While supporters and employees of offshore blog XS CAD put up a massive and successful last-minute “get out the vote” campaign, in the end, Pole Barn Guru (Hansen Pole Buildings) managed a last-minute Friday afternoon blitz to retake the popular vote leadership for the 2019 Best Construction Blog competition.
At our end, we could quickly tell when the vote-getting campaign occurred; with a sudden surge of votes/inquiries, within minutes. Things calmed down over the weekend, with just a few very last-minute votes trickling in before the 11:55 p.m. voting deadline on March 31.
Of course, the popular vote achievement doesn’t guarantee victory in the overall competition. The next stage (which lasts about a month) involves review of the blogs by an independent judging panel.
One way to regard the popular vote success is to compare it to a two stage competition for an RFP or tender opportunity. The popular vote helps the blogger to make the short list and ranking order has some — but not final — influence in the final stage review.
(Hockey fans might also compare the process somewhat to the NHL Draft Lottery, where the worst team doesn’t automatically get the first draft pick — but has the highest chance of success in a draft lottery. This is designed to discourage the poorest teams from deliberately “tanking” to win the coveted new player.)
The reason for the two-stage process of course is that get-out-the-vote campaigns can indicate interest and commitment to the competition process (and the blog itself), but do not validate the blogs’ overall quality. And it is almost impossible to set up a popular vote system where some “gaming” isn’t possible, or where, if you restrict voting based on certain criteria, you risk giving other blogs an unfair advantage.
Stay tuned for the final results, likely in early May.
