Why is it that every year it’s the same people winning the “best of” awards with the Coast? Same bands, same restaurants, etc. There doesn’t seem to be any credibility to it when it’s the same people that win all the time. In fact, wouldn’t it be easy to fix? All you have to do it make up fake email addresses all day and just keep submitting your name. Even easier to do if you have lots of friends who help you do it! Furthermore, having the same person/place win every year makes the readers lose interest in the whole process.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2008.
Hate the biased surveys, show me one media that is not bias, and i’ll agree with you wholeheartedly. you mean to say that every magazine you read does not push their advertisers. If you believe that, you’re wet behind your ears. GnR, Britney, Spice Girls,… if not for bias surveys, you would not even find them at a corner playing “music”.
I doubt very much that The Coast is manufacturing the results of its “Best Of” survey but to say that the results actually represent “The Best” is open to debate. I’m sure all of the people who go through the trouble to vote who they think is “The Best” car mechanic actually think that person is “The Best”, its just too bad that they have to fill out so many extra categories to have their vote counted. I bet the folks at “The Coast” would get a clearer picture of what is going on if the minimum # of votes per ballot were reduced to one. That said, I think in the more general categories like restaurants you do get a fair response. But honestly, best car mechanic? Salesperson? In a city of 300,000 a car mechanic stands out enough to get more than his friends votes? C’mon.
ya, good point crank. also, this is only valid within a certain section of the community. like, how many ppl read our weekly? to say “The Best” is like saying everyone voted in general. but my opening comment was not to question the survey. more so to tell the bitcher that everyone is bias in one way or another: radio, newspaper, blogs, surveys,etc.
I think people work hard to get the award and keep it. It’s a small city, I don’t think its one giant conspiracy.-Trevor
I agree that it seems the same places/people win every year, and I think that it has a lot to do with who is reading the Coast. The same people are reading it, and so the same people are voting. Once a place wins for say, Best Salad, a bunch of new people go to that place for that salad, and if it’s really that good, they vote for it next year, but even if it isn’t that good, they may vote for it simply because they haven’t had that salad anywhere else. People are also prone to going tot he same restaurants everytime they eat out. People don’t like change. I know I have a few favorite Chinese food places for example, and Pizza places as well, and why change what isn’t broken? So I vote for them every year ( even though they never win). Cranky’s point is a good one as well, I fill in a lot of random answers with responses I don’t really care about just to meet the quota so I can vote for my real favorites.