Interesting analysis, madpawn. I think Weirdelves is right, though: there was not a lot of "interplay" between songs, and once they were out, there was no mechanism to accurateky determine the 'minor places'. Having said that, I think the order for Ys was spot on (but maybe this was to be expected, as the Ys songs generally went furthest and so were subjected to voters' scrutiny more often). I wouldn't have too many disputes with the order for HOOM either (though personally I'd raise Soft As Chalk and Ribbon Bows, and push down You & Me, Bess and No Provenance, though they'd be my preferences and not really borne out by the votes). But MEM does seem to be rather 'messed up', doesn't it!
I have been taking a look at how other fan sites run their song tournaments, too. I have to say that I don't think there is too much to learn from many of them, though some element of album-wise selection seems to be popular. Perhaps for any future edition of the JNST, I would (a) find a way of determining "minor placings" somewhat better than this straight knock-out, and (b) make it quicker ... I did sense an element of voter-fatigue towards the end! At least we now have a pretty decent starting point for determining initial seedings...
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