Another Start-Up Idea

Poetry In Voting

I was enjoying Amanda Nadelberg's musings about how society might pay poets, when several related thoughts merged into one:

* As Ms. Nadelberg notes, we compliment something for being "poetic", but very few of us buy poetry.

* Furthermore, poetry has merged with life like never before.  Dylan's Nobel Prize for literature; the prevalence and cachet of slang; the compacting of a Twitter-ized world's words.

* What would an online poetry start-up look like?

Something clicked in my head, namely the ranked voting idea used in Ireland and Australia, among other places, and recently adopted by Maine's voters.

Suppose 100 poets each pay $10 to enter a poetry contest.  They're divided up into ten teams.  Each team member's poem is posted and read by the other nine team members.  Members then rank the poetry, including their own, from 1-to-10.  Points are awarded for rank received (the average: a 50 score).   Winners from each team (perhaps the top three) are then part of two larger teams of 15 members who again rank poems.  This time the top four in each team meet for a final time.  The overall winner, and perhaps three runner-ups, have their poems published.  Prize money is $750 ($250 to the house), divided $500, $150, $75, $25.  Or, no house take if done by a large website.  Or, even no prize money.

Many objections arise.    

#1: Wouldn't entrants game the system by ranking their own poem at #10, the next best at #1, then #2 and so on?  Ok, a simple twist removes this problem, and this is where the ranked voting system comes in handy.  Rank the rankers, themselves, as to their acuity, then rerank, subtracting the first 1 - to - 10 scale by the second.  The ability to judge is then applied to the original rankings.  Voila, a system that rewards the most perceptive poets' opinions, and penalizes any gamey tendencies.

#2:  Wouldn't this elevate mushy, overly pleasing poetry, rather than the best?  No, because like the art world, the most appreciated and attuned voices have the most say.  We might even claim that art is made.

#3:  And shouldn't the entry fee be $100 so that the winner actually wins something?  Maybe, but aren't many poets so poor that even $10's a stretch?  Besides, the publicity from winning is probably more important.  And, if there were more like 1,000 entries, the more profound monetary effect could be had.

Just for fun, here's an example that uses a mere five poems (all very, very short, mind you.)  Note: judging (the second ranking) is based on how many places away each member's judgement is from the 1st set:

The Contestants and their Poems
1. Lisa:    Spontaneous Bust
2. Dave:    Exxon Bubble
3. DeVaughn:    Virtual Fealty
4. Noki:      Bygones Fee
5. Shalomar:      Truss Me

Rankings
Lisa likes 2 and 3.  She votes 3,1,2,4,5
Dave likes 1, 3 and 5.  He votes 2,5,1,3,4
DeVaughn likes 1.  He votes 3,1,5,4,2
Noki likes 1 and 5.  She votes: 4,5,1,3,2
Shalomar likes 1.  They vote: 1,5,3,2,4

The initial ranking totals (5 points for a 1st place vote, 4 for 2nd, etc.):
1. 19
2. 12
3. 17
4. 11
5. 16

Judging
Now we compare each member's ranking with the end result.
Lisa was one off on her #1 pick; again one off, again -1, -1 and -2 = -6
Dave: -3, -1, -2, -2, 0 = -8
DeVaughn: -1, -1, 0, -1, -1 = -4
Noki: -4, -1, -2, -2, -1 = -10
Shalomar: 0, -1, -1, 0, 0 = -2

Subtraction gives us:

Lisa: 19 - 6 = 13
Dave: 12 - 8 = 4
DeVaughn: 17 - 4 = 13
Noki 11 - 10 = 1
Shalomar: 16 - 2 = 14

Ranking Based On Judging
Lisa for DeVaughn: 65, for herself: 52, for Dave: 39, for Noki: 26, for Shalomar: 13
Dave for himself: 20, for Shalomar: 16, for Lisa: 12, for DeVaughn: 8, for Noki: 4
DeVaughn for himself: 65, for Lisa: 52, for Shalomar: 39, for Noki: 26, for Dave: 13
Noki for herself: 5, for Shalomar: 4, for Lisa: 3, for DeVaughn: 2, for Dave: 1
Shalomar for Lisa: 70, for themselves: 56, for DeVaughn: 42, for Dave: 28. for Noki: 14

Totals:
Lisa: 189
Dave: 101
DeVaughn: 182
Noki: 75
Shalomar: 128


Result: Lisa wins 1st, then DeVaughn, then Shalomar, then Dave, then Noki.

We see that Shalomar was the best judge of others' work, but wasn't thought to be as poetic.  Meanwhile, Lisa, despite ranking herself second, and not being particularly good at judging others, won, because she had the best poem.