# Private vs Public Polls

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-vs-public-polls/549958>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 11, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-vs-public-polls/549958 "2010-08-11T18:10:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-vs-public-polls/549958/21 "2010-08-12T21:23:07Z")

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> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> I don’t think I made the poll on “is action X cheating” private.

That was a reasonable choice, given how you feel. Does the strong slant in this poll (about 50% choosing among the top three choices) change how you will set up your future polls? I could see you going either way, depending on what kind of people you want to (or don’t want to) encourage to respond.

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**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-vs-public-polls/549958/22 "2010-08-12T21:25:33Z")

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> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
> >
> > I don’t think I made the poll on “is action X cheating” private.
> 
> That was a reasonable choice, given how you feel. Does the strong slant in this poll (about 50% choosing among the top three choices) change how you will set up your future polls? I could see you going either way, depending on what kind of people you want to (or don’t want to) encourage to respond.

For the things that are entirely hypothetical (“If you realized that Skald was actually a super-villain intent on destroying Cardiff, would you shoot him, stab him, or join his ranks?”) I’ll stick with public responses. I may do more private responses for opinion matters.

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**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-vs-public-polls/549958/23 "2010-08-13T01:04:16Z")

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> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> > [@Antinor01](#):
> >
> > I don’t check to see if a poll is public or private, but prefer public. One of the tenets of this board is standing by what you say, so why bother voting if you don’t want to do that.
> 
> I generally make my polls public, but my polls are generally about entirely hypothetical situations or are intentionally silly. If I were to start a poll on, say, whether board members have had an abortion or ever would, I’d choose the private option. And I have declined to vote in polls because they were public and I didn’t want to share that bit of information about myself.

I might decline in that sort of circumstance myself, but I’d be just as likely to skip such a poll regardless of the public/private setting. I realize I don’t have the same sense of a need for privacy that a lot of members here do, but whatever works for different people.

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