JonH comes home wrote:

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foobarbaz wrote:

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Well, my vote went to Harriet, even though I could see already that it was a forlorn hope that she would get through to the final, because the current status of the vote is visible for those not logged in to the board. By voting, I see the only change to the vote count is the vote I just made. So for me, it's a pointless exercise. The voting looks distinctly tactical (to me anyhow), and that maybe made possible by being able to see the vote tally before voting.

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 Im not sure it is tactical so much as after 33 votes, the shape of the group has formed and some players built a distinct lead. But you the first round groups received around 46 votes each so there are 13 maybe out there and you never know which way they will go, however unlikely a comeback is. I hope everyone keeps voting! 

 

for my part, I wont disclose the vote details again until tonight when there is less time left 

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 Perhaps you misunderstood my post. There was no element of sour grapes. I'm quite happy to accept the result. My issue is that the vote progress graphic, showing the current standings in the poll, is visible for those viewing only as a guest. This is the case in both the browser on my laptop and phone. So I knew, before logging in and voting, that my vote would not make a material difference to the result. It has nothing to do with the commentary, or people posting the reasons for their vote. Like I said, why would I vote if I already knew that my preferred candidate would definitely not progress in the draw? The reason for voting is you don't know beforehand how the vote is going, and you have some hope that your vote will make a difference.

Also I said the voting looked tactical, I didn't say that it was to keep a specific player from progressing, because I don't know what other folks are thinking. I won't cite examples, because that quickly degenerates into sour grapes claims. It seems fairly obvious to me anyway. The whole point is that because the real time vote standings are visible to anyone, then anyone can decide to game the system.

Christine wrote:

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It's interesting how psychology differs between people - I deliberately don't see what votes people have got before I vote (I stay logged on on my laptop). But if I had seen the votes I would have been more likely to vote for Harriet as my first choice was looking safely through, Also some people have come through from fairly well down to get through the rounds

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 Well maybe it's true that I tend to rebel a little against systems that try to make our lives "easier", and so clicking the button to stay logged on to websites is almost always something I don't do. However I didn't purposely arrive at the board as a guest just so I could view the poll status before voting, I was actually really surprised that the live vote standings were broadcast to all and sundry, prior to a person logging on to the board.

Harriet would have been my choice for the final too, the tennis she played in Glasgow representing GB in must-win matches against higher ranked opposition was great to see.

Yes it is a pity that the current state of play is available to view by anyone not signed in. But I am not aware of anything we can do about that.

Actually I haven't got the impression of much tactical voting in this year's PoS process. There has long been a diversity of different things folk look for in such votes and I think the big majority of votes have been straight down the line.

Personally I joked beforehand with Jon as to we'd see about no room for tactical voting but as it happens all my votes in this PoS have been for my preferred player(s) from each list.