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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I'm not sure I'd be willing to devote several hours to try and reverse engineer their process and then almost certainly end up failing! But maybe I'll have a look at some point.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">On a tangent to this, I sometimes think that these lists would benefit from an alternative version using proportional representation. So not the 100 top novels when considered individually, but the top 100 novels considered as a group of 100 taking into account the range of views. Not instead of, but as well as. I've often thought that the IMDB top 250 or BoardGameGeek top games list would benefit from this. I think it would be very interesting to see how the lists would differ - more polarising options would likely feature.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Back on the top novels, I remember when the BBC did their "Big Read" thing and came up with a top 200. It was voted for by viewers rather than "experts" but the list is very different.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml</a></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml</a></div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Toby</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div><br></div>
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On Monday, 18 May 2026 at 17:51:32 BST, Ross Hyman via Election-Methods <election-methods@lists.electorama.com> wrote:
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<div><div dir="ltr">The Guardian's 100 Best Novels<br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-time" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-time</a><br></div><div dir="ltr">inlcudes 172 ballots ranking voters' 10 favorite novels. I think it<br></div><div dir="ltr">would be interesting to use different voting methods on this ballot<br></div><div dir="ltr">set..<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">The method the Guardian used to determine their l00 novel list from<br></div><div dir="ltr">the ballots is very mysterious to me.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">They state "We scored the titles according to how often they were<br></div><div dir="ltr">voted for, and then added a weighting based on individual rankings to<br></div><div dir="ltr">produce the overall list of 100 greatest books."<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I played around and could not find anything that fit this vague<br></div><div dir="ltr">description and would produce the presented list.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">For example, My Antonia in 100th place is ranked on 4 ballots while<br></div><div dir="ltr">99, The Go-Between is ranked on 3. So rankings are not just being used<br></div><div dir="ltr">to break approval ties.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Then look at 89 The Left Hand of Darkness, also ranked on 4 ballots.<br></div><div dir="ltr">But Antonia at 100 is higher ranked on its four ballots than Darkness<br></div><div dir="ltr">is on its four.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">What is their formula?<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"> Best,<br></div><div dir="ltr">Ross<br></div><div dir="ltr">----<br></div><div dir="ltr">Election-Methods mailing list - see <a href="https://electorama.com/em" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://electorama.com/em</a> for list info<br></div></div>
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