Europe Claims Four of the Top Five Steel Roller Coasters in 2006! - Mitch's Steel Coaster Poll

Whether or not it's too difficult to figure out or too time consuming(which I really don't think it is...), the results aren't skewed in a given direction by the los of those ballots. It may lead to less ballots and therefore less data, but unlike the AT polls, it doesn't always favor certain coasters over others (unless you argue that busy/lazy people tend to like a certain type of coaster).

The point that you bring up Beast Fan is that you *personally* disagree with the results of Mitch's poll. That's fine, but the general complaint about the AT polls is that *the community as a whole* disagrees with the results. I don't think you'll find the same for Mitch's.

<= rapidly gaining Mitch Fanboy Status *** Edited 2/1/2007 11:54:36 PM UTC by ApolloAndy***

no the point has nothing to do with the steel coaster poll results or wheter I agree with them. I actually think the top 15 for the most part makes sense. But there is an issue of having a poll that is too difficult for some, thus not allowing them to vote. It basically is discriminating against coaster enthusiasts that are not computer savy, or too busy (be it school, job, etc). Who is to say that there vote should not be included or is less valid. I am not completely sure if the results would change, if you had an easier more assesible poll. But I just disagree that a poll can be considered to represent the whole population of coaster enthusiasts if this poll is not assessible to all of them. 400 voting is ok, but don't you think you have to look at it objectively and realize that perhaps there is a certain segment of coaster fans not voting because of the way you have to vote.

Honestly for me, I did the wood coaster poll, and its not that time consuming or hard. But than again, I am a very good college student in engineering. Not really the average person when it comes to intelligence. Its also easier once you have done it once. *** Edited 2/2/2007 12:10:12 AM UTC by Beast Fan***

It only discriminates against people who are too lazy to take the time to read the instructions, which is probably a good thing. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to change a couple of letters and numbers.

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Beast Fan said:
But than again, I am a very good college student in engineering. Not really the average person when it comes to intelligence.

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After a comment like this I fear this may be like beating my head against a brick wall, but -

If 400 something voters isn't enough for you what number of voters would work better for you? You know, like as a minimum.

As an engineering student I'd like you to show your work as well, you're pretty familiar with some basic statistics right?

And for those that think it's too hard to do Mitch's poll - here's the whole thing in four (yes, 4) easy to follow steps:

1. Erase all the instructions and any coaster you've never ridden from the ballot.

2. Change all of the "n" in the first column to "y"

3. For any coaster you've ridden this year, change the "n" to a "y" in the second column

4. Numerically rank the coasters. (your favorite = 1, next favorite = 2, and so on until all the coasters have a number assigned)

You're done. Send it to Mitch. :)

Isn't that on Mitch's site, too? :)

The only thing that could be easier (although probably more time consuming) would be a website/program that would ask you "Have you ridden coaster X" and give you "yes this year"/"yes but not this year"/"no" buttons. Then it would ask you "Do you like Coaster A or B better", "Do you like Coaster A or C better", "Do you like Coaster B or C better"... etc. with choices of "Yes", "No", or "About the same". Then the program/website would generate the ballot.

I hear rumor every year of CoasterFanatics' helper tool.. is that what this tool does, or is it different? (I've never even looked at the tool because I find Mitch's ballot fairly simple personally)

Matt:

Did you read my post, I said having 400 voting is enough, its just the way the poll is setup makes it harder for everyone to participate. And I do have this notion that people that are less inclined to participate in this poll be it too lazy or not smart enough to figure it out, might have different taste when it comes to roller coasters

But ultimately who cares!?!? Everyone agrees that the sample size is large enough to represent the community as a whole. Why does it matter whether the too busy/lazy/dumb participate, especially if it's not going to change the results much?

If you're arguing that the poll is too hard, I could see a point. If you're arguing that the poll doesn't represent the community, I might entertain the thought. If you're arguing that the poll doesn't represent the community because it's too hard, I would disagree vehemently.

<- notices he's played both sides of the same coin in this thread *** Edited 2/3/2007 2:53:27 AM UTC by ApolloAndy***

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Beast Fan said:
Matt:

Did you read my post, I said having 400 voting is enough, its just the way the poll is setup makes it harder for everyone to participate.

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There is inherent bias in any gathering of statistics, which is basically what you're arguing.

Polls like the Golden Ticket awards make no effort in reducing any of this bias whatsoever, and, by picking and choosing who gets to vote and who doesn't, actually go out of their way, purposefully, to make the results more biased.

At the end of the day, not only is Mitch's poll the best option, it's the *only* option. There is no other poll out there that even makes an effort to take into consideration "coaster X"'s popularity into account, so the results we get here are pretty much the only game in town. Nobody's taking the results as gospel, we're just taking them as the only results that matter.

I mean doesn't "its just the way the poll is setup makes it harder for everyone to participate" perfectly describe how we vote for things that are actually important like...government officials? It's just the nature of how these things work, until voting in this poll somehow becomes mandatory, there will *always* be one group or another that doesn't vote.

I have an idea.

Somone replicate a park with the top 20 coasters in Roller Coaster Tycoon 2.

Wait about 4 hours, and then check and see what coaster the most people rank as their "favorite".

:) *** Edited 2/4/2007 1:06:22 AM UTC by OhioStater***

haha superman is still #1 in my book too