Mitch's coaster poll

I ranked Toro at 31, tied with 10 others. I guess my ballot is about as suspicious as someone ranking all three of Holiday World's woodies at 145, 146 and 147, except I was at least trying to be honest with my ranking of the Bull. I could have ranked it below Grizzly West for funsies.

Lord Gonchar said:

So people quit drinking HW's kool-aid and started drinking Robb's?

Ugh. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. ;)

To be totally honest, especially after all of the park caused drama in 2008 during HWN that almost made me never visit the park again, I've never really drank the HW Kool Aid. Having said that, there are 3 wooden coasters there that I happen to enjoy, and Voyage really is an amazing ride...but it's not even my favorite.

I think that there are a lot of people that didn't vote this year, and after the whole 'Voyage got rough' 'debate' (I use that term loosely) over there, people who wanted to impress Lord Embezzlement...err...I mean Alvey ranked it low on purpose.

In the grand scheme it obviously doesn't mean anything because this is a hobby, and there are people like Matt that really aren't huge fans of Toro, and that's fine.

I just think it sucks that someone has so much pull and tends to bring down what could be a fun hobby. You can't be on the fence about 'them'. He either wants you to worship him or hate him, and as a few of you who know why I don't like him can attest to, there are far more reasons not to like the guy than to like him.

But I guess some people enjoy being lemmings.

People really spend that much time thinking about other coaster nerds? That's sad.

Interesting that such a small elephant would figure so prominently in such a large room...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

+1. Also gets back to my issues with sample size.

Tekwardo said:

I think that there are a lot of people that didn't vote this year, and after the whole 'Voyage got rough' 'debate' (I use that term loosely) over there, people who wanted to impress Lord Embezzlement...err...I mean Alvey

Hmm.. is it something to do with Holiday World not being able to host an event for a certain coaster club? Are people really that low and bullish? Maybe I'm thinking too much or putting 2 and 2 together.

Damn I'm hungry, how bout that Mind Bender!!!

or Maverick

I am one the genuinely ranked Voyage below El Toro, BD, and Phoenix. Looking at the results more closely, Voyage beat many of the coasters ranked above it handily in head-to-head, but tied Colossos and lost to Aska 6-7. It's hard to take seriously (as seriously as anyone will take any poll) a ranking that's determined by such a slim margin over such a small sample space.

See, that's what I've been talking about for years as the fatal flaw in that poll. You can't rationally look at that small of a sample and say that it accurately represents opinion. It's statistically irrelevant.

So do you think the sample size is too small to be statistically relevant, Jeff?

I had no idea. :)

This makes me really want to go to HW and ride Voyage... I feel like I'm missing out on something. :)

^Nahhh... Just go to Cedar Point or SFGreat Adventure - they are the best ;)

In addition to the small sample space, there's something that doesn't sit right with me about each head-to-head matchup only being given a "Win" "lose" or "tie." In both those cases with Voyage, 1 vote either way could have affected the outcome of the match and thus, drastically affected its placement in the poll. It seems like there should be some reward for winning head-to-head 80-40 instead for 61-59.

Well, at least it's not the BCS.

There just isn't a perfect poll in existance, which is why I don't think of any of them as much more than mindless fun, much like our hobby. It's fun to see what other people with the same interest as me, think about the coasters I have ridden or would like to ride. It's also great to see some of the smaller parks with a great ride (like Boulder Dash), receive some attention that they can use for marketing purposes.

Other than that, I look, smile and move on...

It's true, there is no such thing as a perfect poll, but the science around getting as close to accurate as possible is hardly unattainable.

the steel poll is up!
http://www.wardleystunnels.org/hawker/

I have already been to both of those places several times. :)

CoasterDemon said:
^Nahhh... Just go to Cedar Point or SFGreat Adventure - they are the best ;)

I didn't vote in the Wood Poll this year, and probably won't in the Steel Poll either. All my visits were only to two parks, and I didn't ride anything new. So while my rankings probably didn't change, I'd have such a limited number of coasters checked off that I rode this past season, that I don't think it would be a worthwhile ballot.

That brings me to my other point-- how much of the poll is voting from memory? It doesn't matter if you rode 2 or 200 coasters, if you didn't ride all of those coasters this past year, how could you accurately judge or compare the experience? Case in point for me, I visited CP in 2009, and finally got to ride Maverick and MF. But I didn't get to ride Magnum, Gemini, MS. etc. In fact, the last time I rode those was 1990-something, and Mean Streak was not a bad ride then. So how could I possibly compare coasters I rode this year to coasters I rode years ago? And, the rides I had years ago are definitely not representative of what those rides are today.

In either case, giving love to Mean Streak based on a visit from years ago, or just ranking it low even though I haven't ridden it in years just because everyone else says it sucks is not an accurate representation.

I wondered about that too, just regarding my list in general. Many coasters I've only ever ridden once. Phantom's Revenge used to be ranked higher on my list, because at the time I rode it, I didn't have much to compare it to; but after a few years' break and riding again last year, I moved it down -- not just because I'd ridden better stuff, but because it wasn't as good as I remembered.

But then, I guess that's why it's good to take the poll with a hefty helping of Gourmet Soft Pretzel salt.

I agree with your line of thinking, RGB (as usual). I just have to ask, how in the world does someone go to CP and not ride Magnum? lol