# IMHO description

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-description/572947>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 28, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-description/572947 "2011-02-28T18:11:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-description/572947/1 "2011-02-28T18:11:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> For frank exchanges of views on less-than-cosmic topics. This is also the place for polling.

> [@](#):
>
> frank  
> –adjective
> 
> 1. direct and unreserved in speech; straightforward; sincere
> 2. without inhibition or subterfuge; direct; undisguised

[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/frank](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/frank)

But this poll doesn’t fit that description:

> [@](#):
>
> Choose your dictator
> 
> * * *
> 
> Who would you rather have as an absolute dictator:
> 
> Gaddafi
> 
> Dick Cheney
> 
> Commissar
> 
> Kim\_Jong-il
> 
> Assume that the leader you choose will rule, absolutely, over your country for 20 years - they will not be overthrown or have their power diminished, they will not die or retire, their mental faculties will not deteriorate or improve.
> 
> Please be honest. Thanks.
> 
> eta: you may not leave the country, and if you don’t currently live there, you must return

> **[Choose your dictator](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598770)**
>
> Who would you rather have as an absolute dictator: Gaddafi Dick Cheney Commissar Kim\_Jong-il Assume that the leader you choose will rule, absolutely, over your country for 20 years - they will not be overthrown or have their power diminished,...

> [@](#):
>
> Moderator Note
> 
> * * *
> 
> Darth Panda, including another poster in this thread/poll is tantamount to an insult. If you’d like to seriously conduct a poll on this topic, please open a new thread without including the name of another poster. I’m closing this one.
> 
> Ellen Cherry  
> IMHO Moderator

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13515396#post13515396](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13515396#post13515396)

I posted the poll because I was interested in finding out if **Commissar** ’s posts had convinced people that his brand of dictatorship would be preferable to that we’ve seen from other people who have been dictators during recent times. I was also interested to see how these options would compare to a recent somewhat-reviled western figure (the other 3 tend to be ‘anti-west’). I didn’t consider the inclusion of **Commissar** to be an insult to him, since he does favor dictatorial forms of government (based on my reading of his posts) and has indicated a degree fondness for one of the other options.

I didn’t make any derogatory statements about him or any of the other figures, I just wanted to know how others would react. And, indeed, some posters voted for **Commissar** (over 20%).

I don’t see how this isn’t a frank disucssion of non-cosmic issue (with a poll). It isn’t intended to insult **Commissar** , it’s intended to satisfy a curiosity. (For analogy, my inclusion of Dick Cheney isn’t meant to compare him to Gadaffi, it’s meant to represent another option and see how people react to it).