[2023] Poll 2 Voting

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Ellie wrote: "@Tracy I didn't want to be negative in the first poll and wasn't really expecting it to be submitted immediately. I mentioned it in the wild discussion as did someone else but I guess that got miss..."

I agree with you- it seems if a prompt gets voted down, it should get workshopped a bit before resuggested. I still voted for it this week, but it seems too kitchen sink now and could have been more elegant.

[Tracy]

Pamela wrote: "Ellie wrote: "@Tracy I didn't want to be negative in the first poll and wasn't really expecting it to be submitted immediately. I mentioned it in the wild discussion as did someone else but I guess..."

I agree Pamela.

I am the suggester of this prompt, but also an inexperienced suggester. Normally I would have considered reworking the prompt wording. I didn't this time because I read a lot of people's comments who said these two things 1) "I'm disappointed that the genetics prompt didn't make it through", and more importantly 2) "There are so many good prompt suggestions this time that a lot of good prompts won't make it through". To me that meant that it was just a numbers issue, because the vote got diluted due to high quality prompts.

If you want to suggest a way to reword it so that it is more "elegant" I'm happy to consider your suggestion, but I personally haven't figured out what would make it clearer or more concise. And maybe I should default to taking a prompt I suggest back to Wild Discussions if it seems to have support but didn't make it through. Still a learning process for me.

[Tracy]

I just found a book that looks interesting (haven't read it), but looks like it would fit 3 of our current voting options. The book is The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. It would fit:

1) A science fiction or fantasy novel written by a woman
2) A book related to dreams or dreaming
3) A book by an author with three names printed on the cover

[Ellie]

I think it takes a few weeks to cycle through everyone's great ideas at the start, so we have a few weeks of "I love everything" and it's hard for all the good prompts to get in.

Also, you can't please everyone! Considering I do Popsugar with its ill-thought out prompts, anything that gets through ATY scrutiny is fine with me, even if I don't like it enough to vote. Just because I (or someone else) grumbles, doesn't mean it's wrong to suggest it.

I would vote for "a book related to genetics or genealogy", but it sounds like that might exclude an intended area. I thought geneaology was about tracing family histories, but I'm not that interested in it so I might have got the wrong idea.

[Tracy]

Ellie wrote: "I think it takes a few weeks to cycle through everyone's great ideas at the start, so we have a few weeks of "I love everything" and it's hard for all the good prompts to get in.

Also, you can't p..."

Thanks for your info about timing through the whole voting process @Ellie. I didn't joint ATY until the last Poll or 2 last year, so I didn't get to see how it all plays out. I will keep that in mind going forward :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

A good rule of thumb, Tracy, is to always take a prompt back to Wild Discussion for rewording advice if it didn't get through the poll it's in, and to wait a few polls before resubmitting. Like Ellie said, the first few polls are always full of new, fun, interesting ideas, and it's hard for anything to get through, so waiting a few polls (maybe resubmitting in poll 6 or 7) will give the prompt a chance to breathe and will give everyone a chance to get all of their good ideas out lol.

As for your prompt, specifically, I do think cutting down the wording would help. To me (someone inexperienced in the subject), genetics and traits are very similar, and genealogy, heredity, and heritage are very similar. So maybe "A book involving genetics or heritage". Anyone who wants to read about traits, heredity, or genealogy would probably fit a book about those things in this prompt without problem, and we can always use your expanded words when we are recommending books on the Weekly Threads.

[Tracy]

Thanks @ Emily!

[NancyJ]

Tracy wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Ellie wrote: "@Tracy I didn't want to be negative in the first poll and wasn't really expecting it to be submitted immediately. I mentioned it in the wild discussion as did someone e..."

I think it's a fantastic topic and prompt, and I hope it gets through this week. If not, we can help workshop it. I agree with Ellie when she said that you can't please everyone, so it's great that you have an open attitude about it.

I tend to rely heavily on tags when searching for books, so if needed, I'll look to see which tags are used for the kinds of books we might want to read. The traits tag wasn't helpful as I recall. Heritage means different things in different contexts. It might add flexibility for people who don't want to read something scientific. In one book I read, a woman's Jewish heritage was really central to her sense of identity, so it was a shock when her DNA test showed something different.

[Tracy]

Thanks @NancyJ. I appreciate your support and ideas :)

[Steve]

I did 5 and 3 which may be the most upvotes I've had in awhile, haha. I tend to use more downvotes! Maybe I'm just too negative! (Y’all are never going to get me on the rabbit prompt, though!)

[Nadine in NY]

I like to read science and sociology books, so I would be very happy with genetic and I would have a hard time choosing just one:
The Selfish Gene
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
The Gene: An Intimate History
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
Your Inner Fish: a Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA's Double Helix

[Tracy]

Nadine in NY wrote: "I like to read science and sociology books, so I would be very happy with genetic and I would have a hard time choosing just one:
The Selfish Gene
[book:The Code Breaker: Jennifer Dou..."

Thanks for the great list @Nadine in NY! If the prompt doesn't make it through this time, maybe you would be a good person to suggest how to word it differently :)