763 replies to this topic

[Paul]

All right, let's see how this goes. This poll will find out once and for all who are the favorite artists of the Sound Opinion Message Board.

Voting will be open from today (July 1st) to July 31st. The results will start coming as soon as I have them tabbed up, probably the first week or two of August.

Each poster can vote for as few as ten artists or as any as fifty artists. They must be in an ordered list. What counts as an artist? Go to their discography page on allmusic.com. Whatever is listed on there is what counts. For example, a vote for Paul McCartney does not include his work with the Beatles, but does include his solo albums and Wings material. Also, a vote for The Stooges is the same as a vote for Iggy and the Stooges, but neither are a vote for Iggy Pop. I feel like this is the fairest way to deal with this, but if there are any concerns that pop up, I'll deal with them.

Points will be awarded in the same way that they were for our End Of Year Album Poll in 2007.
1st place 200 points
2 160
3 125
4 100
5 90
6 80
7 75
8 70
9 65
10 60
11 58
12 56
13 54
14 52
15 50
16 48
17 46
18 44
19 42
20 40
21 38
22 36
23 34
24 32
25 30
26 28
27 26
28 24
29 22
30 20
31 19
32 18
33 17
34 16
35 15
36 14
37 13
38 12
39 11
40 10
41 9
42 8
43 7
44 6
45 5
46 5
47 5
48 5
49 5
50 5

This point system is top weighted enough were certain bands shouldn't necessarily get a higher ranking just because everyone listed them somewhere on their rankings.

Lists can be posted in this thread or sent to me by PM. After I have your list, if you want to make a change either put what you're changing in a new post or send me a PM. Note that like the EOY polls, you can only replace an artist, not slide everything down. Sorry, but I don't want to have to retabulate a list again if I don't have to.

Finally, I haven't decided yet how many we will actually count down. It all depends on how many responses we get for this poll. That will also determine if we are going to do blurbs. Once we get towards the end of the voting period, I'll find out who wants to write a blurb about an artist, probably just for the top forty unless we have more or less people that want to.

So, start posting your lists and good luck! I'm really looking forward to seeing what the results of this poll are.

[yancy]

Might be more fun to PM lists so that people can't get a read on the winners. Not saying it should be mandatory. Just a thought.

[Hewletts Daughter]

I second the PM idea. It would keep a lot of people guessing and stuff. So yeah. PMs.

[Paul]

Does anyone else have an opinion on PM vs. posting? I know a couple people didn't like doing that for the Misc. polls last year, but I never quite understood their stance. PMs are fine with me if other people feel that way. EDIT: Actually, I do remember their problem with PMs only. It was that they couldn't look off other people's lists to figure out what music videos they liked. This poll shouldn't have that problem, so I'm definitely leaning towards PM only.

[throughsilver]

your mailbox might fill quickly

[stphone]

my only problem with PMing lists is that more often than not individual lists are much more interesting to look at than the final list

[pong]

Looks interesting as hell. I will try to get a list together.

[throughsilver]

my only problem with PMing lists is that more often than not individual lists are much more interesting to look at than the final list

get yer fave posters to pm you their lists

[Paul]

my only problem with PMing lists is that more often than not individual lists are much more interesting to look at than the final list

If this is the way we go, I'll definitely post everyone's full lists once the results are over with.

[Paul]

your mailbox might fill quickly

I'm here enough that I can copy them over to a word file and clear the space out pretty quickly.

[elcorazon]

my only problem with PMing lists is that more often than not individual lists are much more interesting to look at than the final list

If this is the way we go, I'll definitely post everyone's full lists once the results are over with.

only negative I can think of is the lack of discussion of the individual lists as they come in. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that would be lost if all lists were pm'ed. otherwise, with your caveats Paul, I think PMing will work fine.

[Paul]

I'll leave this open to discussion for another day or so before I decide what to do. If anyone wants to submit their list before then, you can do it either way. I think both methods have their strong points (PM: keep the results a little more surprising, posting: can discuss lists as they come in, might not actually be that revealing of how the points will work out). I might just keep it the way it is. If anyone has a strong opinion either way, let me know so I can take it into consideration.

[BobtheSquid]

I agree that both methods have their benefits, but going to an all-PM submission takes away most of the fun of the thread.

[JeffTweedysFatStomach]

I think the post-'em discuss-'em method will be a lot more fun.

[stphone]

i agree w/ the post em method, much more community oriented

[no magnets]

i'm sure some rogue boarders will still PM lists. but i agree posting leads to better discussion.

[Mitchell]

put spoiler tags on your list.

[pong]

I vote for the post in thread method.

Paul: I hope you didn't already answer this and I missed, but:

Is this supposed to be your personal favorites, your current favorites, or not necessarily your favorites (but, those who you feel worthy to be greatest artists of all time). Like, if I loved Zeppelin in HS, but hate them now: should I rank them lower on the list or try to weigh my initial love for them? Hope this is not nitpicking...

[yancy]

not necessarily your favorites (but, those who you feel worthy to be greatest artists of all time)

If you ask me this approach is borrring and leads to the most predictable of lists. Tell us who your favorites are and let the tabulation process decide who's "best."

[Meldrick Lewis]

I've done so many favorites lists over the years my list node is busted and confused. And so much music has passed through my skull I don't know anymore. I know what USED to be my favorites.