Read by Theme discussion

Topic has been closed; opinions dwindled and posts started to get off-topic. The chosen method of picking what themes get onto polls is randomization; any further opinions about this should go in the Help/Feedback thread.

This is just to let everyone know that I'm brainstorming ideas for how to choose what four options get placed on the monthly poll.

For the June through September polls, the four choices have been chosen by me. However, I'm trying to devise a way to open this part of the theme-picking process up to member input, and I'd love to hear any suggestions anyone has on the subject.

I'll also be placing my ideas for the process here for member opinions. :)

Brainstorm One:

All four themes are randomly chosen from the list of potential themes. (Either drawn from a hat/box/whatever or put in a random generator.)

Brainstorm Two:

Each of the four themes is chosen by a different person:

1. Chosen by Moderator(s)
2. Chosen by Non-moderator #1
3. Chosen by Non-moderator #2
4. Chosen by Non-moderator #3

Feel free to make suggestions for which non-moderator members get to choose the poll. Examples:

• Every member gets to pick a poll option (first the three earliest members, cycling all the way to the three newest members)
• Members "earn" the ability to pick a poll option (maybe they read the most themed books the previous month, or maybe they've never missed a theme, etcetera)

As long as the themes that have been already picked don't immediately appear in another poll, I'm fine with whatever method the themes are chosen.

The random generator way of picking seems very fair to me.

I'm inclined to say that already-used themes shouldn't reappear until we've really dwindled down our unused choices. But I definitely welcome opinions on the subject! :)

As for the random generator, my instant idea is to use the random.org Integer Generator; assign each theme a number, then randomly generate five to use.

Unless, of course, anyone knows of a freely downloadable application I could use to input the whole list so I wouldn't need to bother with the numbers. (Or if anyone knows how to code one and/or could point me in the direction of a tutorial of how to do it myself, that'd be awesome, too.)

We trust your judgment Amara. By the way, all calculators have the "generate a random number" function, and Microsoft Excel can number those themes automatically. That should cut down your workload by a lot.

I actually use this method a lot for randomizing factors in my Sims 2/3 legacies--but I have always kind of wished I could have something a little more sophisticated, you know? ;)

I'll put up the September poll tomorrow, and for that, I'll randomly select the four choices, but I'll continue to float a few ideas/options here for October.

What about using the runner's up in the following monthly poll?!

In that case, an amendment:

Brainstorm Two:

Each of the four themes is qualified by a different factor:

1. Previous Month's Second Place
2. Chosen by Moderator(s)
3. Chosen by Non-moderator #2
4. Chosen by Non-moderator #3

Just a question: How would you choose the non-moderators? Maybe have a sign-up thread and keep a list in order of who signed up and take the first two on the list each month?

Caren ~ the misfit geek wrote: "Just a question: How would you choose the non-moderators?"

My instant thought would be that each member gets to choose a poll option (at least) once, and members get their choice in order of when they joined the group.

However, I'm definitely open to other suggestions!

I think that the non-mod to pick the themes could be people who completed the reads of the month (no rebels!), and Amara could use random.org to select the 2 'winners'. That seems fair...?

That is a good idea. It seems like a lot of work though but I don't have a better idea at this time.

I'd initially planned to get Brainstorm Two finished, then set it up in a poll against Brainstorm One to see what the group as a whole preferred.

I'd thought maybe one qualifier for picking a poll option could be something to the effect of "Member who read the most themed books that month." As an example, that would mean whoever reads the most Blue books this month gets to pick an option on the October poll.

But I think that stresses competition more than I'd like it to, so at the moment, I'm favoring completely random theme selection.

So, honest question: is anyone distinctly opposed to Monthly Poll options being randomly selected (with random.org) from the "Master List of Themes"? I'm definitely starting to think that's probably the fairest way to do it, though I want to consider any arguments against it that anyone might have.

I have no objections against using random.org. I think it would be a lot easier for you to do it that way instead of trying to get opinions from everyone around here.

As long as the polls are diversified enough from the previous month, I don't think it should cause any problems!! =)

Truthfully, the random selection seems the best option. If impartial is what you are looking for, then that is the way to go.

In that case, I'll leave this thread open for a while longer in case anyone wants to kick around some new ideas and/or opinions, but I think I'll go ahead and add it to the FAQ that polling options are randomly selected (leaving a note to this thread, too, of course!)

I agree that random seems best and easiest, but if you had a theme that you really wanted to include, Amara, none of us would ever know. ;)

Candace wrote: "I agree that random seems best and easiest, but if you had a theme that you really wanted to include, Amara, none of us would ever know. ;)"

lol, that's true. Though even then, I could only cheat to get things on the ballot for other people to choose, thus preventing me from being too much of an evil overlord. ;)

I like random, but with using a random selector do we run a high risk of ending up with a poll that reads something like: blue cover, yellow cover, orange cover, purple cover or are there ways to make sure they don't select them like that?

Since the point, for me, is to find books I wouldn't normally choose almost any system seems okay.

You could use the randomizer to pick the non-moderator person. Make a list of all the members, number them, and then have the randomizer pick a number. Once someone has been selected, remove their name from the list.

Then you could have the four poll picks be:
Last month's second place choice
Non-moderator's choice
Random choice (picked using the randomizer)
Random choice (picked using the randomizer)

Her Royal Orangeness wrote: "Then you could have the four poll picks be:
Moderator's choice
Non-moderator's choice
Last month's second place choice
Random choice (picked using the randomizer)"

This is pretty close to what I originally conceptualized when I started this thread; but then the group had only a few members (what, thirteen?) Now that we have 300+ of varying degrees of activity/involvement, I'm not sure it's such an effective idea anymore...?

Melissa wrote: "I like random, but with using a random selector do we run a high risk of ending up with a poll that reads something like: blue cover, yellow cover, orange cover, purple cover or are there ways to make sure they don't select them like that?"

I've been contemplating this a bit, wondering if it would be possible to implement some kind of secondary randomization to prevent it. For one idea, randomize by theme type (Titles, Genre, Authors, etcetera--see more on the Master Themes List) and then randomization by potential theme. Yay/nay or ideas?

Amara wrote: "Now that we have 300+ of varying degrees of activity/involvement, I'm not sure it's such an effective idea anymore...?"

True. With 300+ members and only 12 months per year, it wouldn't really be fair to have a non-moderator choice, would it?

Her Royal Orangeness wrote: "True. With 300+ members and only 12 months per year, it wouldn't really be fair to have a non-moderator choice, would it?"

That's what I'm thinking, yeah. It was an interesting concept when we could cycle through everyone within a year or two, but now...

This is a bit more complicated, but what about putting the name of each category into the randomizer and selecting four categories. Then put the items from each of those categories (separately) into the randomizer and having one choice from each to vote on? It does make it a 5-step process for the moderator, but with cut/paste it shouldn't be too onerous and that would give more variety to the choices to vote on.

I think that got a bit muddled - I meant for the full categories to go separately into the randomizer for a pick in the second step. Or did that make it more muddled :)

LynnB wrote: "what about putting the name of each category into the randomizer and selecting four categories. Then put the items from each of those categories (separately) into the randomizer and having one choice from each to vote on? It does make it a 5-step process for the moderator, but with cut/paste it shouldn't be too onerous and that would give more variety to the choices to vote on."

Yeah, I suspect that's probably the best option. Anyone have any arguments against it?

Edit: Didn't see your second comment, Lynn. Let's see if we're on the same page here:

First, randomly select four categories from the list of theme categories.

Secondly, randomly select one theme from each of the four randomly selected categories.

If that's what you mean, I'm going to go ahead and put together a little image-based explanation of exactly how I would do that with the programs I have available and/or favor.

certain authors
color themes
things ex: a book that has to do with a dragon

Just suggestions!(:

Sammy! wrote: "certain authors"

Anyone in particular you're thinking of? It would have to be someone who's written a good number of books in order to give people a healthy pool of choices, of course.

Sammy! wrote: "color themes"

As in covers, or colors in some other manifestation?

Sammy! wrote: "a book that has to do with a dragon"

Added "Character: Dragon(s)" to the Master List. Does that suffice, or did you have something else in mind?

And, as always, thanks for the suggestions! :)

I like the idea of the previous month's runner-up and then 3 other randomly chosen ideas. I read almost anything, so I'll always be able to find something that fits. Amara, I trust you implicitly to be able to come up with three that are quite different and that haven't been repeated for at least a few months.
As for the author theme, unless it's an author who has penned at least 20 DIFFERENT books (that aren't 20 versions of the same thing or all parts of two or three series), then I'd say NO. For example: Stephen King, sure; Dean Koontz, absolutely not.

I personally think one particular author is entirely too narrow for a theme. A colour in the book title would be fun.