Despite the fact that I've crapped on plenty of threads myself, this would normally be right around the time I drum my fingers on the table and think, "Can we get this thread back on track, please?" BUT: because it's devoted to what is indisputably the best album of Donald Fagen's solo career, I like the fact that it keeps popping up in "New Posts." (Jerking your chain, @IanProudfoot -- although I really do believe that. And I am a little steamed that the original thread disappeared, because I can't remember whatever I wrote back when I first voted.)
I'll just say I wish we could do without numerical polls altogether. The individual ratings aren't meaningless--as long as each reviewer explains what their numbers mean--but the rankings are. Few of us are even using the same rubric to begin with (3+3+3+1? 6 = D and 10 = A? 10-point impressionist scale?), and even those who think they're using the same rubric probably aren't interpreting it the same way. (I used to read college AP and SAT essays for extra money, and I'm not proud of that, but I know you can't have a set of readers who haven't been "normed.")
Of course, there's also the question of whether we should even grade legacy formats and modern hi-res formats using the same scale. Or whether, on a site like this, content should count as much as mix and fidelity. Or whether "packaging" includes things like price and value. Etc.
So that's why I'm with @steelydave on this one. I find the polls useful to the extent that, when I'm interested in a title, I can search the polls for that title and see what people have written about it. I don't care if Ian gave it a 6 or 10 or a 2, as long as he explains why.* But I doubt my 10 means the same as his or anyone else's.
(*Hypocrite that I am, I don't consistently explain my own scores.)
I solved the problem of the numerical polls...I stopped voting on the polls...I have a core group of members who I feel mirror my musical tastes and use their decisions to help me decide if a new release is something I might want to purchase...