# Responding Versus Voting in a Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 1, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331 "2020-02-01T14:11:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/1 "2020-02-01T14:11:52Z")
There is a thread in IMHO inquiring about snoring. At 6 a.m. on Saturday it had 27 responses listed but 82 votes in the various categories. How can that be? I, perhaps foolishly, assume the vBulletin software prevents more than one vote per user. I’ll also mention that it has never occurred to me to vote more than once in a poll. What’s the scoop? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/2 "2020-02-01T14:25:31Z")
> [@ASGuy](#): > > I, perhaps foolishly, assume the vBulletin software prevents more than one vote per user. I’ll also mention that it has never occurred to me to vote more than once in a poll. It does and you can’t. But posting and voting are not the same thing. You can vote once - you can post as many times as you wish. So none of those 82 voters may have posted, or some of them may have posted multiple times. One is not tied to the other. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/3 "2020-02-01T14:29:27Z")
I don’t snore so I voted no. I didn’t think there was anything about it worth commenting on. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/4 "2020-02-01T16:25:50Z")
Thanks **Tamerlane** for the scoop. **rsat3acr** , I guess my inquiry only goes to prove that yahoo’s like me can come up with something about the most trivial subject. Or maybe I’m just thinking outside the box. Yeah, I’ll go with option B. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/5 "2020-02-01T21:48:12Z")
There’s plenty of polls I’ll vote on and don’t want to post on. I’ll vote for my favorite Star Trek series, but I don’t usually want to get a pile on for liking Voyager. Or, like my poll on Democratic fundraising, it is pretty much assumed that Bernie Sanders will win it, so I can understand people not wanting to just be an echo ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/6 "2020-02-01T22:37:15Z")
Sometimes I post and don’t vote (none of the choices really describe what I think) and sometimes I vote and don’t post because other than casting my vote I really don’t have anything to add. And since the two are not linked in this software I get to be happy almost all of the time. Unless the poll doesn’t include pie in which case I will be slightly annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/7 "2020-02-01T23:37:09Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > There’s plenty of polls I’ll vote on and don’t want to post on. I’ll vote for my favorite Star Trek series, but I don’t usually want to get a pile on for liking Voyager. It’s wise in that particular scenario. I too sometimes vote without posting or vice-versa. I may post to point out a flaw in the poll, or suggest an option not listed in the poll, or otherwise explain why I didn’t opt to vote. And sometimes I vote and don’t really have anything productive to add to the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/8 "2020-02-02T01:55:33Z")
I think I once actually voted in an SDMB poll. Can’t remember for sure, though. If I did, it’s been many years. I do occasionally post in poll threads. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/9 "2020-02-02T16:43:42Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > . . . sometimes I vote and don’t post because other than casting my vote I really don’t have anything to add. There are people who will post to say nothing more than how they voted in the poll. Apparently they don’t understand the whole purpose of a poll. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/responding-versus-voting-in-a-poll/847331/10 "2020-02-04T22:58:48Z")
I do believe that voting brings threads back up to the top, just like posts. So I could see assuming that votes count as posts. I personally find it rare that I have nothing to say in a poll thread. If the topic is interesting enough for me to vote, it’s enough for me to want to discuss my answer or discuss a subtopic brought up in the comments. The rare times I don’t comment, it’s usually because someone has already said what I would say, and I can’t even think of anything to add or even put my own logic into.