After reading the thread below, I see that it is a bit outdated, I didn’t want to revive it. In it TubaDiva is pretty much saying that a lot of the VB features are server intensive, but it was never said that the polling feature directly is server intensive. Is it really? I just don’t see how it could be, but I suppose it can be with this many people on the SDMB server. So what about now, after the upgrade and all, is it still up for consideration? Maybe we can turn it on up until after Nov. 2 just for kicks?
Everything that vB uses is server intensive, as all functions use server resources.
We have chosen to concentrate what resources we have on the main business of this board, which is the reading and writing of posts.
We also do not want to further burden our moderators with the task of having to handle polls. They have their hands full just taking care of posts when action needs be taken.
We especially don’t want to open up something that would be a focus of a lot of heat like political polling. We’d like to get a little bit of sleep between now and election day, if you don’t mind.
I don’t believe having the polling feature will change that. The only difference is that it would be laid out in a neat and orderly fashion. When people ask a “poll” currently in IMHO, “Who likes popcorn?”. It’s still a poll, but hard to gather an understanding of everyone’s position on it. If the thread goes 5 pages deep, gathering that info can be very clerical. But with the polling option, I can tell right away.
Pardon my ignorance for this response, I’ve never been a mod… With that said, how would moderating the polling feature be any different than moderating the regular “poll” threads that we often get in IMHO? If it’s a matter keeping an eye on polls in every forum, I can see that as being a burden. That’s why I propose keeping the polling function in IMHO, or GD only. One or the other.
Forms of political polling already exist in GD and the BBQ PIT, I really cannot see how it could get anymore heated then it already is. The SDMB rules are already pretty clear on this, “Don’t be a jerk!”.
Also, I must say that I really like how this board is laid out. I like that people cannot have Avatars. I like the limitation on smilies. I like that you use the basic form of VB to make things easier to read without all the crazy graphics. But I don’t understand why there couldn’t be a polling option in at least one of the forums, except for the server resource thing. Is there a way to gauge how much resources it would use? Would it bring the server down to crippling speeds, or would we even notice it at all?
I agree, adding of polls would be a valuable asset to the SDMB, as long as it were kept to IMHO. This way, we would eliminate the 20 “Me too” posts when the first poster says that of course they like X. What’s harder on the server, a “Me too” post or a poll? And if this polling thread (sans actual poll) reaches 5 pages, is it more intensive to have all of those posts, search through them, display all 5 pages of them when someone goes through only to find “Me too” posts; or is it better to simply have a count at the top of the thread that a poll can provide?
Sheesh… I think my reasoning was laid out pretty well. I don’t know what I said to have warranted that response. I’m not sitting here screaming that I want this board to revolve around how I think it should be or anything like that. I’m simply saying that a polling option would be valuable as Lockz mentioned. You make it sound as if I’m trying to make the SDMB change the backround color from white to black or something.
Again, I’m sorry that we’re not able to fulfill your request. I’d like to be able to do lots more for our members; unfortunately, the resources are simply not there for us to do that.
Remember when the “you have posted in this forum/thread” option was turned on and the board ground to a halt? Implementing actual polls would likely cause a similar problem. Each segment of bar for the graph is a seperate icon and each poll would use memory to keep track of how each member voted. That’s loads of memory which would probably be of better use elsewhere.
