#procedural nonsense

[best-bird-tournament]

Procedural update! Tumblr has rolled out an update that will make it functionally impossible for me to see propaganda posted as a second reblog-with-comment on a poll. (That is, person 1 reblogs propaganda and you add second propaganda after them.)

You can get around this by @'ing me, but I also suggest that you submit feedback to Tumblr asking them to revert this change.

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Update to final polls schedule!

We're in the home stretch! Expect significant gaps between polls as we wait between rounds, and keep your propaganda ready!

Birds still in the running as of 3/18:

Willow ptarmigan

Luzon bleeding heart

Atlantic puffin

Common loon

Pennant-winged nightjar

Common raven

Somali ostrich

Little spotted kiwi

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This blog has gotten many new followers in the past day or so, and welcome!

Please know that you are coming in toward the end of what has been an enormous project, run by one person, that's been going for almost nine months with over two thousand polls posted. I expect the tournament to wrap up in three months or so.

I am not seeking any feedback about how to change the poll structure at this time, particularly not feedback suggesting that I do more work so you don't have to count as carefully. Asks to this effect will be deleted.

[best-bird-tournament]

As we move past the family level polls and have fewer polls per round, I'll reduce the number of polls per day progressively until we get to the final rounds, which will of course not have daily polls posted.

But as we get closer to finding our champion, I expect competition to heat up, so keep an eye on the spreadsheet linked in the FAQ and start gathering your propaganda! As a reminder, I'll only reblog propaganda posted in the main body of a reblog (not tags or replies), and if you want to make sure I don't miss your propaganda in my notes, @ mentioning me will make it easier to see!

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Tentative Final Schedule!

This will depend both on what runoffs are necessary and whether I'm available to post polls same-day, but here's my best guess at a final poll schedule:

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To avoid a multi-day gap in polls later this week, I'm going to set up some one-on-one polls in the Neoaves clade (which otherwise would have 10 species competing).

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FAQ

Is there a way I can view which species are moving on to the next round? You can look at the master spreadsheet, which outlines the hierarchy for all the polls. Black boxes with species names in them indicate results from completed polls.

What metrics am I supposed to judge the "best" bird by? Follow your heart. Look at the birds and ask your soul which one is the best. Or go on a research binge! Learn something wild about a bird! There's no wrong answer.

Can I submit propaganda or will you reblog it? Starting with the tribe-level polls, I will be periodically reblogging propaganda added to posts. If you want to ensure that I see your propaganda, an @ mention will make it easier to see in my notes. I am currently not accepting propaganda via submissions.

How are polls ordered? Polls will progress through taxonomic classification groups, starting with genus groups and progressing upward. Some species may not be included in earlier polls because there are few species within the larger taxonomic ranks. (e.g. a species that is the only member of its subfamily will progress automatically to the family-level polls.)

Can you label the photos with alt text? No, with the sheer number of polls and photos I post, this is not a reasonable request. In the context of this poll, it would not actually be useful for visually impaired people. For matching photos to answers, I recommend counting.

When will you post my favorite bird? I may have already, so search their genus name! If they haven't been posted yet, have patience. Every bird will have its day. Please understand, there are so many birds.

Why did you group certain species together the way you did? Any awkward species groupings you see will most likely be due to navigating the 12-option limit in the most efficient way possible.

Why aren't you including extinct birds? Partly because I am only including birds that have photos, but mostly because there are already so, so many birds.

Why aren't you including birds that don't have photos on Wikipedia? Because this is already an absurd undertaking, and seeking out photos is not a viable amount of effort. I also am skipping species that only have taxidermy/specimen photos.

Why is your icon a pterodactyl? To avoid the appearance of favoritism.

Will you do run-off polls? Yes, if there are ties for first place, there will be a run-off. If a species wins with less than 50% of the vote and a margin of less than 10%, I will do a run-off of first and second place (including ties for second). If there is a tie for first with each having less than 50% and their combined margin is less than 10%, third place will be included in the run-off. However, if there is sufficient space in the next round of polls, I may opt to just advance the top birds all together to reduce the number of runoffs.

I disagree with your classification/taxonomy of a certain species! I want to be very clear: we are not playing this game here. Go find an ornithologist at your local community college and start a fistfight with them. It will be more productive.

[best-bird-tournament]

Stupid news: if you are searching for past polls of tits, the regular blog search will not work. Presumably because of the word 'tit.' You can get around this by searching "#[genus name]" but if you search without the hashtag, many of the tit polls, specifically, will not appear.

What if I just went apeshit.