by Jeff Putz
posted 1/20/01

It has been an interesting first year at CoasterBuzz, particularly moderating the forums. One of the things that became apparent almost immediately is that people love to make lists, versus arguments and best/worst comparisons.

For the most part we have discouraged these kinds of conversations because they’re repetitive, entirely subjective and for the most part not that interesting to read. However, even a quick look at the news headlines over the past few months shows that we are obsessed with numbers and superlatives. Who has the most coasters, the tallest, fastest, steepest, most inversions, prettiest and even best smelling. If there’s a tangible quality, we can rank it and compare it to other rides.

Of course, why should our obsession be any different from any other part of our life? We do it in every sport, in magazines like Consumer Reports and even with US presidential elections (where having the most votes doesn’t necessarily mean you win). No matter what area we’re talking about, we need to create order and structure. Chalk it up to human nature.

Heck, even CoasterBuzz will have an award program, so we can pick more favorites.

But with the recent comparisons flying in our forums, including Raging Bull vs. Apollo’s Chariot, best and worst maintained coasters, Raptor vs. Batman vs. Alpengeist, and the most tiresome of them all, Cedar Point vs. everybody, I’ve come to the startling realization that none of the comparisons matter. As coaster enthusiasts, we live to climb into those trains, yell, scream, wave our hands in the air (like we just don’t care) and do it all over again in the name of the obsession. No matter how we try to divvy up, categorize and rank our beloved coasters, we still have every intention of riding them all.

How many other areas of our lives do we seek out the "losers" of our comparisons despite their inferior status?