Question on Final Poll for contests

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

toddlajoie

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
1,728
Location
Feeding Hills MA
I was just finishing up my final rules and came up with a hypothetical situation that I wasn't sure how to handle it. I'm thinking this may come up in other contests also, so we probably should have a standard method of handling it...

With the preliminary polls of 10 entries each, members can vote on as many entries as they would like (we can suggest they vote for their favorite (##) entries), and the final poll would be the top 10 entries from all the preliminary polls with the most votes.

What should we do in the event that several pens tie for any of the lower place, i.e. 2 or 3 pens all tie for 10th place, or even 6th place in preliminary voting is tied by 8 entries. Would we include more than 10 entries in the final poll, which could mean that it had significantly more than 10 entries, or should we cut it off so that there are no more than 10 in the final poll, which could mean significantly less than 10 entries in the final poll?

I don't remember this coming up in previous discussions, so forgive me if it was...
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

mmyshrall

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
219
Location
Spokane, WA
I was just finishing up my final rules and came up with a hypothetical situation that I wasn't sure how to handle it. I'm thinking this may come up in other contests also, so we probably should have a standard method of handling it...

With the preliminary polls of 10 entries each, members can vote on as many entries as they would like (we can suggest they vote for their favorite (##) entries), and the final poll would be the top 10 entries from all the preliminary polls with the most votes.

What should we do in the event that several pens tie for any of the lower place, i.e. 2 or 3 pens all tie for 10th place, or even 6th place in preliminary voting is tied by 8 entries. Would we include more than 10 entries in the final poll, which could mean that it had significantly more than 10 entries, or should we cut it off so that there are no more than 10 in the final poll, which could mean significantly less than 10 entries in the final poll?

I don't remember this coming up in previous discussions, so forgive me if it was...


Todd,

I usually let the Magic 8 Ball decide these weighty issues for me... :biggrin:

Seriously, though, you raise a valid point. What if we used the entry submission time as the deciding factor (first in gets the first slot, second gets the next slot until all ten are filled)?

If we hold to the 10 finalists rule, then nothing we do will be viewed as fair in your examples and there will always be some grumbling by someone. As long as we consistently apply the decision, then I am ok with whatever method is decided upon.

Thanks,
Michael
 

toddlajoie

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
1,728
Location
Feeding Hills MA
Any completion to the pondering on this???:biggrin:

I will put in my 2 cents, everyone please feel free to disagree, state your own opinions, or make a decision and tell me to stick to it:

Under no circumstances should we contest chairs decided if there is a tie for 10th place, which of the 2 or more entries in that tie make it into the final poll. Entry date would be the only objective method for this determination, and is and invalid measure, like selecting the entry from the user with the longest Member Name, the criteria is irrelevant to the contest (no offense Michael, but for my contests, the vast majority of entries come in at the last few hours).

I err on the side of inclusion, so if, from the final polls, the #10 spot from the preliminary polls would yield a few more than 10 entries in the final poll, I would rather do that than exclude the 10th (or higher) final places. However there needs to be a limit, i.e. if there is a 10 way tie for 10th place, we should not have 19 entries in the final poll.

I think our options are to say:


  1. No more than 10 entries in the final poll, and if there is a tie for a place that would bring it over 10, ALL of those are EXCLUDED from the poll
  2. No more than 10 entries in the final poll, and if there is a tie for a place that would bring it over 10, ALL of those are INCLUDED from the poll
  3. No fewer than 8, and no more than 13 entries in the final poll, depending on where these ties wind up.
#3 would give us a solution that would cover the vast majority of situations (it would fall apart with a tie of 6 or more entries below 8th place), and if someone has opinions on adjusting the 8/13 number I'm good with that...


I'm hoping these situations don't come up, but I want to be ready with a uniform solution if they do, so we aren't looking for opinions at the last minute...
 
Last edited:

mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
Staff member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
8,752
Location
Fort Myers FL
Well we could state if there was a tie for any of the places it could eliminate the 10th position. That would allow us to not to have to deal with 8 10th place ties which would only have a few votes each and would only dilute the voting on the next poll. It would automatically push the people in 10th off the poll since they really wouldnt be 10th anyway if there was a tie for one of the other places.
 
Top Bottom