I'd like to ask the community what its thoughts are on this issue: The upgrade request polls are public, and we all get to see who is voting for whom as they are doing it. I like that they are public. When I look at a voting poll, however, and I'm not the first (or one of the first) people to vote, there is sometimes a general impression I get of who is going to get in. For instance, if two of the five people listed have 5+ votes but the other three have none, it stands out. Now, when I vote I read reviews and vote based on whether I think those reviews are good enough to qualify as "advanced reviews." I have voted for people with no votes even near the end of the voting time, because I feel like they deserve my vote. I've also voted on people who already have many more than the needed 5 votes.
My suggestion is this: What if the votes were hidden until the voting was over? The names would appear, but no numbers of votes and no names of voters would appear. This way, no one would be "behind" or "ahead" or "only need one more vote" -- they would all be even from start to finish.
I am not suggesting that I or anyone else votes "with the crowd" or "against the crowd," or any other way not based solely on review quality. I will admit, however, that if I see a poll in which all five reviewers are already voted in (i.e. have 5+ votes each), I am less inclined to go through and read the reviews of all of them and vote. If the vote tally were hidden, I would be more motivated to read their reviews and vote, no matter when I got the chance to vote, and sometimes that isn't on the first day.
I don't want to stress out the people up for voting, and if not knowing if they "got in" until the last day was a bad thing, please tell me. I do think it would increase the suspense, especially for the voters and the "watchers" of the polls.
I don't know how difficult this would be to set up, and I'm not trying to ask for anything complicated here, so if this seems like something unreasonable, do tell me. I'd love to hear from everyone -- voters, watchers, new reviewers, advanced reviewers. What do you think of this idea?
My suggestion is this: What if the votes were hidden until the voting was over? The names would appear, but no numbers of votes and no names of voters would appear. This way, no one would be "behind" or "ahead" or "only need one more vote" -- they would all be even from start to finish.
I am not suggesting that I or anyone else votes "with the crowd" or "against the crowd," or any other way not based solely on review quality. I will admit, however, that if I see a poll in which all five reviewers are already voted in (i.e. have 5+ votes each), I am less inclined to go through and read the reviews of all of them and vote. If the vote tally were hidden, I would be more motivated to read their reviews and vote, no matter when I got the chance to vote, and sometimes that isn't on the first day.
I don't want to stress out the people up for voting, and if not knowing if they "got in" until the last day was a bad thing, please tell me. I do think it would increase the suspense, especially for the voters and the "watchers" of the polls.
I don't know how difficult this would be to set up, and I'm not trying to ask for anything complicated here, so if this seems like something unreasonable, do tell me. I'd love to hear from everyone -- voters, watchers, new reviewers, advanced reviewers. What do you think of this idea?
