Like Watching a Ping-Pong Match

Being responsible for this year's annual reader poll makes me feel as though I'm watching a ping-pong match. Only instead of two players, each side of the table is me, at varying hours of the day, either elated or in despair. Just now, for instance, I was able to update our reader poll participation goal graph to just about 50%, which is where we should have been by Sunday night...almost four days ago. Today will be a full week since I started updating daily how close we are to reaching our goal, and almost a full week since we went to authors and asked them to inform their readers about the poll. By Sunday night of this week, we should be at 68%. My goal is slipping away.

I wrote on the AAR forums that my goal is just that - a goal I thought would provide us with the most representative results we could achieve, while at the same time being obtainable. I know from past experience that votes start to pour in toward the end of this poll, but thinking about it reasonably, I don't think we'll receive as many more valid votes in a week and a half as we have during the first three and a half weeks. It simply doesn't seem logical.

As I wrote in my last ATBF column, I know these results will be discussed elsewhere online. And some of those who write elsewhere online are semi-active on our forums. I've not checked, but have they suggested their readers participate? I know we share some readers, but by no means all, and it would make sense to me that if the results will be mentioned on their online venues, shouldn't they vote, and suggest that their readers do as well? In looking at ballots received thus far, I don't see that any blog owners who have written about the results in the past, and presumably will write about them again, have voted (although one who joined a popular blog some months ago did vote).

I have this nasty little part of my brain, and I blame it on my conspiracy-theorist husband, and it's in overdrive right now. But I'm not going to surrender to it. Instead I invite all other romance venues online to participate in this poll, to inform their readers, and to say that when they do a comprehensive poll unlike any other online, we'll do the same in return.

As we move even closer to the poll's end, I'll need to reassess where we are, and if it might help to extend the deadline, or simply cut our losses and leave things as they fall out. It'll depend on how many ballots come in between now and midnight, February 17th. Although it may sound odd to put it like this: I hope it'll be so many my wrists go on strike.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

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