Legitimate Poll: Answer a question about Timothy Zahn

To answer that burning question of the months, "Has Timothy Zahn fallen out of favor" with members of this message board, I have fashioned a quasi-legitimate poll for this forum.

This is NOT A DEBATE. If you wish to debate, take it here: http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=1946645&page=9
This is NOT a vote on whether Zahn is your favorite author.
This is NOT a vote on whether you want Zahn to write in the NJO.

Requirements for participating in the poll include having read the Thrawn Trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, some of (but not all) the Bantam books, and parts of the NJO. Do not take part in the poll if you haven't met the requirements. Sorry, but that's the way it has to be.

Please answer by indicating ONE of the choices. If you wish to make a statement to explain your answer, you may do so with a short sentence. Remember, keep it short and no debate in this thread.

QUESTION: Within the last couple of years, with the release of Vision of the Future and the advent of the NJO, has your opinion of Timothy Zahn as a writer of Star Wars books

a) Increased,
b) Decreased, or
c) Stayed the same?


Footnotes:
1) The sampling universe for this poll is confined to the registered members and participants of this forum. Any conclusions drawn from the poll cannot be applied to SW fandom in general or other message boards, just this forum. 2) This is a "poll", not a "census". In every poll, there are people who choose not to respond, so not everyone needs to answer in order for it to be legitimate. 3) If I get a large number of reponders, I may do some basic hypothesis testing. 4) Ballot box stuffing will not be permitted. If you vote twice, the vote will be tossed. If I suspect a sockpuppet, I will list those I feel are questionable. 5) As a trained statistician, I believe I have fashioned a poll as legitimate as possible. It may not be perfect, so sue me. 6) Yes, I have an opinion on this matter, but I will post any hypothesis testing calculations for third-party review. 7) If you have any concerns with the poll, PM me.

 

a)increased

 

a) Increased

 

Stayed the same... he was always good in my mind.

 

increased

 

increased

 

A

 

a)increased

 

a) Especially when one looks at the substandard storyline that the powers-that-be behind the NJO have served up.

 

a)Increased

 

Increased

 

A) increased

 

(A) Increased

 

Going against the grain, I guess:

b) Decreased just a little. VotF wasn't as good as I expected. I like other authors' (RAS, MAS, KJA) views on the Jedi. Still cool books.

 

a

 

c

 

(b) Decreased - but it was never particularly high to start with.

 

A

Yours

 

I think mine has decreased a little. I never loved him too much, but he does seem a bit egocentric about his view of how the Force should be used and all.

 

My oppinion of his older books and stories, same but good.

My oppinion of HOT, Decreased.


p.s. Also if you want this poll to be more accurate you need to take it around to non board members. Be they Offline members, Other newsgroup memember, Movie forum members, Community forum members, what not. Just taking from one source is a flawed pol. from the start, and can't be used in proving or disproving thrawn. The only way for it to be accurate is to make a sampling poll that has people from all walks of life. Not just one place that could be biased from the start.

Edit: I didnt read your last part of your post, it looks like you mentioned my ideas before I did.

 

Increased.

 

Decreased.

Don't get me wrong, I love Zahn and love his character of Mara Jade, but as a writer, my opinion of him has decreased.

 

C. Same

 

Stayed the same.

He is a great writer and I will alwasy be indebted to him for creating Mara.

 

Increased. I learned that he can make positive, long term changes, and that he can write well consistently. However, it's possible that I just understood VotF better, since I was much younger when I read HttE.