I find that often I would like to contribute an opinion in a thread asking for such and after seeing some number saying the exact same thing I would have I just avoid posting.
Polls give me an easy way to have expressed that opinion if they are asking the right question(s) and providing the right choices.
So this thread is a combo of the two ideas, and you can do both if you like.
I’m even providing an Other for you to say even more in the poll section, whether you want to post and say so or not.
What I don’t get is when people vote in a poll and then go down to the thread discussion to tell everyone how they voted–and nothing else. The whole reason for the poll function is not to have to tally a bunch of posts that are effectively “me toos.” Do you really think the Board is specifically interested in which shoe you personally put on first in the morning, for example?
No, we aren’t. Only the aggregate of the poll is interesting. Sorry.
Good points. Perhaps the thinking is that before the poll structure we have available today was instituted (2009, was it?) that whatever polling was done was left to the OP (or somebody else interested in the counts instead of the reasons) to do the tallying. I know I did a lot of that sort of thing on topics I really had an interest in.
Now that it’s “automated” people may be forgetting that the count’s being done for them and just want to be sure their voice is heard/seen.
We do seem to get some amazing questions to be polled on, don’t we? I really love it when one of the options gets 99% of the vote and one or two renegades (Disciples Of Palin?) cast their vote for the ringer option.
Well, I have to wonder in those cases: “Did the framer of the poll expect something different? More disagreement?” In general I wonder what the true motivations are for many of the polls that come up here.
I do, too. Even with the least sensible ones I’ve seen though, I don’t mind voting. And I try my best to be truthful as much as I can. I mean, I don’t know whose life will be changed by my answers. You know?
I said other, because it depends on the question. If it’s something like how many kids do you have or how old are you, then poll all the way. But for anything that’s more of an opinion, I prefer a thread. It’s too easy just to vote and leave when it’s a poll, and I find it more interesting when people explain their choice in those cases.
Are you referring to the one about how you fold your pillow case, or the one about your preferred pizza toppings? Because when I saw how you in particular responded to those I had to completely re-think my worldview.
However, I was thinking of the ones about which finger goes on top when I clasp my hands. (You know, I have some trouble remembering which of those “public polls” are more revealing about my privacy, and there are even times after I hit “Vote Now” or “Submit Reply” that I think of moving or changing the phone to an unlisted number or having a sex change or joining the Marines or slitting my own throat.)
But then I feel better when I realize it’s all for Science and I rest easier.
Good answer to a vague situation. My own guess is that 9 out of 10 or 19 out of 20 of the polls I’ve seen are easily and completely answerable with just the poll vote and moving along. And 1 out of 10 or 20 times isn’t a bad ratio to get drawn into a serious discussion of some non-trivial issue.
I would also say that I have been surprised (maybe even perplexed) by some fair percantage of the polls we’ve had here. I like the idea a lot and am glad we have the option.
I have even been tempted to make a poll of the polls I have put up and ask which one(s) has/have been most valuable. But that seems too egotistical, so I don’t.
I like polls because I like seeing hard data. And when it’s close, I like to watch the horse race in progress.
I find, though, that polls tend to drop off of the radar quicker than discussion-only threads; not sure if this is entirely true, but it sure seems so.
mmm
I agree with this. Some questions are simple and are well-served by a poll, to get lots of answers quickly without discussion. But so many of the poll threads get interesting when people start explaining their answers, or, more often, explaining why they’re picking “other” or its equivalent. For things like “what kind of pet do you have”, it’s nice to see the tally from the poll, but it’s also neat to have someone post that they chose “none of the above” because their pet marmoset didn’t fit into the categories.
So here I am, choosing “other”, to say that it depends entirely on the sort of question being asked.
The more complex polls usually just demonstrate how little the pollster has thought about the question at hand. You see their two preconceived answers, a couple of nearby straw men, and maybe an “other” choice. If the question is interesting I’ll post an answer, but that’s almost certainly a poll I won’t vote in. I see no point in encouraging bad thinking.
Forty voters’ opinions aren’t quite enough to say this is a landslide, but I feel comfortable with the notion that most Dopers prefer to give their opinions with a vote in a poll, as opposed to having to spell out the details of why their opinion or taste is as it is.
No disrespect to the Other comments and the relative few who do like to expound on their foundations for their stance, but I would encourage future Thread Starters who want to sample the SDMB for opinions, that they strongly consider a poll with the invitation to discuss further details by way of follow-up posts. But that really requires the poll to be clear and comprehensive if more than a Yes-No, Pro-Con, Black-White answer is possible.
I invite further debate on interpreting the votes here.
I also want to thank those who have braved a “public poll” to make their preferences known.
Instead of starting another thread on the issue, I’ll just ask here:
Would a thread listing as many “automatic” polls (where the votes are counted for you by the software) as we can get, be of any value to you?
I suspect there are hundreds of them by now, and, in case you weren’t aware of it, unless you post in a thread were you voted in its poll there’s no record kept of your having been there: it won’t show up in a Username Search.
Such a master list of polls, with links perhaps, could allow you to look back at older polls on a topic you might be tempted to “re-poll.”
