Topic: Bad releases in polls

I've seen that users keep adding releases to their poll lists which they give low ratings (or bad reviews). I wonder why that is, since on the voting page I'm asking users to add their FAVORITE releases.

If you have added bad releases to your lists, may I ask why? Should I make it clearer on the voting page? Do I have to add filters to remove such lists from my timeline? Because I don't want to look at a newly submitted list, check out the release only to find out that the user did not even like the release in the first place.

Whether I need to answer this depends on your definition of a low/bad rating I think!

Well, undoubtedly some users would say that even an E-tier rating can be a favorite release, so we will never reach a consensus. In my opinion anything below B-tier (70-79) is not suitable for the lists, and for me personally it's A and S tier only. But that's only my interpretation, and your mileage may vary.

I will not implement any forced restrictions at this time, but regardless of your rating you should keep in mind that the purpose of those polls is to list the best releases, not simply all you know. Any entry should be a solid recommendation, of course maybe with certain caveats (e.g. that it's for fans of a specific genre).

Well I'm with you on the pointlessness of sticking E-tier ratings in, although I can't guarantee some haven't slipped the net with errant clicking!

For the best of 2025 poll I cut it off at the B-Tier, but mainly because I added to that one as the year went on knowing that (eventually) the B-tier albums would drop out of the 'points scoring' positions and their presence in my list is then less important for the overall poll.

I think for some of the month polls I also went down to C tier in most cases as they are still "good" by the sites rating system and therefore have some merit vs those in the lower tiers. And in some pretty bleak months that C-tier album might actually still be one of the better things I've heard...

^ I agree that the C-tier is still pretty defensible as a recommendation. But D, E and F tiers are questionable entries on a poll list and suggest that the purpose of the list is misunderstood. I should probably add some hints towards that in the UI :)

In particular, I suspect that sometimes users put "bad" releases on the list to demonstrate that they have listened to the releases and do not find them worthy of a top position ...

Thinking about it I'm probably guilty of that for random polls for past years. But not entirely sure why I would have done so.

Yes probably worth clarifying it's not simply "put everything you've heard in order".

Just from my perspective even if not altogether relevant: I like/have liked everything in my lists, and have not rated the choices, but I don't treat my poll lists as recommendations, or as best ofs, but merely as representations of my tastes. Some will like what I like, some will be meh, some will hate it. That's art for you. Vives les differences.

Past twenty choices (of, say, ones in PA) I would not have thought it mattered much as those don't count towards the overall tally and I thought the main goal for this had been to make the PA AOTY contest easier for everyone to contribute to, and then it expanded to all years, which is much appreciated and wanted by me. It can be useful to rank and order everything one has heard, also as opinions might change over time.

I like flexibility and light-handedness in such things as much as can be sensible/ is feasible. You have given the means to present these things via your site but of course the results and exercise is a collaborative effort. Regarding forced restrictions, you might want to put out a topic in the collab zone of PA on this,, as this poll relates to that site and the collab albums of the year (which we then decided to open to all at PA). If one seems heavy-handed or controlling, it can put people off wanting to contribute. I wish PA was more of a communal effort.

At PA before for collabs (for any who might not know) we would do two topics, one with all of your mentions and discussion and one for one's official 20 list to submit. With these lists I did think it rather streamlined that process, and I would like it that any album of thee year can be mentioned in them, but one can always just list all one wants to in the forum (at PA and/or here) and one can discuss there, and one can prepare an official list of just twenty to be tallied by this site as one sees fit.

For the AOTY it does not work well if albums are being counted towards the tally that one does not even like (if ten of my 20 choices were C-grade per my tastes, I still might think them worthy of listing -- though that is not the case for me). To sound like Moshkito, sometimes we can get too hung up on the numbers. It's the spirit that matters, and the coming together to share our interests that matters to me. The ultimate results are not that important to me (don't want to make sport of art).

^ Well said. I want to keep those lists as open-purpose as possible, so maybe I shouldn't have said "recommendations". But while the purpose of posting them may not be specifically to make recommendations to others, the releases you include should at least appeal to you enough that you would be comfortable seeing other users checking them out because they thought you liked them enough to include them on your list.

Aletheia is a recommendation... if you like Metallica-esque riffs, epic grandeur, and Kürsch-meets-Ozzy-ish vocals :) I guess that doesn't appeal to you, apparently 😅

^ According to your rating and review it's a good, but not great release with bad vocals. Doesn't sound appealing to me. Knowing your methodology I've learned to ignore your ratings and most of what you write, nevertheless one fact you mentioned would actually keep me from checking out the album: I don't like english vocals with german accent :-)

Well if my lists were consist of only S and A tier ratings, rarely would a year ever have more than three or four releases, and often one or even none.

But don't complain when you decide to ignore my rating methodology, then say my "recommendations" aren't good enough. The polls are an open-ended inquiry, yet somehow there's only a binary answer to it.

I just use the poll to rank my current top 20 releases of the year. Anything D-S can make it, and pretty much my first 20 listens for ratings 50 points or higher will be added until they're replaced. It's weighted listen log, all things considered.

Man, why am I still using this site when there's such a degree of disrespect?

^ It's no intended disrespect, I just can't make any sense of your methodology. It's not useful to me. But I'm just one single user, so what you're doing might still make a lot of sense to others!

Well clearly you found it helpful because now you know that the vocals on Aletheia's have a strong Austrian accent, which is a turnoff in a style you otherwise seem to like.

Though it's still worth looking at (it only takes a few seconds to skim through the songs on bandcamp), as the song Sole Voyage almost had me giving this a B rating, as the more power metal-oriented guitar work matched the vocals and the overall goal of what the band was trying to do better than the rest if the material. And the opening to the Holy Pale really harkens to the Master of Puppets-Rust in Peace days.

Anyway, I don't have a methodological rating "system." It's all a case-by-case basis. My only real consistency is that a too-loud master and/or muddy mix is a big tier lowerer

^ Yes, and your "tier-lowering" for reasons which I don't agree with (or which do not apply to me at least) makes your ratings less than useful to me, since I always have to filter them through the review/blurb.

But that's fine! We don't have to agree :-)

I made no such mention of a bad master on Aletheia (a DR of 9 is actually good), so no such filtering needed :)

^ The "filtering" is still needed, I need to read the review in order to know how to modify your rating ;-)

what do you mean "modify" my rating???

^ When I see one of your ratings in the lower tiers, I can't just take it at "face value", I need to read the review to put it in perspective. That's what I meant by "modify". Relax, nobody is going to change your ratings. But in my mind I need to adjust the tiers (e.g. you mention loudness, I need to lift it up one or two tiers).

btw, i increased my score for aletheia. it's definitely a grower, and it will likely make my end if year list at this point

the middle drags a little, but if this were an ep with just the first few and final tracks, it maybe could be a solid b rating