This comment from the Authors Deserve to get Shafted thread caught my eye:

I also could never understand how Venus Press popped up and managed to gain the #1 Best Publisher spot in the P&E poll that year, when they hadn’t even published a single book up until that moment.

I remember thinking the exact same thing at the time. I think I may even have gone as far as suggesting to the owner (D.L Tyler was it?) that Venus Press had blatantly cheated, which she obviously wasn’t too happy with, and if I recall, correctly, threatened to sue me. Nothing new there then.

Seriously though, like the useless cheerleading squad that is EPIC, what is the point of the Pred Polls? Especially when the voting system can be manipulated so easily.

It makes a mockery of the whole effort, when a brand new publisher like Venus Press, can beat out the likes of Elloras Cave, to claim the coveted title of publisher of the year.

I must admit, these days when I see the Preditors and Editors winner insignias on e-publishing sites, I’m inclined to navigate elsewhere.

No matter how much they improve the voting system, I fear I’ll always remember that they let the cheating scum at Venus Press take the piss out of them.

What do the Pred Polls mean to you?