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Voting Coupons

Started by Leigh S, 15 May, 2021, 04:09:21 PM

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Leigh S

Watching Pat Mills on the Lawless panel, he raises an interesting point about voting coupons, though obviously Pat's memory can "cheat", so my question is thus:

when did the voting coupon vanish?

Funt Solo

I don't know - but I can narrow it down - it's there in prog 999, but not in prog 1120. (It's also not in prog 1000, but that one had an unusual editorial layout.)

I know there was a Megazine Readers' Survey in 1996 (M3.16), and a 2000 AD Reader Survey in 2001 (prog 1262).
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Leigh S

that's what I;d figured - by then, were many readers even sedning back the coupons? 

We are into the territory of an adult/more mature readership that was much reduced from the comics heyday of the 70s... I;d presume the data would be pretty patchy by then - too small a sample to be useful?

Funt Solo

#3
Ah - found it!

Prog 1075 has the final "Exit Poll" and then prog 1076 has an announcement where they are dropping it in favor of making more room for letters, and instead giving away free gifts to the Letter of the Week.

(That's a new decision going into 1998, btw.)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

AlexF

I'm curious to know if more people routinely sent in those voting coupons than posted on the 'Prog/Meg' threads on this board, which more or less hold the same data.

If, say, 30,000 people read any given Prog (on average, number plucked from absolute nowhere), how many opinions does it take for Tharg to know if a story is popular or not - 5? 20? 100? 1,000? I never did get my head around how statistics work, but I know you don't need a big sample number, just a varied pot of people to collect the samples from.

Funt Solo

The coupons go out of fashion at around the same time as the Internet is becoming fairly mainstream. There wasn't a time when they both existed together for most people.

These days, there aren't very many people providing an opinion on this forum - whether the few die hard forumites are representative would be hard to say. I'd have to argue that we shouldn't be - because you could make the same argument that any online presence with multiple readers is fairly representative, and I think of some places online where I'd hate that to be true, so I'd be a hypocrite if I said this place had the correct opinion and another place the incorrect opinion.

A few dominant personalities can drive opinion online, as well. I've always wondered that about opinion polls - regarding the idea that you're really only getting the opinion of people who take part in opinion polling. I think this is why the pollsters often get things wrong - they're only getting a particular segment of society's opinion.

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

I, Cosh

Quote from: AlexF on 17 May, 2021, 05:22:03 PM
I'm curious to know if more people routinely sent in those voting coupons than posted on the 'Prog/Meg' threads on this board, which more or less hold the same data.
I never sent one in and this is my 9,527th post on this forum. Case closed.
We never really die.

sheridan

Quote from: I, Cosh on 17 May, 2021, 06:35:27 PM
Quote from: AlexF on 17 May, 2021, 05:22:03 PM
I'm curious to know if more people routinely sent in those voting coupons than posted on the 'Prog/Meg' threads on this board, which more or less hold the same data.
I never sent one in and this is my 9,527th post on this forum. Case closed.

Though not the close of this thread.  Tempted to use this thread to do modern-day voting (or, y'know, do the three likes one dislike on the relevant prog/meg threads).


For reference (grabbed from prog 435 - the closest to hand):

VOTE HERE!
List your three favourite stories IN THIS PROG on the coupon and enclose it with your entry.
1. .................
2. .................
3. .................
I Dislike: ........
My Age is .....

alphadogau

I know this sounds silly but i genuinely miss the scissors.
Are we there yet?

Colin YNWA

If this becomes a thing I'd play for Prog 2232:

VOTE HERE!
List your three favourite stories IN THIS PROG on the coupon and enclose it with your entry.
1. ................. Thistlebone
2. ................. Dredd
3. ................. Feral and Foe
I Dislike: ........ Nothing really but if I had to pick I'd go Terror Tales
My Age is ..... Its rude to ask a lady his age (49)

TordelBack

Quote from: sheridan on 17 May, 2021, 08:58:03 PM
Tempted to use this thread to do modern-day voting (or, y'know, do the three likes one dislike on the relevant prog/meg threads).

This sounds like fun. I'll try to include my voting coupon in my weekly musings!

(Data point: never sent in the coupon, although noty out of archival concerns - I did mutilate my progs almost every week for posters, covers to become posters (every original prog I own with an O'Neill or Bellardinelli Sláíne cover is missing same), paper dolls, micro-progs, you name it: even logos to paste on my school folder).

sheridan

Of course, if somebody from Rebellion could do with other info in an updated equivalent then this is probably the place to ask for it - we have willing market research participants :-)

broodblik

I never liked cutting up my prog to fill in the coupon. Another point is that even if I did it the effort to mail it to UK was way too much.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

The Corinthian

Quote from: Funt Solo on 17 May, 2021, 06:27:47 PM
I've always wondered that about opinion polls - regarding the idea that you're really only getting the opinion of people who take part in opinion polling. I think this is why the pollsters often get things wrong - they're only getting a particular segment of society's opinion.

The coupons would actually be much, much less reliable than proper statistically rigorous opinion polling. They're a self-selecting sample for one thing, with built-in disincentives for participation (especially before photocopying became widespread).

Not quite the same thing but I'm simultaneously amused and annoyed by the fact that the 1994 Judge Dredd Mega Special ran a readers poll to choose a new series for the Megazine and the results were completely ignored in favour of two pre-commissioned strips instead.

TordelBack

Quote from: The Corinthian on 18 May, 2021, 10:23:58 PM
Not quite the same thing but I'm simultaneously amused and annoyed by the fact that the 1994 Judge Dredd Mega Special ran a readers poll to choose a new series for the Megazine and the results were completely ignored in favour of two pre-commissioned strips instead.

Proper order. Give the people what you think they need, not what they think they want. The latter way of thinking leads to Angel Family resurrections and boobs on the cover.

I remember the giant Meg survey that was pages of insert. That one I did complete and return, BTW, although I would stop getting the Meg shortly after, and it can't have been cheap!