Mitch Hawker's Wood Coaster Poll - VOTE NOW!

[robbalvey]

Hey everyone!

 

It's the time of year again. Mitch Hawker's Wood Coaster Poll 2006 is UP!

http://www.ushsho.com/bestrollercoasterpoll.htm

 

Mitch's poll is, IMO, the *ONLY* coaster poll that really takes everyone's opinions into consideration and gives fair and accurate results.

 

Even if you have ridden only 5 wooden coasters or 100, please be sure to vote in this poll!

 

Now, the poll is not that easy to fill out, and it will require a bit of effort, and to help you, ever year we offer the:

TPR's Idiot's Guide To Mitch Hawker's Wood Coaster Poll

 

I personally still prefer the "submit the ballot yourself" method so you know that ballot you email to Mitch is 100% accurate!

 

If you need any help, please ask here.

 

I cannot encourage everyone enough to vote in this poll!

 

--Robb

[niiicolaaah]

Awesome, I will definitely be doing this. I chose not to participate last year because I felt my opinions would be biased due to the small number of coasters I have ridden. My count is still not that impressive, but I feel like I actually have something useful to say this year, lol.

[Olsor]

But there's the beauty of Mitch's poll - since it's based on rider comparisons and not total points, it doesn't matter if you have a small track record.

 

Although it does feel a lot better taking the poll when you have 100+ lines to fill out instead of a few dozen. And it quickly goes from "fun" to "tedious."

[Guy T. Koepp]

Yay for the Poll!

 

I just spent the last hour filling out my ballot!

 

I am spent!

 

^Oh, Nicole, EVERYTHING about you is impressive! Including Derek!

[DerekRx]

The time of year I dread the most, adding in all the new coasters I rode and finally ranking them up against everything else I've ever done. Good thing the season is over and I have nothing to do on Saturday!

[niiicolaaah]

^^Yeah, you are easily impressed then!

 

But there's the beauty of Mitch's poll - since it's based on rider comparisons and not total points, it doesn't matter if you have a small track record.

 

Yeah. But, had I voted last year, I would have been like, "Mean Streak is awesome!" and nobody wants that.

[ParkTrips]

I started my ballot only to realize I still have a new woodie coming up later in the month so I will have to wait!

 

^ no, you would have been like "Silver Comet is awesome!" and we can never have enough of that

[RCoasterny]

Still too complicated! I remember someone developed a online system that was a simple point and click, and it was easy enough for me to participate! I found out about it here at TPR, I wonder if they will do it again this year?

[Edwardo]

I know mitch has posted in the past that not only does he prefer people to use Spreadsheet ballots (which are readily available), but they really are easier.

 

Just go to his site and download the ballot.

 

Don't have Excel, Quattro, or any program to use the spreadsheet ballot?

 

Anyone that has a free Google account can use thier new Docs and spreadsheets program hosted online. You can host your spreadsheets there as well, save them, upload them, and then send it to Mitch.

 

http://docs.google.com/

 

I do it this way. I did the text ballot one time, had a hard time with it, but I've switched to this method and I've never looked back. Plus it's much easier to edit your rankings and add coasters thruout the year.

[robbalvey]

Still too complicated! I remember someone developed a online system that was a simple point and click, and it was easy enough for me to participate! I found out about it here at TPR, I wonder if they will do it again this year?

It's not as complicated as it looks! There were a number of different web interfaces last year, but I'm not sure how accurate they all were and if there were any mistakes, it's hard to catch them. The best way, IMO, is to go through your ballot and do it by hand.

 

I've got something like 150 woodies on my list and it takes me about 15 minutes to do the ballot.

 

It's really not that hard! Follow the "Idiot's Guide" instructions!

 

I know mitch has posted in the past that not only does he prefer people to use Spreadsheet ballots (which are readily available), but they really are easier.

 

Just go to his site and download the ballot.

 

Don't have Excel, Quattro, or any program to use the spreadsheet ballot?

 

Anyone that has a free Google account can use thier new Docs and spreadsheets program hosted online. You can host your spreadsheets there as well, save them, upload them, and then send it to Mitch.

 

http://docs.google.com/

 

I do it this way. I did the text ballot one time, had a hard time with it, but I've switched to this method and I've never looked back. Plus it's much easier to edit your rankings and add coasters thruout the year.

I personally find the spreadsheet method even more difficult because you have to import and export your ballot to text files, etc.

 

At least by copying the doc into a text editor that work is already done for you, and you still have to go through and change all your N's to Y's each year anyway.

 

But for those of you who prefer to use a spreadsheet, I have attached an .xls version of the 2006 ballot.

 

Remember that this is ONLY the coasters, and you still have to add your contact information and "riding sensations" to your ballot.

 

--Robb

mitch2006.xls

[Canobie Fan]

Yay my 85+ wood list has been sent.

I fear the steel poll later on 300 crappy coasters to rate.

[Wes]

Voted.

[Edwardo]

Edit:nevermind, I misunderstood.

[yankees15]

I know this is going to sound really stupid, but when I copy and paste it into word it is like one big sentence. How do I get the ballot to look how it does on the website. Again I know I probably doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Thanks

[ginzo]

I know this is going to sound really stupid, but when I copy and paste it into word it is like one big sentence. How do I get the ballot to look how it does on the website. Again I know I probably doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Thanks

 

Don't use word. Use Notepad.

 

Start > Run > Type "Notepad" then hit return.

[ginzo]

I voted. It was easy. No excuses.

[SharkTums]

Working on mine now...gosh this is hard...not the process, but trying to rank the coasters!

[ginzo]

Working on mine now...gosh this is hard...not the process, but trying to rank the coasters!

 

You said "hard". Huh huh huh. Huh huh huh.

[downunder]

I just added my two new wood credits to my last years poll and updated whether I had ridden them this year or not - I have so few wood coasters (21). And I only have 5 new steel credits to add for the steel poll - very sad.

 

This is a really great poll, hopefully no clowns try rigging the steel poll this year.

[USRoadTripper]

Mine's sent. It was much easier to rank them this year, since I split them into 7 categories (outstanding, great, good, ok, not so great, bad and horrible). No agonizing over wether I liked Blue Streak at Cedar Point more than Cannonball at Lake Winnie, etc.

 

Robb and Elissa...how many coasters do you guys have to delete out of the poll as ones you haven't ridden? I can't imagine that it's very many!

 

-Julie

[DerekRx]

Much easier to do than I originally thought, all done for another year...well with the wood portion anyway. The Steel poll is going to be the hard part!

[Shockwave]

Yeah, I'm waiting till I get back from California before I fill my poll out.

 

I'm sure that Colossus, Psyclone, Ghostrider and Giant Dipper will have a huge impact on my ballot!

[darklingscribe]

For those of you that are on Macs and are copying any pasting this into text edit only to find it comes out all weird, it is pretty simple to get it back to the correct format. Just highlight the entire block of text and go to font and switch the font to Courier, it should now be back to normal.

[WillMontu]

I only had two woodie credits last year so I didn't participate. This year I've got more

 

Don't worry Elissa, I ranked Balder #1

[Guy T. Koepp]

^So did I! And I've never ridden it.

 

JK! El Toro is #1

 

But it is Intimin!