# SDMB polls **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 16, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812 "2001-10-16T20:57:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/1 "2001-10-16T20:57:49Z")
It occured to me that a forum dedicated to polls that can be generated by members, vetted or not by moderators, and allowing for instantaneous updates of results might be of interest to the members. Of course I’m thinking of those types of polls available to the general public at the news sites. Of particular interest to me is to compare the attitudes of dopers with that of the general public, on a quantitative basis by repeating polls that are available at the news sites. Any interest or suggestions? Technically feasible for SDMB? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/2 "2001-10-16T21:48:25Z")
Well, we’d probably need to enable HTML to that. And given our past experiences with HTML and crackers, that ain’t gonna happen any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/3 "2001-10-16T22:07:36Z")
I seem to remember that **Opal** (Hi!) commonly does polls on her web site … Not to volunteer her, but maybe we could do something like that, with the poll itself on a different site? ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/4 "2001-10-17T03:43:00Z")
People have posted polls here in the past. Usually they have a free site and some free poll sortware. I think [Homesteads.com](http://Homesteads.com) has stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/5 "2001-10-17T04:11:46Z")
I think that these polls take up a lot of bandwidth, and tax the server…anything that puts an additional strain on the server will NOT be implemented without a really good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/6 "2001-10-17T05:04:12Z")
The newest version of this bulletin board software has a “poll” feature, but would still tax the server. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/7 "2001-10-17T05:08:16Z")
We don’t plan to upgrade this software any time soon, unless we have a really, REALLY good reason to. Each time we upgrade, we have to get Jerry the overworked tech to tweak the MB. And frankly, he’s got enough on his plate right now. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/8 "2001-10-17T12:45:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*The newest version of this bulletin board software has a “poll” feature, but would still tax the server. \*\* Although it is a moot point, since the SDMB is not likely to be upgraded anytime soon, the vBulletin polls that you see on the UnaBoard tax the server much less than having people post “me too” or “nope” repeatedly. It was one of the reasons that they were added to version 2.x. It is _possible_ to back-fit polls into vBulletin 1.x, but I imagine there is no interest in that. ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/9 "2001-10-17T13:55:58Z")
The beauty of the external polls that have been done, the ones using somebody’s homepage, is that they require no SDMB resources at all. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-polls/87812/10 "2001-10-17T15:06:01Z")
I don’t think we should be singling out the Polls, after all, just because people live in Warsaw is no reason to … Um? What? Oh. \< blush \> Sorry.