I think that it has gotten harder to make the charts, and not just the top 10 weekly!  I realize that the number one, as opposed to having about 15-20 votes max is up to 34, now this is good because we're getting more votes, but now I think that its harder because the lower songs have about 10-15 votes as opposed to 6-10 votes like it used to be, much less in the top 5!  Now of course it could be that we are getting more votes, and my songs are as well getting more votes than normal, and even though the more number is like 10 votes, that would only be because of the increase.

  Another reason it's harder to break into the upper eschelon of the top 10, like in the top 5, is because when a song gets into the 10th spot, for example, it has trouble getting enough votes to overtake those in the top 5 that are by established submitters.  One reason for this is the weighted system, that gives more credit to songs with low ratings with high votes.  This gives an advantage to those artists like William Tong (not trying to pick on him b/c he writes good songs), whose songs get votes simply because of the subject matter, regardless if they're as good as his best work.  Therefore, a song with a 4.9 rating all around sometimes is neglected because of its place in the standings (Let's say 9th), when it might be a better parody than those at the top.  While there's no real way to alleviate this problem, because the song writer deserves credit for receiving votes, it's just an annoyance for those songs that you think deserve credit, but only stay on the charts for a couple of days because of lack of votes.  

I don't know.. Jeff Baker is a new comer to the site, and he's got two on top ten this week (he sent me email he was so excited).. so it can't strictly be based on wether your an established author here.. William Tong doesn't even have any up there this week...

as far as the weighting system goes.. I think it's much more fair to weight a parody which receives more votes over one with fewer votes but better scores.. otherwise, everytime someone got a single 5.0 vote, they could out rank people with ten votes and an average of 4.5.. I think the one that received ten votes is more important..

I'm actually quite happy to see the number of votes increasing.. it's a good sign that more people are paying attention to the parodies..

I wasn't trying to say that songs that get lots of votes don't deserve a higher ranking ("While there's no real way to alleviate this problem, because the song writer deserves credit for receiving votes"), I was just saying that sometimes it's frustrating to see a song that you like not get enough votes to make the list, even when it has a medial number of votes in total.  The current system works fine, I was just trying to express that each author has songs that he/she thinks doesn't get enough attention.  

I definitely think more people are voting for songs in general (as opposed the ones where people tell 50 of their friends to vote)...nice to see people voting, for better or worse :-).  Yes, someone like William Tong is going to get enough votes to put most of his songs in the top 10 just from his following from his own website but when you write 500+ songs, you earn that kind of thing

Do people who visit the site, though, forward the page off to other people, the ones, for example, beyond us messageboard folk? It would be great to publicise it, as some do not visit Amiright but there are those that would probably want to know about Bill's site.