Is it allowable to have polls voting on how users are regarded, or is that “don’t even go there” territory?
Not sure I understand what you mean here.
We certain appreciate everyone who is a member of the Straight Dope community, couldn’t have a community without users. We’re grateful for 'em. Surely that’s not what you mean.
I think he’s taking about something more like:
Is Oakminster a nice guy?
A. Yes, he rocks.
B. No, he’s an asshole.
C. Fool of a Took*, you forgot _________
*Stolen from Skald the Rhymer who got it from some fantasy novel about a ring
Never mind.
B!
Jus’ Joke! (As we used to say in Hawaii) 
Somebody had to do it.
I’m also confused, but I assume that you mean a poll of the type that Oakminster mentions? I can’t see how that’s anything but a personal insult, which would not be permitted in any of the forums that allow polls.
Or were you thinking of a poll where each of the vote options was a different poster? (Who’s your favorite mod: twicks, Dex, gfactor, tomndebb…)
That, too, seems like an invitation to stir up bad feelings for no good reason.
Lumpy – could you come back and spell out a little more clearly what you have in mind?
What Oakminster said.
In that case, I think we’d need to handle each request on a situation-by-situation analysis. My gut feeling is that such a poll would involve personal insult and so not be allowed; however, I don’t want to make a blanket ruling. For instance, a poll such as:
OK, so there’s no personal insult involved. Does that mean we’d allow it? I suppose; we’d need to discuss it. I don’t know that it accomplishes much, though.
Sorry to get into the technical details, but the question is interesting to me.
Devil’s advocate: In the case of the hypothetical Oakminister poll, the OP is NOT making an insult. There’s only an insult to Oak IF someone picks the negative option. Why assume that anyone will vote for that option?
Would there be a difference if the voters’ picks were public vs. not?
If you’re assuming no one will vote for one of the options, why include it?
And no, I don’t see any substantial difference between a public and a private vote in such a poll.
If you start a poll with “pro” options, and no “con” options, you’re not really learning anything with the results. People that believe “con” can’t/won’t participate. For example:
Do you think kittens are:
- OMG SQUEE!
- Cute widdle fuzzy-wuzzies
- YAY for Kittens!
All the available choices are really the same for practical intents and purposes.
That was pretty much my point, albeit from a different approach. I was saying (or trying to, anyway) that if you’re either not expecting a negative answer under your premises [your example], or if the mods have made it clear that we wouldn’t allow for a negative answer because it would be troublemaking [my example], why run the poll?
If the poster himself or herself is the one who runs the poll, why wouldn’t it be the same as asking his real-life friends? Tell me truly:
Is Sigmagirl:
(a) Too judgmental?
(b) Really funny, or is she just kidding herself?
© Overly worried about what other people will think about her?
(d) Practically perfect in every way?
If you don’t have a friend handy to tell you you’ve told that damn story about the skateboard and the jello once too often, you turn to the Dope and ask.
Hmm. I dunno, Sigmagirl, I think the mods will have to discuss this one. Unlike the other examples, I can see arguments for this. We’ll get back to you.
I feel this is a very bad idea myself.
The only way I can see this working is to enable polling in the Pit.
Regards,
Shodan
Not. A. Chance.
BTW, not asking you specifically but everyone who thinks this is a good idea – why is it the majority of the creativity is devoted to ways of inflicting injury on other people? Y’all could probably find a cure for cancer with all the energy expended on finding cute ways to annoy and harass and insult others.
I hope I didn’t offend you - that was very far from my intent.
I don’t see very many ways that a poll Pitting me (for instance) would be significantly worse than a normal Pitting. Maybe I am unusual in that way. I imagine a good many of the polls in the Pit (if you enabled such a feature - I have no opinion on whether that is a good idea or not) would be set up like:
*Poll about Shodan:
Is he [list=A][li]A jerk []An asshole []A troll []All of the above[/list][/li]I don’t find that significantly more offensive than the usual run of Pittings.
Well, that’s what the Pit is for.
I would like to think I spend a significant amount of what creativity I might display on the SDMB on something other than insults.
I feel like I have hit a sore spot, for which I apologize. It was just speculation.
Regards,
Shodan