As we've now done 1990-1994 and are half through the votings, I think it's time to go into some more details about the final poll in November. This is what I'd like to do:
100 albums and 100 songs will have been selected from the January-October polls. I'd like you to listen to as many of them as possible and then rank all the albums and songs you've heard. They will then be scored using a logarithmic function.
Example where 90 albums have been ranked.
Album 1; Score = log (1) = 0
Album 2; Score = log (2) = 0.69
.
.
.
Album 89; Score = log (89) = 4.49
Album 90; Score = log (90) = 4.50
The 10 albums that weren't ranked will get the logarithmic score for the average position, which in this case is 45.5; Score = log (45.5) = 3.82
The album with the lowest total score will win the whole poll.
As you can see in this example, the score difference is much bigger between album 1 and album 2 than between album 89 and album 90, so your favorite records will get a big push. How you order the albums at the bottom of your list has less significant impact. Non-ranked albums will get a better score than the lowest ranked albums, but the score will be far away from the score for your favorite album. To me, this seems like a fair treatment to the somewhat lesser-known albums.
If the log function seems difficult, don't worry, as I will take care of that in the Excel spreadsheet. You will just need to order the albums and songs as usual.
Sounds good!
Just have to say that this 90's poll thing is really cool. I have rediscovered loads of music that I hadn't heard in ages, and even found some great stuff that I overlooked back in the day. So thanks for the effort Henrik!
Looking forward to the final poll!
