The idea of a 2004 new release database is a good one.  Anything that helps 
remind people what came out during the year is a useful tool.

However, this second paragraph of your post, spotlighted below, is troubling 
for a few reasons.

First, your comment regarding Outkast is, probably inadvertently, extremely 
condescending to those of us who voted for and really enjoyed THE LOVE 
BELOW/SPEAKERBOXXX.  It can be inferred from your statement that those of us 
who voted for the disc (and that's a substantial number of voters) would not 
have done so if we had been more aware of what came out in 2004.  What were 
we thinking.

Second, you explicitly note that the database you propose could be used so 
someone could strategically vote to keep a release out of the Top 20.  
Putting aside the question of whether enough people would vote in this 
manner to achieve such a result, I would say that if this is a major purpose 
behind having a database, we're much better off without it.  Quite frankly, 
anyone who would submit a Top 20 list that is solely to influence the final 
results (especially to keep something out) is a damned fool.  I presume that 
everyone here who submits their list is submitting a list that reflects 
their favorite releases of the year, nothing more, nothing less.  For 
example, I hope nobody did this:  'I can't stand Rooney.  Even though I 
don't own the New Pornographers record and haven't heard it, I'm going to 
vote for them at # 3, so they overtake those accursed teeny popsters!').

Finally, I'm not quite clear on this, but I think you indicate that perhaps 
some sort of running vote tally could be kept.  I would not be in favor of 
this.  In fact, this year I tried to scale back on the updated standings.  
Ideally, I'd never post the updates.  However, I started doing that because 
it always seemed to promote voting.  So it's a tradition.  I've always been 
concerned it could influence voters (in the negative way I described 
before), but I do believe that generally, no one votes that way.

So those are my thoughts --

Mike Bennett

Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com

>From: "Scott Pazur" <powerpop@z3d.net>


>If we get all the releases into the database, I can save Mike a lot of
>hassle by making the poll results dynamic, where changes are possible up to
>the final bell, and you can see the current standings at any time during 
>the
>polling process.  (That way I know what CDs to vote for to get Outkast out
>of the list.  Not that I would do that, but I still can't believe how 
>anyone
>on this list likes that crap)

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