prompt....

a character who is described (in the synopsis or the book text) as smart, intelligent, brilliant, etc.
a character who is in academia (professor, teacher, governess, student, etc.)
a character who is employed in a field that requires significant education and/or training (doctor, attorney, scientist, etc.)
a character who has to figure something out, like a detective or a doctor
a character learns something momentous and life-changing
a book about a subject you are not familiar with, like a historical time period or a foreign culture
a book that is described as "smart" or something like that (e.g. Mrs. Everything is described as "a smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives")
a book that is often on school reading lists
a difficult/challenging book that is featured on a list, like this one

[Avery]

I think it would be awesome to connect them by reading a book by or about an artist (beauty), a scholar or scientist (brains), and an athlete (brawn).

I think it would also be cool to connect them by a book about inner beauty (beauty), a book you learn something new (brains), and a book about inner strength (brawn).

[Nicole]

I'm going with eight up-votes on this poll. I actually would like to have 10 or 11 up-votes, but that's obviously not going to work.

I have a couple that I wouldn't mind down-voting because I'm not a huge fan, but none of them are so terrible that I would be upset about them being on the final list, so I'm going with just up-vote this time.

[Liz]

Even though I voted for BBB in the other two polls, I was thinking of downvoting it this time. I didn’t want it to take up three of the limited remaining spots. But after Emily mentioned the likelihood of there being a decent amount of prompts left after this poll & the one currently underway, I’ve changed my mind. It’s an upvote for me. :)

[Eujean2]

For the 3 Bs, I was thinking of read a book where each B is something the protagonist uses to accomplish their goals.
Beauty as power (something like The Belles)
Brains as power (a investigator, a scientist, an academic, a code breaker)
Brawn as power (a fighter)

[Avery]

Eujean2 wrote: "For the 3 Bs, I was thinking of read a book where each B is something the protagonist uses to accomplish their goals.
Beauty as power (something like The Belles)
Brains as power (a investigator, a ..."

I love that interpretation!

[Perri]

I thought I would like a close call post, but reading the choices and how often some have been submitted now strikes me as unfair. But, I guess if they were close a lot of people must have liked them.

[Hilde]

I agree with you, Perri.
But maybe I’m just tired of seeing these prompts yet again.

[Nadine in NY]

why unfair?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

To choose the prompts, we looked at the ones that had the highest amount of upvotes and had a high overall composite score (upvotes - downvotes). The ones that were submitted multiple times had scores high enough to put them on this list at least once, and Earth day would have made this list two times over. We would not have included a prompt that was the bottom or had very low votes when re-suggested.

I understand the frustration, but we tried to be very fair in how prompts were chosen. :)

[Perri]

Nadine that's a good question, I had to think about it a bit. I guess because they would have been chosen in a regular poll, and now the competition is eliminated? Emily, I have no problem with how they were selected, it's just a personal reaction to seeing them again.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

You can also view it as more competition. In a typical poll, there’s the bottom and middle prompts thrown in. Now it’s a poll of a bunch of popular prompts, all vying against each other.

[Jill]

The 3 B's prompt was in polls 8 and 11.

[Perri]

That's a good point, Laura

[JoDee]

Serendipity wrote: "Did the beauty, brawn and brains prompt ever get resubmitted as just a one book prompt or am imagining that? Seeing it here amongst all the single book prompts has led me to believe that while I li..."

Serendipity wrote: "Did the beauty, brawn and brains prompt ever get resubmitted as just a one book prompt or am imagining that? Seeing it here amongst all the single book prompts has led me to believe that while I li..."

When the list came out I found the following books on my TBR that I would use if the prompt gets in:
1) The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - And Us
2) Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
3) Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Voting is now open:
https://www.surveymoz.com/s/2UGYX/

This link is also in the first message of the thread.

[Angie]

I flip-flopped and wound up changing my mind again. I went 4-4.

I upvoted:

LGBTQIA character or author
Author who passed away
Immigrant
Epic or high fantasy

[Jill]

5 up and 3 down but will be happy with most of them.

[dalex]

I upvoted 2 - BBB and scientist. I downvoted 6; there are only two that I feel very strongly opposed to but there were some others that I'd rather not see on the list.

If "4.4 rating" gets through I'll have to use a wild card because I have pretty much zero qualifying books on my TBR List. Most of the books I read have an average rating around 3.5.

[Chinook]

Yeah, Dalex, that’s the one I downvoted. For my purposes, the only options are basically self-published/obscure options.

If it gets in, I’ll read one and hope for the best.

[Edie]

After some vacillating, I ended up using all my votes as upvotes. While I don't love, love all those I voted for, my logic was that ALL of these were popular with some in the group and why not give them as much chance as possible to be selected.

[°~Amy~°]

5 up and 3 down

I still love otherworldly presence, a title with more than 5 words, Earth Day, LGBTQ+ character/author and the social media prompt.

The rest I can work with, there were just three that I liked slightly less than the others. Whatever gets through, I'll be happy with!

[Samantha]

I had 5 up votes might be the most I have done all year! Only one down vote :)

[Rachel]

I have to say the entire concept of the Close Calls poll was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved that it was something new and different, but also was a bit apprehensive about what prompts would make the list. Many of the prompts here are ones that I had voted for (and are now on my rejects challenge anyway), so it was hard to choose between them!

I ended up going for 5 up and 3 down, although there was really only one prompt that I really don't want (the author who passed away in the past 5 years).

Otherworldly presence, high fantasy, and social media/technology were immediate upvotes for me. I had about 4 or 5 others that I was debating between, and it took me much longer than I expected to make up my mind because I started getting myself bogged down in thinking about the balance of the list, etc. In the end, I also voted for the 5 or more word title and the LGBTQIA character/author. Both of these were a question for me since we already have quite a few title and author prompts, but they were the ones I kept coming back to. The LGBTQIA was especially a question for me because it seemed too easy for me to fulfill, and I thought I might want something more challenging, but it's a great fit for many books that I'm already intending to read.

I downvoted Earth Day and the author who passed away in the last five years. Both of these were downvotes for me when they first came up because I didn't have many options for either. I have a few options for Earth Day on my TBR so I'd be okay with it, but none that really seem like a strong fit to me. I also downvoted the collection of short stories or essays because it's a prompt I've done many times over the past few years, but I'd also be okay with it.

[Jette]

I had 5 upvotes this round. I upvoted social media so I could include the sequel to Warcross. It’s YA, but tightly written and with a twist that I didn’t see coming. I’ve read plenty of series openers that I couldn’t care less about continuing. This is the exception.

I also upvoted the essays/short stories prompt. I can always fill it with an anthology or a humorous collection of essays.