No rush, but please don't forget to update the group image this month! (Even if without the thank-you added.)
This was an interesting vote... We managed to get as close to an all-way tie as is mathematically possible with the number of voters we had... in both rounds!
We might easily have had a different result if we had allowed 2 choices in the first round (I think we'd actually moved to having that be the policy when we have 5 or more images).
The trouble with having a vote for multiple options that people like result in definitively determining the option that the most people prefer to the greatest degree is sadly not solved by any "single vote" system (and not entirely by "multiple vote" systems that don't rank votes by order of each voter's preference, either). This is why I hinted a while back that I might someday contribute to developing an updated vote system for AniDB, should the contribution be welcome. It would be what's known as "instant run-off" or "ranked choice voting" (of course, the option to create polls that work the traditional way could still be retained). While I'm excited about the idea of improving vote outcomes such that they are as democratic as possible, I would have a learning curve in order to contribute code, since I don't know my way around PHP, Perl, or Javascript (even if I have varied programming experience). It would almost certainly require new database fields, too, and counting the votes would be more complicated than in the current system. Not to mention, I have health problems that negatively effect my ability to develop/contribute anything.
I have a simple alternative suggestion that might help our voting situation out:I've been watching the polls for our Patreon image contests (and I think the other polls related to raising funds to cover AniDB expenses before them), which allowed voters to vote for any number of options and also had the results viewable during the polling. One interesting thing to me about setting up a poll that way is that if voters look at the poll more than once during the voting period, they have the benefit of considering the current results in determining how to vote. This is kind of like a
continuous run-off, and it also allows voters to show support for all the images they like, so the result of the poll is likely to better reflect how liked each option is, and voters can make difficult choices as needed—with the benefit of viewing the running results—to help resolve potential ties for the top spot. This is not as perfect as ranked choice voting would be, but it might actually work better than what we do now, and might (as a small technical benefit) be likelier to avoid the need for a run-off vote. The only part that's a little questionable—to my mind—is allowing people to vote for all the options, because doing so doesn't help decide the winner. However, that still does help have the results reflect how much support each option has... Any voter who does that will likely be well aware that their vote didn't really determine anything (though it might keep an option in the running for others to decide). They can easily return to break a tie if needed, by removing one or more votes they cast. So, I think I even like that option. In the event of a separate run-off vote being needed, we could only allow
number of options minus 1 votes be cast in the run-off so that every voter has to make a choice that changes the final result (I'd have the run-off have results visible during voting too).
- It seems like it might be worth trying theviewable votes, any number of votes method and seeing how it goes.
- ➜What doyou (yes, you reading this) think?