# Finding polls you voted in but didn't post to the thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 9, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675 "2011-12-09T22:43:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/1 "2011-12-09T22:43:58Z")
Does anybody know a quick or simple way to check for this sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/2 "2011-12-10T05:15:42Z")
I can’t think of a way to do it for private polls, but for public ones if you put the following in Google ```auto site:http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/poll *username* ``` it returns all the polls _username_ has voted in (poll results page). Additional search terms can be tacked on as usual, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/3 "2011-12-10T14:18:22Z")
> [@HardlySanguine](#): > > I can’t think of a way to do it for private polls, but for public ones if you put the following in Google > > ```auto > > site:http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/poll *username* > > ``` > > it returns all the polls _username_ has voted in (poll results page). Additional search terms can be tacked on as usual, of course. Thanks much! I tried it and got… > [@](#): > > About 273 results (0.16 seconds) …which is at least ballpark if not dead on. I may try to think of one it missed, but perhaps this is enough to start a thread on “How many polls have you voted in?” or something. At worst I can go see which of the ones I have voted in have had the most voters. I already started that thread but it seems not to have been very interesting to others. **HardlySanguine** , you’re special! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/4 "2011-12-10T14:45:07Z")
I have yet to locate an exception to what appear to be _public_ polls returned in my search. Those where my username wouldn’t be visible to anyone clicking on the “show results” link, may not have made the Google list. That’s logical, of course, for a search algorithm to key on. On the other hand, the board software has to have stored something tied to _username_ to be able to show in the results line “You have already voted in this poll” or similar wording. In such polls my username is italicized. So there’s that bit that Google may be using perhaps. Any ideas there? Any “private” polls show up in your list? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/5 "2011-12-10T14:55:35Z")
You could also just hit “Thread Tools” then “Subscribe” then click on the “No Email Notification” choice and “Add Subscription” button. Then when you click on “User CP” at the top the thread will be there if it’s been updated (List Subscriptions down the left side will show all your subscriptions regardless of if they’ve been updated recently). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/6 "2011-12-10T15:10:36Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You could also just hit “Thread Tools” then “Subscribe” then click on the “No Email Notification” choice and “Add Subscription” button. > Then when you click on “User CP” at the top the thread will be there if it’s been updated (List Subscriptions down the left side will show all your subscriptions regardless of if they’ve been updated recently). I may not be following what you say, but it looks like one would have to have done those steps in every poll he or she had voted in, in order to recover all the polls (private included) one had ever voted in. What I’m trying to find a way to do is to produce a count (a list would be even better) of all the polls where I only voted and didn’t post to the thread. The “Who Posted?” data doesn’t show voters who didn’t post. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/7 "2011-12-10T15:26:46Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I may not be following what you say, but it looks like one would have to have done those steps in every poll he or she had voted in, in order to recover all the polls (private included) one had ever voted in. > > What I’m trying to find a way to do is to produce a count (a list would be even better) of all the polls where I only voted and didn’t post to the thread. The “Who Posted?” data doesn’t show voters who didn’t post. Then, no, I don’t know. I was just saying that if you’re trying to find things that you voted in but didn’t post to, the easiest way to do it is to subscribe to the thread and follow it that way. Subscribing is the easiest way to follow a thread. I’ve never used it, but I think from within the subscriptions, you can create folders, so if you subscribe to other types of threads, you could have one folder just for “Polls I’ve voted in but not posted to.” If you’re trying to do something different then I’m not following. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/8 "2011-12-10T22:06:14Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > On the other hand, the board software has to have stored something tied to _username_ to be able to show in the results line “You have already voted in this poll” or similar wording. In such polls my username is italicized. So there’s that bit that Google may be using perhaps. > > Any ideas there? Any “private” polls show up in your list? The board software, sure. But I doubt that information is searchable by us peons\*. Using Google to search private polls someone has responded to isn’t feasible (as it should be - it wouldn’t be private, otherwise!). When you or I click on a link to browse an SDMB page (and we’re logged in) the SDMB servers sends us unique information - what text should be in italics, for example. Google search works by Google crawling around the internet loading websites and storing (indexing) keywords that will hopefully match a user’s search string. So when we search Google, we’re searching webpages as every non-member might see them. (And interestingly, Google doesn’t even seem to be indexing the poll results pages for private polls. Odd.) Also take the number of search results with a grain of salt, **Zeldar**. There are likely duplicates and/or omissions. \*I’m curious to know if moderators or administrators can see what users voted on in private polls, in casual browsing. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-polls-you-voted-in-but-didnt-post-to-the-thread/605675/9 "2011-12-10T22:14:59Z")
Good words, **HardlySanguine** , that make good sense. Thanks.