In this thread much discussion can be found on the topic of “zombie calling” in resurrected threads. Opinions range from “They’re hilarious and promote bonding” to “They’re tolerable but unfunny” to “They’re rude and unfunny and chase away new members.” The discussion was so far ranging that it was difficult to determine whether any consensus or near-consensus could be reached.
So, a poll will follow to allow anyone interested to express their opinion and be counted. If I get this right, then the answers will be public, and multiple answers will be allowed.
The way these are worded, a lot of them are exclusive. But, given the multiple choice nature, I ignored that, and chose all the positions I would be okay with. If you don’t want to check, that means everything except the top option and the bottom option.
Banning people from having fun is dumb, and I do think a poll can be useful, even if it’s not really going to tell you what the board as a whole thinks. And it lets people say what they want quickly. It may not be useful, but there’s no reason it cannot be.
Out of curiosity: You just expressed an opinion in sentence form. In a poll, you express an opinion by clicking a pre-written choice. You must see a difference. What is it?
Zombie references are pretty stupid and should be dropped, but I don’t see a need to ban them. Maybe shame those that always pop in with lame old jokes.
Shodan has set a template that may be useful. First he welcomes the newcomer to the Dope. He then mentions how it’s been years since the creation of the thread and therefore there might not be much future activity in it.
After feigning that he is saying goodbye for now, he refrains from putting on an angst show over whether to make a zombie joke. He instead warmly invites the newcomer to make a joke about zombies. And in case this confuses the newcomer, he drops a link to this thread.
I am not sure that I did express an opinion. Enjoying the kerfuffle surrounding the Zombie Issue is not the same as enjoying zombie jokes in zombie threads. There may be an implied correlation and people are welcome to assume.
While in this case I might not have a problem with people knowing my opinion, I made a considered decision to stand firm on my policy of never voting in public polls.