As I mentioned last week, I'm evaluating different public voting options for this year's Million Writers Award. I'm now almost finished reading 190 f&!#ing stories :-) so I should be able to release the top ten stories of the year, and start the public vote, around May 15th.
However, the costs to run the public vote look to increase in all the options under consideration. Basically, there are a few good online systems for holding the vote, but all of them cost way more than I've paid in previous years. Under these options, I can pay for a month to month subscription. The catch, though, is that the voting for the award usually runs exactly a month. Adding in setup and vote testing to a one-month vote means I'd have to pay for two months. Ouch.
Would anyone care if the public vote for this year's award ran for three weeks instead of four? That way a one month subscription to a voting system would cover the entire process. Just FYI, I've always paid for this voting system out of my own pocket--meaning all donations go purely toward the prize money--and I'd prefer to keep it this way. I've also noticed that most people vote for their favorite story in the first few weeks.
So are there any concerns if we go with a three week vote?
One week is time enough, as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Robert Laughlin | May 08, 2010 at 08:00 PM
That wouldn't bother me.
Posted by: SMD | May 09, 2010 at 02:11 AM
I'm not sure how much this costs you to do, but it occurred to me you could take out a one month subscription to Meetup.com for $20 and use the Polling question option. Voters would have to register with Meetup.com, but that's free and they'd probably find things there to interest them. But I'm guessing since you've read nearly 200 stories, you'd have to list that many in the poll. I'm not sure if they allow that many entries, so it might not work.
Posted by: Dave | May 09, 2010 at 06:37 PM
Three weeks is good, Jason. Also, I think you should cover your expenses. That seems totally legit.
Posted by: sheryl monks | May 10, 2010 at 07:18 AM
How is the poll structured. Is it something you could do in Google Docs, in the Form tool?
Three weeks sounds like plenty of time to keep a poll open, even two weeks.
Posted by: Jim Harris | May 10, 2010 at 05:18 PM
The problem with Google Docs is that people want to be able to vote anonymously. But I also need to be able to verify that people are not attempting to stuff the ballot box, meaning I have to be able to track IP addresses and such.
BTW, thanks to everyone for the feedback. Since no one seems to have an issue with this, I'm going with a 3 week vote period.
Posted by: Jason Sanford | May 10, 2010 at 08:22 PM
Three weeks is fine; if that's what it takes to get the poll done.
Posted by: Sam Kepfield | May 11, 2010 at 09:22 AM