- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
The many options in the vote tally can be overwhelming for someone unfamiliar with them, so here's a basic guide to help figure it out, as the existing guide may be hard to use and is out of date.
I. The Basics
To access the vote tally tool, click on it in the "Thread Tools" drop-down on the upper right hand side of the page.
The vote tally automatically inherits the settings from when it was last run within each thread, so if you just want to get an up-to-date look at the current vote, the majority of the time you can simply click "New Tally" at the bottom of the settings panel, and the vote will re-tally and present you with the new result.
Vote tallying always ignores capitalization and ignores most basic BBCode formatting of votes, such as bold, italic, underline, selected font, font size, and color. Struck-through votes are ignored, as are votes in spoilers, quote boxes, code boxes, or other containers. A vote must start on a new line to be counted.
Any votes in the first tallied post are ignored for the purposes of the tally results (thus not counting vote options provided in a QM's posts), but are still picked up by the tally for the purposes of defining votes for the built-in Vote Suggestions (as described in detail in Section V below).
If you want to post vote tally results in-thread, click the "Insert as new post" button at the bottom of the results overview.
II. Start and End Points
There are three ways that you can determine the start and end point of a tally - by threadmark, by post number, or by scheduling a vote.
By Threadmark
The majority of the time as a user running a tally, you will want to tally by threadmark, select the latest threadmark in the drop-down list on the left, and select "(End of thread)" in the drop-down list on the right, thus tallying all votes posted since the last threadmark was posted. You can also use this to see what the results of past votes were, by tallying the votes posted between a past update and the update following it.
By Post Number
If you want to run a tally where the start or end point is not threadmarked, you can tally by post number. Each post has a unique post number within its thread, which can be seen at the very top right of the post. Enter the post numbers of the start and end points, or leave the end point blank to tally to the end of the thread.
Scheduling a Vote
Scheduling a vote is only open to QMs and collaborators, and has already gotten a dedicated write-up here, but in brief: You must choose a start time, which can be in the past or future, and automatically fills in the time the vote tally UI was opened when first selected. You must also choose an end time. You can choose the time zone that these times and dates will be measured from, which defaults to the time zone of the user creating the tally. Once the end time is reached, all votes between the start and end times will be tallied.
If the "Block non-voting replies" box is checked, posters in your thread will not be able to create a post that does not contain a vote. By default this box is unchecked.
If the "Automatic post on vote completion" box is checked, this tally will automatically be posted once the vote closes. By default this box is checked.
III. Vote Divisions, and Vote Counting Style
Most quests determine winning votes by simple majority count, using various voting divisions as suits each quest. Within a simple majority count, you may divide votes by: None, Line, Block, or Task.
No Division
In this case, all voting within each post is treated as a single cohesive unit. Unless the votes within two users posts are completely identical in all respects, they will not be tallied together.
By Line
In this case, each line of voting prefixed with an [x] or -[x] is treated as its own unit and tallied separately.
By Block
In this case, all unique blocks of voting are treated as their own units. A block of voting is defined as a top level vote and all subvotes beneath it. For example, a single vote of voting might look like:
[x] Vote A
-[x] Option 1
-[x] Option 2
--[x] Sub-Option X
By Task
In this case, each task within a vote is tallied separately. A task is defined at the time a vote is first created, by including the task name in square brackets after the initial [x]. For example, a vote with tasks might look like:
[x][TASK1] Vote A
[x][TASK2] Vote B
This can be useful if, for example, you want your players to assign a leader and a second-in-command from a pool of characters. A vote for Person A in the [LEADER] category will be tallied separately from a vote for Person A in the [2IC] category.
Instant Runoff
Instant Runoff voting separates each vote into blocks, using the same criteria as Division By Block above. Each block within each vote is then given a preference ranking. If no ranking was provided by the voter, then the top-most block is ranked 1, the second is ranked 2, and so on.
Alternatively, the voter may explicitly include their ranks in their votes by including the rank number in square brackets following the [x]. For example, an Instant Runoff Vote might look like:
[x] [2] Vote Melted Ice Cream and Pictures of Puppies
[x] [1] Vote Ice Cream and Puppies
[x] [3] Vote Styrofoam and Cardboard
Any votes not included in each voters post are automatically assumed to have been given the worst possible score by that voter.
When an Instant Runoff tally is run, the IRV Counting Procedure is performed to determine the winner of the vote:
If the "Voting for a username follows their vote" box is checked (it is checked by default), then users are able to vote for the same thing another user did by formatting their vote as:
[x] Username
No @ symbol should be included. This also works transitively, so if User A creates a vote, User B votes for User A by username, and User C votes for User B by username, that will be tallied as three votes for User A's vote. Circular votes where all users are voting for another user are resolved by giving the oldest post priority.
You can choose whether voting by username should reference the voted users vote at the time the referencing vote was made, or whether it should reference the newest vote by that user. By default, this box is checked, and the latest vote by the referenced user is the one tallied.
V. Write-In Votes
QMs and collaborators are allowed to determine whether to allow or disallow write-in votes, and determine whether write-in votes are collected. This behavior does not affect the vote tally, nor does it affect voting by means of typing the vote into the reply box, but rather the behavior of the "Vote" button that users see when creating a post in a thread with voting opened.
If the "Allow write-in votes" box is checked, users will be able to type in their own choice of vote when using the "Vote" button, instead of only being able to choose from the votes included in the first vote in the tally (usually, the latest threadmark). By default, this box is checked.
If the "Collect write-in votes" box is checked, users will be shown all previous votes as suggestions when creating a vote using the "Vote" button. By default, this box is checked.
VI. Vote Updating
By default, the "Newest votes only" box is checked, and the vote tally will automatically gather the newest vote from each user being tallied, discarding all previous votes by those users. It is strongly recommended to keep this box checked, barring fairly rare circumstances in which seeing prior voting trends might be useful, as leaving this box unchecked will effectively allow users multiple votes by counting each instance of voting separately, potentially leading to inaccurate tallies.
VII. Categories
Categories are a more advanced version of voting by task, as detailed in Section III. As the vote runner, you may create any number of top level categories. In the context of a vote about game awards, for example, you might create categories of:
Game Genre
Game Platform
Game Studio
Within each category, you can then list specific options, separated by commas:
Game Genre
-Platformer, Roguelike, Racing
Game Platform
-PC, PS4, Switch
Game Studio
-Nintendo, Sony, Supergiant Games
Voters can then tag each entry with all appropriate options, both multiple within a single category and spanning multiple categories. For example:
[x] [roguelike] [pc] [switch] [supergiant games] Hades
This also incorporates the rules from Instant Runoff Voting, so a complete vote might look like:
[x] [roguelike] [pc] [switch] [supergiant games] [1] Hades
[x] [racing] [switch] [ps4] [sony] [3] Sonic Team Racing
[x] [platformer] [switch] [nintendo] [2] Super Mario Odyssey
When tallied, vote results will be determined across each category: in this example, the highest rated game of each genre, for each platform, and from each studio.
VIII. Formatting Results
You can manually manage votes within a vote tally by clicking the "Manage Votes" button at the bottom of the tally results window. This can be useful if you want to group multiple votes together, for instance if a variant of a vote both with and without a typo have gained traction.
When you manage votes, a new window will open, with each vote type the tally has noticed being displayed in its own box, ordered by number of votes.
When managing votes, you can move votes into any order, by clicking and dragging on the ≡ symbol, as well as assign votes to be grouped with other votes by dragging them to the right underneath another vote. Such vote groups can be stacked, and can be collapsed or expanded by pressing the - or + symbols.
Once you have finished assigning votes into groups, you can press "Save", at which point the tally will recalculate the winning vote based on the new vote groups. This new grouping of votes will be maintained across future vote tallies, unless a future user chooses to clear vote formatting.
I. The Basics
To access the vote tally tool, click on it in the "Thread Tools" drop-down on the upper right hand side of the page.
The vote tally automatically inherits the settings from when it was last run within each thread, so if you just want to get an up-to-date look at the current vote, the majority of the time you can simply click "New Tally" at the bottom of the settings panel, and the vote will re-tally and present you with the new result.
Vote tallying always ignores capitalization and ignores most basic BBCode formatting of votes, such as bold, italic, underline, selected font, font size, and color. Struck-through votes are ignored, as are votes in spoilers, quote boxes, code boxes, or other containers. A vote must start on a new line to be counted.
Any votes in the first tallied post are ignored for the purposes of the tally results (thus not counting vote options provided in a QM's posts), but are still picked up by the tally for the purposes of defining votes for the built-in Vote Suggestions (as described in detail in Section V below).
If you want to post vote tally results in-thread, click the "Insert as new post" button at the bottom of the results overview.
II. Start and End Points
There are three ways that you can determine the start and end point of a tally - by threadmark, by post number, or by scheduling a vote.
By Threadmark
The majority of the time as a user running a tally, you will want to tally by threadmark, select the latest threadmark in the drop-down list on the left, and select "(End of thread)" in the drop-down list on the right, thus tallying all votes posted since the last threadmark was posted. You can also use this to see what the results of past votes were, by tallying the votes posted between a past update and the update following it.
By Post Number
If you want to run a tally where the start or end point is not threadmarked, you can tally by post number. Each post has a unique post number within its thread, which can be seen at the very top right of the post. Enter the post numbers of the start and end points, or leave the end point blank to tally to the end of the thread.
Scheduling a Vote
Scheduling a vote is only open to QMs and collaborators, and has already gotten a dedicated write-up here, but in brief: You must choose a start time, which can be in the past or future, and automatically fills in the time the vote tally UI was opened when first selected. You must also choose an end time. You can choose the time zone that these times and dates will be measured from, which defaults to the time zone of the user creating the tally. Once the end time is reached, all votes between the start and end times will be tallied.
If the "Block non-voting replies" box is checked, posters in your thread will not be able to create a post that does not contain a vote. By default this box is unchecked.
If the "Automatic post on vote completion" box is checked, this tally will automatically be posted once the vote closes. By default this box is checked.
III. Vote Divisions, and Vote Counting Style
Most quests determine winning votes by simple majority count, using various voting divisions as suits each quest. Within a simple majority count, you may divide votes by: None, Line, Block, or Task.
No Division
In this case, all voting within each post is treated as a single cohesive unit. Unless the votes within two users posts are completely identical in all respects, they will not be tallied together.
Under the "No Division" rule-set, the following three votes:
Would produce a tally result of:
User1 said:
User2 said:
User3 said:
Would produce a tally result of:
No Division Tally said:
By Line
In this case, each line of voting prefixed with an [x] or -[x] is treated as its own unit and tallied separately.
Under the "Divide By Line" rule-set, the following three votes:
Would produce a tally result of:
User1 said:
User2 said:
User3 said:
Would produce a tally result of:
By Line Tally said:
By Block
In this case, all unique blocks of voting are treated as their own units. A block of voting is defined as a top level vote and all subvotes beneath it. For example, a single vote of voting might look like:
[x] Vote A
-[x] Option 1
-[x] Option 2
--[x] Sub-Option X
Under the "Divide By Block" rule-set, the following three votes:
Would produce a tally result of:
User1 said:
User2 said:
User3 said:
Would produce a tally result of:
By Block Tally said:
By Task
In this case, each task within a vote is tallied separately. A task is defined at the time a vote is first created, by including the task name in square brackets after the initial [x]. For example, a vote with tasks might look like:
[x][TASK1] Vote A
[x][TASK2] Vote B
This can be useful if, for example, you want your players to assign a leader and a second-in-command from a pool of characters. A vote for Person A in the [LEADER] category will be tallied separately from a vote for Person A in the [2IC] category.
Under the "Divide By Task" rule-set, the following three votes:
Would produce a tally result of:
User1 said:
User2 said:
User3 said:
Would produce a tally result of:
[/quote]By Task Tally said:
Instant Runoff
Instant Runoff voting separates each vote into blocks, using the same criteria as Division By Block above. Each block within each vote is then given a preference ranking. If no ranking was provided by the voter, then the top-most block is ranked 1, the second is ranked 2, and so on.
Alternatively, the voter may explicitly include their ranks in their votes by including the rank number in square brackets following the [x]. For example, an Instant Runoff Vote might look like:
[x] [2] Vote Melted Ice Cream and Pictures of Puppies
[x] [1] Vote Ice Cream and Puppies
[x] [3] Vote Styrofoam and Cardboard
Any votes not included in each voters post are automatically assumed to have been given the worst possible score by that voter.
When an Instant Runoff tally is run, the IRV Counting Procedure is performed to determine the winner of the vote:
- Eliminate the vote block appearing as the first preference on the fewest vote posts.
- If only one vote block remains, select this vote block as the winner and stop.
- Otherwise go to 1.
If the "Voting for a username follows their vote" box is checked (it is checked by default), then users are able to vote for the same thing another user did by formatting their vote as:
[x] Username
No @ symbol should be included. This also works transitively, so if User A creates a vote, User B votes for User A by username, and User C votes for User B by username, that will be tallied as three votes for User A's vote. Circular votes where all users are voting for another user are resolved by giving the oldest post priority.
You can choose whether voting by username should reference the voted users vote at the time the referencing vote was made, or whether it should reference the newest vote by that user. By default, this box is checked, and the latest vote by the referenced user is the one tallied.
V. Write-In Votes
QMs and collaborators are allowed to determine whether to allow or disallow write-in votes, and determine whether write-in votes are collected. This behavior does not affect the vote tally, nor does it affect voting by means of typing the vote into the reply box, but rather the behavior of the "Vote" button that users see when creating a post in a thread with voting opened.
If the "Allow write-in votes" box is checked, users will be able to type in their own choice of vote when using the "Vote" button, instead of only being able to choose from the votes included in the first vote in the tally (usually, the latest threadmark). By default, this box is checked.
If the "Collect write-in votes" box is checked, users will be shown all previous votes as suggestions when creating a vote using the "Vote" button. By default, this box is checked.
VI. Vote Updating
By default, the "Newest votes only" box is checked, and the vote tally will automatically gather the newest vote from each user being tallied, discarding all previous votes by those users. It is strongly recommended to keep this box checked, barring fairly rare circumstances in which seeing prior voting trends might be useful, as leaving this box unchecked will effectively allow users multiple votes by counting each instance of voting separately, potentially leading to inaccurate tallies.
VII. Categories
Categories are a more advanced version of voting by task, as detailed in Section III. As the vote runner, you may create any number of top level categories. In the context of a vote about game awards, for example, you might create categories of:
Game Genre
Game Platform
Game Studio
Within each category, you can then list specific options, separated by commas:
Game Genre
-Platformer, Roguelike, Racing
Game Platform
-PC, PS4, Switch
Game Studio
-Nintendo, Sony, Supergiant Games
Voters can then tag each entry with all appropriate options, both multiple within a single category and spanning multiple categories. For example:
[x] [roguelike] [pc] [switch] [supergiant games] Hades
This also incorporates the rules from Instant Runoff Voting, so a complete vote might look like:
[x] [roguelike] [pc] [switch] [supergiant games] [1] Hades
[x] [racing] [switch] [ps4] [sony] [3] Sonic Team Racing
[x] [platformer] [switch] [nintendo] [2] Super Mario Odyssey
When tallied, vote results will be determined across each category: in this example, the highest rated game of each genre, for each platform, and from each studio.
VIII. Formatting Results
You can manually manage votes within a vote tally by clicking the "Manage Votes" button at the bottom of the tally results window. This can be useful if you want to group multiple votes together, for instance if a variant of a vote both with and without a typo have gained traction.
When you manage votes, a new window will open, with each vote type the tally has noticed being displayed in its own box, ordered by number of votes.
When managing votes, you can move votes into any order, by clicking and dragging on the ≡ symbol, as well as assign votes to be grouped with other votes by dragging them to the right underneath another vote. Such vote groups can be stacked, and can be collapsed or expanded by pressing the - or + symbols.
Once you have finished assigning votes into groups, you can press "Save", at which point the tally will recalculate the winning vote based on the new vote groups. This new grouping of votes will be maintained across future vote tallies, unless a future user chooses to clear vote formatting.
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