Trudy, for sanity reasons, I'd rather do a single ballot to start out, unless/until we need a run-off. We can set a threshold for a run-off, if that would make people more comfortable?

Old school hip hop!

umm, no. I think the song has to be more than 7years old for it to be "old school"

Lyra, it's a good point and one I'd already considered (the exacerbation issue, that is). But the very last thing it would affect would be the food prep - my entire object would be ease and low cost.

not to mention that there would be a ton of buffistas, myself included, who could step up and assist. Hell, I'm planning to anyway.

I also strongly think we need to hold off on making price-ceiling decisions until after the date vote, so we know how many people are still in the "planning on coming" crew.

Nodding like a bobblehead, over here.

In terms of the location vote, I really have no preference in how it's done; I've got cities I love, cities I don't love, and climates the multiple sclerosis doesn't love (yet another hardcore no for NO last year for me - it's the top city in America neurologists tell MS patients to avoid for climate reasons). But I do like the idea of tiered voting, if it's at all close.

I think the song has to be more than 7years old for it to be "old school"

Consider the source...

Hell, I'm planning to anyway.

That's my babygirl! But if it's Seattle or Vegas or somewhere else, we get to just eat and not worry about it. Heh. Win-win! I seriously can't lose: if it's here, I get to sleep in my own bed every night and do the SF stuff I love to do, and if it's elsewhere, I get to be decadent and relax.

I have, from my initial post, been proposing a "Hell, yes/Sure/No" ballot, which would be helpful in getting initial numbers. I think, if we do a ranking instead

Oops. I've conflated concepts in my mind. I still like the idea of a can/maybe/can't poll, and I still think that should happen for the cities. Maybe for dates, too? I don't know. I didn't think ranking would be an instead thing. (Mind, I have no idea how to make it all hang together in a way that makes sense on a poll. So not helpful.)

I think that dates will be easier to choose than cities. Let's do a date poll, with two options -- "vote for your favorite date (with an option of 'any of them') " and one that's "list any date that you CAN'T come" Between those two, I think we'll have enough info for a date.

Let's do a date poll, with two options -- "vote for your favorite date (with an option of 'any of them') " and one that's "list any date that you CAN'T come" Between those two, I think we'll have enough info for a date.

I like it.

Oops. I've conflated concepts in my mind. I still like the idea of a can/maybe/can't poll, and I still think that should happen for the cities. Maybe for dates, too?

I'd like to go ahead and do this, for both cities and dates, and worry about whether we need run-offs, etc., afterwards. I.e., let's see what the data tell us, and then work from there.

I know we wanted to do dates pretty quickly, so maybe Debet or someone else can set up a MisterPoll soon and let it run over the weekend? (With the holiday, I guess we'd better keep it available until Tuesday - maybe even Wednesday?)

I'd like to go ahead and do this, for both cities and dates, and worry about whether we need run-offs, etc., afterwards. I.e., let's see what the data tell us, and then work from there.

That sounds groovy. I just wanted to mention the run-off possibility as early as possible.