Stigma wrote on 09/14/20 at 20:55:51:
My objection was on principle. I would have the same view no matter which of the books was criticized in the thread with the still open poll. Though possibly I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it if the comments had been less harsh.
Why do you think the results are hidden until the poll closes? I thought it obvious the point of that is people should vote independently and not based on what others have plumped for. If everyone discusses their decision during voting, you basically have a kind of jury instead.
It's okay, I don't mind being baffled.
For the mystery of why the poll results were hidden, it's not something I worried about. Usually these things have a reason, like in a previous year the poll results were visible, it caused some sort of "problem", and the solution was to hide the poll results next year. Okay whatever, there are always some children misbehaving on the internet, do what you have to do.
As for people (maybe not) voting independently, that also makes no sense to me, since I
always do that anyway, whether or not I have discussed things with others! I do find though that in evidence-based procedures it's valuable to listen to what others think, simply because there isn't enough time to evaluate all the evidence myself. So if someone can summarize their own take on the evidence, I can use that information to improve my own decision, before
coming to my own conclusions.
I still don't see your distinction between independent voting and "a kind of jury instead". Juries weigh the evidence and then agree
or not. It makes sense if they agree, because they are all looking at the same evidence, and it makes sense if they don't agree, because they are voting independently. So what are you driving at with this juries vs independent voting thing?