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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   38822 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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vote of more than 70000 people.

From the article:

Experts in individual sports were asked to vote to rank the top athletes in their sport since Jan. 1, 2000 (no accomplishments before this date were to be considered). Those votes pared down pools in each sport to lists of 10 to 25 athletes each, which constituted the overall candidate pool for the top athletes of the 21st century so far. Each voter was presented two randomly selected names and asked to pick which one has had the better career in the 21st century. Across repeated, randomized head-to-head matchups, more than 70,000 votes were cast at this stage, and using an Elo rating system, the list was pared down from 262 to 100.

And:

That list was then evaluated by a panel of experts for any inconsistencies or oversights, resulting in the top 100 ranking seen here.

70000 votes, not voters. The number of intial voters is unknown. The number of members of and influence of the veto comittee is also unknown.

people are going to vote for all kinds of reasons that do not necessarily have to do with pure athletic dominance.

The people voting are described as "Experts in individual sports", and not the general public, I would hope they took this title seriously enough as to vote for who truly is better and not who is better looking. But even if a small minority derelict this duty, under a proper preference combining system, the majority whose ranking isn't idiosyncratic should exert decisive influence

Oh, I see. Oops, I should have read it in more detail.

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