[Closed] 2009 Singletrack Reader Awards - VOTE NOW!

Done!

Ta! 🙂

+1.

+1

Ta x 2 😉

Was I too fast? I voted at about 10am!

Good for you.

I appear to mostly have 'no opinion'!

Sorry, but I can't really give a comparison between three different products unless I've tried all three - otherwise I'd just be giving an opinion from other people's opinions on here... 😯

I mean, 18 Bikes is a great shop, but no idea if they're any better or worse than any of the others.

So what's your point?

I don;t mean that in a facetious way.. Genuinely asked..

🙂

Done.

Surprised to see Nirvana cycles in Best Bike Shop

I think we would be ok to just vote for the option you know. Otherwise there will be very few votes for some of the categories.

Mark - Administrator

So what's your point?

I don;t mean that in a facetious way.. Genuinely asked..

I was thinking the same as Gavin. It's more of a popularity contest than a case of "this is better than that", but that's not a bad thing - if anything that's the point? If I genuinely like something, I'll vote for it - e.g. I think lee quarry is ace, so that got a vote, or if I hate something I'll not vote for it (Hi dan :lol:). MOst were "no opinion" though.

One thing, when I go back now, it says I've voted and can't vote again which is fine - can you display out what I voted for?

I appear to mostly have 'no opinion'!

Sorry, but I can't really give a comparison between three different products unless I've tried all three - otherwise I'd just be giving an opinion from other people's opinions on here...

I mean, 18 Bikes is a great shop, but no idea if they're any better or worse than any of the others.

I was pretty much the same

Why?
Hope Hoops and Garmin GPS are hardly 'new products' are they?
I wouldn't buy any of the bikes listed in either catergory
I didn't do any of those events
Shops - Is Nirvana Cycles the one in Westcott? I wouldn't give them the steam off my wee after the woman in there was rude to me the only time I ever went in, and I don't know the other shops.

etc....

EDIT
Actually I lied. I've been to Biketreks a couple of times and they are very helpful. I voted for them.

[i]I appear to mostly have 'no opinion'! [/i]
Likewise, but I can't see a problem with that? It'd be a bit wierd if you HAD to vote for something you knew nothing about.

Is that not the whole point of them adding no opinion to the votes, if you have no experience if the products or places you can just opt for that.

Yeah, fair points back at me.
I was just a bit surprised (at myself mostly) that I had no direct knowledge of half the pieces of kit, or the events etc. I just wondered how many people were voting for things they'd never ridden.

I was pretty much no opinion on most too.

So what happens if "no opinion" wins all the categories? 😉

yeah, mostly no opinion here.

Even though I know and like biketreks, it still doesn't seem right to vote for them as better than two other shops I've never visited (although I did anyway).

It is just a popularity contest: great things people know little about aren't going to get as many votes as good things that are well known.

Mind you, it's the Singletrack awards, not the Nobel or Oscars. Does it really matter that much?

Mind you, it's the Singletrack awards, not the Nobel or Oscars. Does it really matter that much?

True! 🙂

As above I seem to be mainly 'no opinion'. I can hardly vote for 3 bike shops I've never been in, nor can I vote on best new bike when I haven't tried them. Best trail centre - I can vote for the one I've been to.

Do people just generally vote for whatever they think is most fashionable?

Where does the shortlist come from?

I cant believe the Big Bike Bash was an option for best event 🙁

[i]I cant believe the Big Bike Bash was an option for best event[/i]

I guess those who went didn't nominate it enough.

IS this a good time to open the trail centre vs trail debate ? [img] [/img]

I'd say it's a perfect time 🙂

Debate away 🙂

Whats the point?

How can you have a readers award with only three things in each category? To be totally cynical, but probably hopefully wrong, it all looks like some advertising rubbish. I have honestly never seen in the flesh any of the choices never mind used them and I doubt many of the people on here have either.

Well at least it will look dum when the results come out.. and the winner is "I have no opinion."

Isn't the point that we, the Singletrack Readership, nominated the items in each category. I sent a nomination in, and a number of those I nominated are in the final list. That means I can vote for things I do have experience of. I assume that only nominated things got into the categories, so some people on here must have wanted to see them included.

[i]How can you have a readers award with only three things in each category?[/i]

As that's the final nominations from the ones readers nominated, you did nominate didn't you?

OK, how does Lee Quarry hope to compete in the category of Best Trail Center given your criteria :-

[i]Best UK Trail Centre
Which trail center has given you the best blend of fantastic riding, facilities and overall enjoyment in the past year?[/i]

Given that description, I would have thought that you are precluding some of the best man made stuff around. The award will no doubt go to Glentress again, not because of just the trails, but it has a cafe, bike shop, showers etc etc.

All I was suggesting was maybe a category of best man made trail (not center) which would open things up for the like of Gisburn, Penmachno, Lee Qaurry etc etc...

I dont buy the line that "this maybe the incentive they need to build better facilities". Personally, I would much rather see the money spent on more trails rather that a posh cafe serving overpriced coffee.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents... I;m sure everyone will rightly have their own opinion.

lowey, isn't it up to those who are voting to assess what they see as the most important elements of that category. Fantastic riding comes well above anything else for me, so I voted with that in mind. That's the point, surely.

Good point Lowey but yet it still made it to the final 3, Glentress is hugely popular so nearly always wins. I voted for Lee Quarry as what it has done in such a small area is very impressive and has made good use of land that was pretty much wasted.

All I was suggesting was maybe a category of best man made trail (not center) which would open things up for the like of Gisburn, Penmachno, Lee Qaurry etc etc...

Most of the trails ie bridleways etc in this country are manmade. Purpose built would be a better category name in my opinion, or better still, would be a worthwhile addition as a new category. I've ridden some cracking purpose built stuff this year that wouldn't (shouldn't) get a look in in the existing category due to lack of facilities.

18 bikes by what measure is it better than loads of other shops in the country?

MT - people sent in lots of nominations for it. Is that a satisfactory measure for it? 🙂

[i]people sent in lots of nominations for it[/i]

Roughly speaking how many nominations is 'lots'. I'd be interested to know how many nominations it takes to get on the shortlist.

Does anyone take these nominations seriously apart from the winners? By that I mean would it sway you in any way to buy a product. Or is it just a bit of fun?

[i]Does anyone take these nominations seriously apart from the winners? By that I mean would it sway you in any way to buy a product. Or is it just a bit of fun?[/i]

On a website dedicated to riding bicycles over hills in the mud whilst wearing lycra and polystyrene seriousness is pretty realtive 🙂

So thats a 'no' then.

[i]I'd be interested to know how many nominations it takes to get on the shortlist.[/i]

More than those that didn't make it is my guess.

I'd be interested to know how many nominations it takes to get on the shortlist.

why?

Aren’t people reading a bit too much into this?

If the shortlist is dictated by a website user's secret ballot and you disagree with the outcome then I’m afraid it’s tough.

Recognition from your peers is nice and means a lot more to some people than others. Me, Terrahawk, TheOriginalPunkRockDad and RammyRunner made it to the final three last year and winning the trophy would have meant an awful lot to us. As it happens we lost out to the World’s at Fort William and the UCI didn’t send anybody to Hebden Bridge on a wet Friday night to pick up the prize. We went, we had a good time and we had a chat to the chaps from the mag and a few other people. We got over it.

Would an award to Ragley mean more to them than it would to Garmin or Specialized?... Dunno.

Hmmm, so why bother with voting on the shortlist at all..... surely the item with the most nominations for a given category is the winner in that category?

[i]why?[/i]

Eh cause I was just wondering, nothing sinister. Is that okay?

[i]Hmmm, so why bother with voting on the shortlist at all..... surely the item with the most nominations for a given category is the winner in that category? [/i]

Yes your right and the whole process should be changed at once for all awards done this way. 🙄

Hmmm, so why bother with voting on the shortlist at all..... surely the item with the most nominations for a given category is the winner in that category?

You have to have a shortlist for the final round of voting, and to be impartial the shortlist has to be created by the voting public. If the result was entirely down to the nomination ballot where would the fun be?

I don’t know why I’m sticking up for them as I didn’t win and it still gnaws away at my innards despite what I said earlier. Clearly, as my Gran used to say, the whole thing is a giant bloody swizz. 😉 Or maybe it is a bit of fun that is in danger of turning into a pain in the arse for them because of people arguing the toss.

Drac - no need for sarcasm.

You have to have a shortlist for the final round of voting

That's what I wondered about. Why? What's the flaw with one user, one nomination per category, winner is the thing with the most nominations (ie. votes). What purpose does the final round of voting serve? genuinely curious.

It's a bit of fun and it stimulates debate.

Also, I bet that more people vote in the final round than do at the nomination stage because it is easier.

Surely the most important thing is that it is STW's awards and they can do what they like as long as they are not bent, and by the way this is set up there is no reason to suspect that it is.

Do you e-mail the BBC at Sports Personality Of The Year time too and tell them they're not doing it right?

[i]Do you e-mail the BBC at Sports Personallity Of The Year time too and tell them they're not doing it right? [/i]

Shhh! Apparently there's no need for sarcasm, unless it's now time I forgot my sarcasm watch today.

Sorry. I'm off to fix my bike now... i'll try not to look at the empty space on the shelf in the shed that I cleared for the award. Bastids.

I'm not sure where my award is or I'd show you a nice pic of it. 😆

Did they use to do a sarcasm award 😛

You know how Political Parties (for example) elect a new leader by having a few rounds of voting, each time narrowing down the candidates and quite often it isn't the canididate who had the most most votes in the opening stages that goes on to win and the eventual winner is the candidate who gets the most votes overall..?

🙂

[i]Did they use to do a sarcasm award[/i]

lol

Well that's me put firmly back in my place. 🙁

The difference between this and a party leadership thing, is that in the party, all the voters will know all the finalists.

Here, the voters know very little about them.

[i]Here, the voters know very little about them[/i]
so it's more like a general election than a party leadership one?

[i]The difference between this and a party leadership thing, is that in the party, all the voters will know all the finalists. [/i]

And the difference between STW awards and a party leadership is that no one really takes the STW serious enough to worry too much, well so I thought.

Perhaps we should have a system of proportional representation where there are multiple voting rounds and after each one the losing 'candidate' has their votes redistributed? So instead of tick boxes we have a system where you type a number from 1 to 3 next to each candidate.

Or we simply eliminate the loser after a predetermined period of time that has been agreed by a committee made of elected members of the forum in an annual ballot (that itself is run using a system of PR*) and then have a new round of voting but with the remaining candidates.

That would make everyone happy surely? 😉

*Candidates for the committee will have go through a campaign and hustings period and comform to a set of criteria that will be drawn up by a selection committee* prior to the opening of the nominations phase.

Mark - Administrator
Perhaps we should have a system of proportional representation where there are multiple voting rounds and after each one the losing 'candidate' has their votes redistributed? So instead of tick boxes we have a system where you type a number from 1 to 3 next to each candidate.

Or we simply eliminate the loser after a predetermined period of time that has been agreed by a committee made of elected members of the forum in an annual ballot (that itself is run using a system of PR*) and then have a new round of voting but with the remaining candidates.

That would make everyone happy surely?

*Candidates for the committee will have go through a campaign and hustings period and comform to a set of criteria that will be drawn up by a selection committee* prior to the opening of the nominations phase.

Or just do your own thing and tell those that don't like it to eff off.

[i]Or just do your own thing and tell those that don't like it to eff off. [/i]

I think he just did.