# Ed Zotti, please turn on the poll feature **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 10, 2009, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541 "2009-09-10T11:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/61 "2009-09-14T12:14:54Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > I hate when the polling feature is activated on other message boards. Thats one of the nice things about here. No clutter like polls or avitars. I don’t see how a bar graph at the top of a thread could be considered clutter. Certainly not at the level of avatars. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/62 "2009-09-14T14:53:58Z")
Me neither. In fact, it is clarifying. Compare the bar graph to manually counting up the responses. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/63 "2009-09-14T19:11:43Z")
The way to find out whether polls cause a performance hit, or anything else undesireable, is to turn them on and see what happens. It’s not as if they couldn’t be turned off again. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/64 "2009-09-14T19:16:39Z")
Damn you practicalists! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/65 "2009-09-15T02:27:57Z")
I have a poll that needs tallying for all the people that don’t see a problem running polls manually. I got sick when it was running and only tallied about 2/3 of the poll. I had the poll closed at that point. Please tally and give the results as an example of how little effort it is. I would very much like the results. > **[Poll Please. Topic not given in title to better sample people.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=522927)** > > I ask if you open this thread to answer a yes or no to the poll answers. Please no opinions or comments. Definition of people you know to be someone you have met face to face at some point and interacted with on a regular basis. Did you know... ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/66 "2009-09-21T10:36:13Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I have a poll that needs tallying for all the people that don’t see a problem running polls manually. I got sick when it was running and only tallied about 2/3 of the poll. I had the poll closed at that point. Please tally and give the results as an example of how little effort it is. I would very much like the results. > > [Poll Please. Topic not given in title to better sample people. - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=522927) I am pro poll feature but because I like to do boring thankless tasks (and I’m a nice person)I will have a go for ya anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GuiriEnEspana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GuiriEnEspana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuiriEnEspana)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/67 "2009-09-21T17:10:52Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I have a poll that needs tallying for all the people that don’t see a problem running polls manually. I got sick when it was running and only tallied about 2/3 of the poll. I had the poll closed at that point. Please tally and give the results as an example of how little effort it is. I would very much like the results. > > [Poll Please. Topic not given in title to better sample people. - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=522927) I tallied 212 Responses Q1: Yes: 40, No: 172 Q2: Yes: 50, No: 162 Q3: Yes: 51, No: 161 Q4: Yes: 68, No: 144 ---
**Author:** ![GuiriEnEspana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GuiriEnEspana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuiriEnEspana)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/68 "2009-09-21T17:49:00Z")
I’m far too new to give an opinion on whether polls should be turned on or not but I can offer some suggestions on how the poll posted by Harmonious Discord could have been quite easy to tally. Adapt a couple Dolores Reborn’s rules for The Feud and only accept answers in the format: 1. Answer 2. Answer 3. Answer 4. Answer where “Answer” is Yes or No. Add a note inviting further comments to be added after the 4 answers have been given. Then simply copy and paste all the replies into Excel, sort them A-Z and you’ll be able to see how many “1. No” and “1. Yes” answers there were and so on for questions 2, 3 and 4. For the purpose of tallying, ignore all other comments and any incorrectly formatted replies. I don’t know if this can be applied to all polls but once the OP has an idea of how the poll is going to be tallied, s/he can give specific instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/69 "2009-09-22T00:08:40Z")
> [@GuiriEnEspana](#): > > I tallied 212 Responses > Q1: Yes: 40, No: 172 > Q2: Yes: 50, No: 162 > Q3: Yes: 51, No: 161 > Q4: Yes: 68, No: 144 Thank You:) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541/70 "2009-09-23T11:29:58Z")
Just to close the loop for history, this feature has now been enabled, at least as a test to see if there’s any impact on timing, bandwidth, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-zotti-please-turn-on-the-poll-feature/509541.md?page=3)