Last Author Standing alternative voting systems.

[silver_sun]

I'v been thinking about Last Author Standing voting systems, and what the alternatives might be for the usual 'one postive, one and or more negative' voting systems.



1. People vote and leave feedback for the story they'd like to win.

Advantage: It's simple, nobody gets a negative vote.

Disadvantages: If multiple people get no votes at all who gets voted out? The solutions would be either keep voting open until there's only one story with no votes (which means not being able to have a fix posting schedule for the challenges) or that all stories with no votes are voted out - which could if everybody liked the same story in the first round that everybody would be voted out in one go.


2. People vote and leave feedback for three stories they like and rank them first, second and third. Points, 3 for first, 2 for second, and 1 for third are awarded. The story with most points wins.

Advantages: It's simple, nobody gets any negative votes.

Disadvantages: Still has the possibility for multiple people to have no votes at all, although this is less of a problem if only a few writers taking part. Having to leave three lots of feedback might put some voters off - although as it's three positive votes they might not mind so much.

3. People vote and leave feedback for all the stories and rank them first, second and third etc until all stories in that round have been ranked. Points are awarded based on how many stories there are (so points from 10 to 1 for ten stories, points from 15 to 1 for fifteen stories.) The story with the most points wins

Advantages: Everybody gets feedback every round. Less likely to produce a tie.

Disadvantages: Having to rank all the stories and leave so much feedback might put people off from voting.


4. People vote for all the stories and rank them first, second and third etc until all stories in that round have been ranked. Points are awarded based on how many stories there are (so points from 10 to 1 for ten stories, points from 15 to 1 for fifteen stories.) But only leave feedback for the one they ranked first. The story with the most points wins.

Advantages: Simple. Voters unlikely to be put odd by only having to leave 1 piece of positive feedback.

Disadvantages: Higher chance of writers not getting any feedback.


5. An LJ poll, you vote for the story you like best.

Advantages: More people likely to vote. Simple to use.

Disadvantages: Nobody gets any feedback at all. Has the same problem as the single postive feedback vote system - you could easily end up with multiple stories with no votes, posing the same question of how do you decide who gets voted off.


Suggestions welcome for other voting systems welcome.

Questions:

Would you be more likely to take part in a Last Author Standing if you knew you'd never get negative feedback? (You may still of course get no feedback depending on the voting system used.)

Is negative feedback a useful part of Last Author Standing challenges? and if this is the case would it be helpful for the rules of the LAS to say that the negative vote needs to be constructive critisism rather than 'I just didn't like this one as much as the rest'?

If you had to give feedback on all the stories in a round, say 12 stories, would this put you off voting? or would you be pleased to have the opportunity to tell all the writers what you think about their entry?

Any other questions that are important and that I've not thought of?

I'm trying to find this out because (although I'd not change how the current round of Torchwood-Las is voted) whether people who like a different system for running round 2 of it later in the year after the current one finishes. (Yes I probably should have done this before setting up the Torchwood-las comm in the first place, rather than just going with the usual system.)

Comments

[jolinarjackson.livejournal.com]

It would definitely be hard to write feedback for all stories. I think peoplewould be put off voting. It's a difficult question, though, what kind of alternative there really is ...

I think ranking all and giving feedback to the first is good, though.

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

I think the negative/positive voting works -I think maybe if everyone is more strident in what constitutes a negative vote. "I liked this less than the others" isn't very helpful. As a voter, your vote gets discredited if you don't give a concrete reason...that sort of thing. Concrete reasons like things were misspelled, the grammar was off, the story went no where, the characters were OOC. Including examples. That sort of thing.

Which is basically what you said! :)

Having to give feedback on all stories wouldn't put me off, per se. I just...wouldn't be able to devote the attention to it that I'd want to.

Would I participate without negative feedback? Probably not, actually. As much as I like hearing positive things, I like that the anonymity allows people to tell me how I'm doing with honesty. The negative feedback I received from jack_ianto_las (may it rest in peace) was perhaps some of the most helpful stuff I've ever gotten, including legitimate writing classes. :)

[firesnap.livejournal.com]

You know, I liked the negative feedback. It was interesting to see what people thought didn't work, and whether it matched what I thought was weak about it.

I like the current voting system. When the comments are done properly it's a great way to build as a writing, and it's an easy system that doesn't bog down the voter with so much to do.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I like the current system, but sometimes very negative comments can cross a line for some writers. Perhaps give writers the option to get the criticism or not.

[analineblue.livejournal.com]

To me, one of the unique things about LAS is getting both positive and negative feedback. I don't know that I'd participate if it worked more like other challenges with a poll, or a basic ranking system, etc. To me, LAS represents a rare opportunity to to hear about what people don't like about what you're doing, honestly and anonymously, and this is one of the draws of participating, for me. (Even if it might not be the most pleasant of experiences, having to read negative comments. ^_~)

So yes, I do think negative feedback is useful, as long as the voter provides a specific reason for the vote (other than something like "everything was bad, but this was the worst").

If you had to give feedback on all the stories in a round, say 12 stories, would this put you off voting? - Yes, it would. I think this would be asking too much of most voters, and could possibly reduce the quality of the feedback all around.

So yeah, for me, I think the current system works.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

I really don't mind leaving feedback for my first three. You normally have to leave feedback for two. Really happy with ranking all the stories and leaving feedback for three, which at least gives more feedback.

The other thing to do would be have a feedback post on the results, which you did, but make it more structured with each fic represented maybe? See I feel strongly that I want to stand by my comments negative or positive, so I'd happily leave open feedback.

The other thing I'd say is that if you decide to stick to the current system, I wonder whether on the voting poll you could make it quite strict and not accept votes that aren't constructive. I know WIAD used to operate like that. I know it's a bit of work for you as a mod, but having said that, it's quite easy to see when a review is just a bit horrid and not helpful.

Thanks for thinking about this Silver, because I think it's awful that anyone may have been hurt by thoughtless voting in something that should just be a bit of fun, and reviews don't need to say the story is bad, just why it didn't work for the person voting.

Also I do think the current system has an inherent problem, that is that you can get the most positive votes, and still potentially be voted out, or certainly not win, and that does bother me.

[harkpad02.livejournal.com]

I would just like to vote for the current system. While negative can be hard, It is useful if it's tactful. I am learning a lot about keeping my audience in mind with this, and I might not think about that so hard with a different system. It's good for me. I don't even care so much about constructive (though of Course I would prefer that) as long as it is tactful. I think there are too many variables in the other suggestions.

[cookiegirl]

I prefer the current voting system :)
I try to always vote on these things but having to put them all in order - or even 3 - would put me off.
I think negative feedback is quite useful and if authors don't want it they don't have to read it. x

Re:

[razaty.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw

[mortkero.livejournal.com]

sorry hi, I've been trying to find out if original fic last author standing is still running? would you happen to know? or is there a list or page somewhere for me to look at?