Internet Wood Coaster Poll?

Every year I start to do this poll but end up getting frustrated and never finish. I can sort out all the rides I rode and didn't ride and if I rode them this year or not. No problem on that part. I just find it impossible to rank rides.

I have favories I love to ride (Phoenix, Thunderhead, Jack Rabbit (KW) and others I'll ride it once and that it Rolling Thunder, Hurler (both of them) etc. I just can't seem to rank them 1-whatever. Especially coasters I rode like 5 years ago.

I know you can have many with the same ranking. I just don't want to have 25 or more coasters ranked 1-10.

Any tips on the decision method?

I know what I like but have no clue how to rank them?

Any help or pointers would rock.

Perhaps just deciding on your 10 or 20 favorite woodies and then ranking them? I've only been on like 23, and have clear rankings. I had Swamp Fox as my favorite(purely sentimental reasons), and then just went about going, okay, which coaster would I rather ride after getting off of that. I did rate a few the same #, but not many.

For the Wood poll, it was rather easy, since I haven't been on that many. For the Steel poll, it was harder, and as I got down the list, I thought of the cool rides that i've only ridden once, a while ago, but thought they were fun, and probably won't get down to them again for a few years...and wondering where to rank them...as well as my wild mouses and other bottom-feeders (think Viper at SFGAdv)...just wondering how to order them is tough too. I just went one way down the list, saw it, thought it was ok, and then submitted it.

I usually do my top 10 or 20 and then the rest of the rides all get rankings between 50-55. They're all pretty much

"Would like to ride but wouldn't make a trip" -> "Wouldn't be disappointed if never rode again." -> "Would be disappointed if ever did ride again."

Dan - submit a ballot for your top 10 or 20 for now. Then, in the next year take some time to make a list of your wooden coasters and rank them. That way you'll be ready when the ballot comes around bext year. And once its done and you keep a copy, each year all you'll have to do is make small changes to your ranking for the ballot.

That sounds like the way to do it, Moosh. The coasters I don't like I can still rate them at the very bottom of my list.

Finally finished. I ended up ranking how I liked rides 1-20 there are more than 20 in that list.

Then I took my least favorites and tried to think which were more tolerable. They were the least ranked all the way at the bottom of my list.

After that I tried to sort out the rides that didn't really stand out. Those I started to rank under all my top 20. If there were 30 coasters in my top 20 these started out at 31.

*** Edited 11/27/2004 8:02:33 PM UTC by coasterpunk***

when do the results come out?

You can vote until December 1st. http://www.geocities.com/wcoasterpoll/

I imangine the results will be out by January.

I have a problem with the steel poll, because the only real standouts I've been on were B:TR, Hulk, and Vortex. The rest just seem to mesh together, and I don't want to rank 20 coasters or so at 4. I just did the Wooden Poll this year.

Is there a confirmation email that he sends out?

Yep. I got mine a day or two after I sent mine in.

Sent mine in on the 29th...I'm the *procrasti-gator*...:)

Funny thing, I just did the online form and found it WAY easy, some coasters have shared rankings, etc., but I just assigned an *approximate* number between 1 and 60 for each coaster....

Sure, I don't think I have 60 woodies on my track record, but Psyclone, based on MY most recent rides, couldn't rank any higher...ROFL!

Any one else get an email asking to verify, yet the site seems to have exceded its bandwidth?

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coasterpunk said:I imangine the results will be out by January.

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They'll be out well before that, it usually only takes Mitch a few days to calculate the results. Last year he posted the results on December 4.

I would first group them into about five or ten tiers, it should be pretty easy to do that. Then within each tier look at each coaster and decide if you would rather ride coaster A or coaster B. Imagine Phoenix and Thunderhead sitting side by side on a perfect day with no one in line. If you had to choose one, which would it be? If you choose A, rank that above, then continue down the list. Pretty soon they all fall into order.

Also when ranking, try to remember all the details. Are the seatbacks hard or soft? Do they have a single lap bar or individual ratcheting lapbars? Are the ride attendants hostile or friendly? Details like these may help you choose one over the other.

I do admit that the format of the poll can be a little difficult to comprehend in the beginnin.

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Jeffrey Seifert said:
Are the ride attendants hostile or friendly? Details like these may help you choose one over the other.

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Funny, the LAST thing I would consider when rating a COASTER are the things I liked or disliked about the PARK they're in....I think it's unfair to Gwazi to downgrade the RIDE because of the park's *horrendous* operations policies...ditto for Tsunami, which had dispatches every 5-6 minutes or so.
When it comes to rating the rides, I really try to consider ONLY the track, the train, the layout, etc., those factors that are *intrinsic* to the ride experience, station to brakes...as always, YMMV...;)

I just simplify my ratings by the Gasmeter...

If it rocks my world than it will end up high on my list..

If it puts me to sleep or hurts like hell then it's worthless.

The specifics are secondary.

:-D

-Tina

<----who found the Poll boring and tiresome at times. ;-)

*** Edited 12/1/2004 7:58:47 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Funny, the LAST thing I would consider when rating a COASTER are the things I liked or disliked about the PARK they're in

Amen, Gator! My opinion and ranking of a coaster begins the moment I got on and ends the moment I walk off.

mOOSH

On the opposite end of the spectrum, mOOSH, is Lake Compounce....sure Boulder Dash just didn't *perform* for us, but I totally fell in love with that PARK! :)

I think BD ended up in my mid-20s somewhere...;)