# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 370
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7382 "2025-07-04T03:11:01Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Have polls been disabled? I use to click the gear to select Build a Poll, but now the gear has been replaced with a plus sign (+) with no way to build a poll. Click the plus sign, then scroll down in the menu that appears. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7383 "2025-07-04T10:12:25Z")
No poll option for me. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7384 "2025-07-04T10:22:42Z")
[![](https://images4.imagebam.com/fc/0e/91/ME13CPJX_o.jpg) ](https://images4.imagebam.com/fc/0e/91/ME13CPJX_o.jpg) This is the desktop version on SD Dark. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7385 "2025-07-04T13:39:05Z")
Yeah, the gear symbol has been replaced by a plus sign, which seems to have the same options that the gear did. I was going to put this down as ‘yet another case of changing terminology for the hell of it, thereby confusing everybody for no good reason’; but then it occured to me that the plus sign is maybe actually clearer than the gear symbol was. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7386 "2025-07-04T17:54:32Z")
Don’t look at this until you vote in the Mermaid’s Purse poll. [Egg case (Chondrichthyes) - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_case_(Chondrichthyes)) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7387 "2025-07-04T18:26:45Z")
I’d never heard of a Mermaid’s Purse. I voted as such but also that I took a wild guess at its meaning. My guess was very wrong, and my mind is apparently firmly rooted in the gutter. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7388 "2025-07-04T18:31:01Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I’d never heard of a Mermaid’s Purse. I voted as such but also that I took a wild guess at its meaning. > > My guess was very wrong, and my mind is apparently firmly rooted in the gutter. I thought about putting a disclaimer saying it was nothing dirty but then decided to let minds go where they were going to go. I spent a lot of time at the shore. We used to find these pretty often. For a very long time I didn’t know what people called them. Until well into adulthood I thought they were seed pods for some sort of seaweed. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7389 "2025-07-04T18:33:03Z")
I’m not looking through 600+ posts for the previous poll to see what, if anything, I voted at the time. Search function didn’t find Mermaid’s Purse anywhere in the thread (despite my having copied it from the current post in that thread in order to paste it into the search function.) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7390 "2025-07-04T18:35:53Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > For a very long time I didn’t know what people called them. I have just found out that they are called that, but I’ve seen them in the beach too, without knowing exactly what they were. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7391 "2025-07-04T18:53:10Z")
It is referring to the immediately preceding post. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7392 "2025-07-04T18:56:51Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > It is referring to the immediately preceding post. I didn’t bury it. It would have been pretty strange if I was referring to something 300 posts ago. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7393 "2025-07-04T20:44:21Z")
Being a marine Biology major and interested in the beach and tidepools at an early age, yes, I knew what it was. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7394 "2025-07-04T22:46:11Z")
AI seems to be 90% accurate, unfortunately there is no change in demeanour or sense of absolute certainty for the other 10% so I don’t trust it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7395 "2025-07-04T23:45:29Z")
I put it at 60%. It’s probably more but often there’s at least some small bit wrong. At least with the Google AI it will give a link to where it’s pulling it from. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7396 "2025-07-05T00:21:57Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > It is referring to the immediately preceding post. Ah. I misunderstood. Possibly because I thought it might be vaguely familiar if there had been a post about it some time significantly earlier. – I don’t know what percentage of the time AI is wrong; only that it’s wrong too often to be trusted. And I’m not sure what is, and what isn’t, a “general information question.” ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7397 "2025-07-05T01:34:00Z")
I knew what I mermaid’s purse was before I saw the poll, but I admit I only learned what they were a few days prior. I just happened to see a post about them from the National Park Service on social media a few days ago. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2025, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7398 "2025-07-05T06:11:12Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Until well into adulthood I thought they were seed pods for some sort of seaweed. I voted that i knew what it was, and in fact, the picture is exactly what i thought it would be. But i only just learned that it’s the egg case of an animal, and not the seed pod of a plant. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7399 "2025-07-05T14:12:12Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I put it at 60%. It’s probably more but often there’s at least some small bit wrong. At least with the Google AI it will give a link to where it’s pulling it from. I chose 20%, mainly to be a bit curmudgeonly, but the real point is that frankly even at 80% it would still be virtually worthless and pointless to consult the things, so I would indeed not use them at all (so 0% usage if that was polled). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7400 "2025-07-05T18:09:39Z")
I’d never heard of a mermaid’s purse, and I’ve never seen anything that looked that images in that Wiki link. And I used to spend a ton of time at the beach. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7401 "2025-07-05T20:02:17Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I put it at 60%. It’s probably more but often there’s at least some small bit wrong. At least with the Google AI it will give a link to where it’s pulling it from. I found one issue- Google AI will scan top posts on the subject, and if they are wrong, the AI is wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=369) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=371)