# Can Mods or Admins see how you've voted on anonymous polls? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 10, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266 "2019-02-10T03:39:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/21 "2019-02-12T00:23:35Z")
No, it’s not something that keeps me up at night. But as a general rule, I don’t give people information if I don’t know why they want it or how they will use it, even if I don’t see an immediate risk. (The PETA thing was a joke, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/22 "2019-02-12T01:56:52Z")
I kind of like it when polls are public, it allows some more weight to the replies. If the majority of the people are voting option X, but a much higher proportion of the dopers voting for option Y are those whose opinion I generally respect, it allows more consideration over what the poll results mean. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/23 "2019-02-12T02:43:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > For me, it’s just policy. I don’t vote in public polls, period, regardless of how mundane they may be. Maybe I’ll change my mind in the future, or maybe I ticked the wrong choice accidentally. Best just to avoid the whole thing. Hmmm, then it looks like someone is hacking your account. Because a “Siam Sam” did vote in these. > **[Toilet Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536537)** > > Frankly I’m a little surprised this hasn’t popped up as a poll before. Well? > **[Hottest of the televison geek girls.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=541752)** > > Public poll, no set ending date, one answer per respondent, blah blah blah. Bear in mind that we’re not assessing the hotness of the actresses, but of the characters. Below you will find safe for work images of all the damsels in question. You may,... ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/24 "2019-02-12T16:16:53Z")
In a private poll, each poster has a choice to make their vote private (by simply voting) or public (by voting and posting what the voted). In a public poll, there is no choice–if you want to vote, it must be public. Making a poll be public is imposing your privacy preference on any would-be voter. Making a poll be private is allowing would-be voters to control their own privacy. For myself, I stop reading once I see a poll is public. I feel if the poll-poster doesn’t care enough about my privacy, I don’t care enough to participate. If a poll is private, I at least consider responding. But I don’t vote in any poll that I’d be embarrassed about. Each vote is recorded on the server and I don’t think it’s encrypted, so someone can view it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/25 "2019-02-13T23:42:37Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I kind of like it when polls are public, it allows some more weight to the replies. If the majority of the people are voting option X, but a much higher proportion of the dopers voting for option Y are those whose opinion I generally respect, it allows more consideration over what the poll results mean. This is also true. I generally find poll results more interesting if I know who voted. > [@Pleonast](#): > > In a private poll, each poster has a choice to make their vote private (by simply voting) or public (by voting and posting what the voted). In a public poll, there is no choice–if you want to vote, it must be public. Making a poll be public is imposing your privacy preference on any would-be voter. Making a poll be private is allowing would-be voters to control their own privacy. > > For myself, I stop reading once I see a poll is public. I feel if the poll-poster doesn’t care enough about my privacy, I don’t care enough to participate. If a poll is private, I at least consider responding. But I don’t vote in any poll that I’d be embarrassed about. Each vote is recorded on the server and I don’t think it’s encrypted, so someone can view it. Serious question – are there many polls here where there is any privacy concern? I get that a poll about whether you were raped, or whether you smoke pot might be sensitive. And there are certainly topics where I wouldn’t vote in a public poll. But every time you post anything, you are giving strangers information about yourself. If the poll is about “what do you call this kind of road?” or “what is your opinion of this suit’s plaid?” I honestly can’t imagine what the privacy concern might be. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/26 "2019-02-14T00:42:01Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > This is also true. I generally find poll results more interesting if I know who voted. > > Serious question – are there many polls here where there is any privacy concern? I get that a poll about whether you were raped, or whether you smoke pot might be sensitive. And there are certainly topics where I wouldn’t vote in a public poll. But every time you post anything, you are giving strangers information about yourself. If the poll is about “what do you call this kind of road?” or “what is your opinion of this suit’s plaid?” I honestly can’t imagine what the privacy concern might be. I’ll ask it back of you - why do you want to know how specific posters voted? What insight to do you gain into someone if you know Poster X prefers plaid? There must be something you learn about a poster, if it’s of interest to you to know who voted which way, and people have their own reasons for not wanting someone to know some tidbit of info. I’m sure there are people on this board who think that someone who wouldn’t wear plaid is a stodgy old fuddy-duddy, and there are other people who don’t want to be thought of as such. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/27 "2019-02-14T00:51:38Z")
Well, why do you want to learn _any_ poll results? If there’s value (of some sort) to be had in knowing that 73% of Dopers prefer plaid to polka dots, then surely there’s the same sort of value to be had in learning what each individual Doper prefers. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/28 "2019-02-14T00:58:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, why do you want to learn _any_ poll results? If there’s value (of some sort) to be had in knowing that 73% of Dopers prefer plaid to polka dots, then surely there’s the same sort of value to be had in learning what each individual Doper prefers. That’s obviously untrue. Why are election ballots secret? There is great value to knowing how people as a group vote. If 73% like plaid, I can see how I fit in with everyone else. The reasons I would want to know individual results could be nefarious (e.g., targeting them for their beliefs), or so I could categorize them in some way, or just idle curiosity. But in a public poll, I can’t decide that only the last category gets to see my results. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/29 "2019-02-14T01:47:59Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > That’s obviously untrue. Why are election ballots secret? Because they’re important, they want as much participation as possible, and making votes public will dissuade potential voters. You could even argue that making polls public effectively disenfranchises certain groups. There is also the potential for real life problems resulting from others knowing how you voted. Polls on this board are silly things done for entertainment, to spur conversation on the subject, and/or to satisfy curiosity. They aren’t important and most people are posting on this board using anonymous identities anyway. There’s not nearly as much of a need for privacy. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/30 "2019-02-14T15:12:58Z")
If you’re trying to understand why some people don’t participate in public polls, I’m happy to continue to try to explain my view. If your goal is to convince me that you don’t see a problem with it and therefore no one else should, then there’s not much sense in more discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/31 "2019-02-14T16:02:59Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Serious question – are there many polls here where there is any privacy concern? I get that a poll about whether you were raped, or whether you smoke pot might be sensitive. And there are certainly topics where I wouldn’t vote in a public poll. But every time you post anything, you are giving strangers information about yourself. If the poll is about “what do you call this kind of road?” or “what is your opinion of this suit’s plaid?” I honestly can’t imagine what the privacy concern might be. Yeah, I wouldn’t vote in even a private poll for either of the first two questions. The key thing is that voting in a private poll is not posting on the forum. So I can contribute statistically to a question without revealing anything about myself. But that’s not an option in a public poll. We each have our own lines for what we wish to keep private. Public polls do not respect those lines, while private polls do. Even if it’s a question I don’t mind publicly answering, a public poll preempts my privacy choice. It’s okay for others to create public polls, but everyone should be aware that some fraction of posters here avoid them. If maximizing responses to your poll is important, you probably want to make it private. If accounting for everyone’s response is more important, then make it public. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/32 "2019-02-18T20:56:46Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > But… why? If you changed your mind about cheese vs pepperoni or whatever or if you accidentally checked the wrong box – who cares? > > Ah well, agree to disagree I guess. Maybe I should post a poll asking whether you’d vote in a public poll or not 😛 > > I’m not trying to change your mind and get you to vote in public OR private polls. I rarely vote in either. But I just don’t get this particular reason to avoid public polls, but it seems to be a very common one. Just my policy. Policy is policy. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266/34 "2019-11-01T23:18:37Z")
Reported. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mods-or-admins-see-how-youve-voted-on-anonymous-polls/829266.md?page=1)