# The other Tie Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988 "2011-04-28T03:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/1 "2011-04-28T03:00:06Z")
This is just for fun. Let’s try to make this poll a tie–that is, make the options have as even a vote distribution as possible. BUT YOU CAN’T LOOK AT THE RESULTS BEFORE YOU VOTE. I mean I can’t enforce that, but it would make it pointless. So just vote and let’s see how close we get 😃 (This is what I thought of when I saw [The Tie Poll](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606098)) (You know, this really more belongs in MPSIMS…) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/2 "2011-04-28T03:38:48Z")
Oh, and if you haven’t voted yet, please vote before reading the thread, in case we mention how the results are shaping up. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/3 "2011-04-28T03:50:57Z")
Before I voted, there was a two way tie for second…and I correctly picked one of them. So there’s now a two way tie for first. I think if the third option were “Hi, Opal!”, it would have won in a landslide. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/4 "2011-04-28T04:04:18Z")
The prevailing wisdom is that when in doubt answer C is most likely to be correct. So I must choose C. But in this situation the right choice is the wrong choice, so by choosing a wrong choice I will increase my odds of it being the right choice. So I can clearly not choose option C. Surely no one would pick the first option as that is too obvious, so option A must be my choice. But this being an intelligent board, many would recognize the obvious tendency to avoid the obvious, thereby necessitating their unexpected choice of the obvious. So I can clearly not choose option A. This brings us to a logical conclusion. B must be my choice. But the mere fact that this conclusion was reached through logic alerts us to the illogicality of choosing it. So I can clearly not choose option B. However, the illogicality of choosing option B is exactly the type of logic needed to be successful. So clearly I must choose Option B. ETA: Dang ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/5 "2011-04-28T04:59:32Z")
It’s kind of an interesting experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/6 "2011-04-28T05:25:08Z")
Before I voted, there was a tie for second. I broke that tie, so I guess I “chose wisely”. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/7 "2011-04-28T07:50:48Z")
Well, I picked one of the ones that is behind. I thinkg too many people are picking #2 specifically because #2 is often least picked in a group of three. I went with #1. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/8 "2011-04-28T10:46:24Z")
I rolled d6. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/9 "2011-04-28T14:17:42Z")
We have a current tie for first, which is good. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/10 "2011-04-28T14:21:30Z")
Well I helped out the one that was behind. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/11 "2011-04-28T14:39:48Z")
I voted C, and it’s the lowest, so I’m helping. I guess there’s some reverse psychology given who the OP is, and the third option! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/12 "2011-04-28T14:44:32Z")
Yep, I guessed that the last one would have fewer votes, and my vote bumped it (the lowest score at this point) up by one. I did begin to get into the mental spin of “but what if everyone’s picking C because no one usually picks the last answer?”, but I squashed it and went with my gut. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/13 "2011-04-28T16:36:00Z")
Given the OP, I was **compelled** to pick the third option. No hesitation about it. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/14 "2011-04-28T17:45:56Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yep, I guessed that the last one would have fewer votes, and my vote bumped it (the lowest score at this point) up by one. > > I did begin to get into the mental spin of “but what if everyone’s picking C because no one usually picks the last answer?”, but I squashed it and went with my gut. Yeah, me too! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/15 "2011-04-28T17:52:33Z")
It has to come out pretty much even, doesn’t it? Everyone’s going to second and third guess their picks, but overall there’s no fundamental reason why it wouldn’t approach 33/33/33 after infinite picks. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/16 "2011-04-28T17:52:47Z")
Such a strong showing for the third option makes me suspect a good third of us take the contrarian view on things. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/17 "2011-04-28T18:01:33Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Such a strong showing for the third option makes me suspect a good third of us take the contrarian view on things. Well, I’m contrary enough that I didn’t read the OP before responding to the poll. I did, however, check what the results were, and selected the one with the lowest number of votes. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/18 "2011-04-28T18:03:53Z")
We did a slightly more complicated version of this before with “Let’s Make a Bell Curve”. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=555494&highlight=curve](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=555494&highlight=curve) It worked. Assuming people aren’t cheating, it is a pretty interesting experiment result. People are collaborating to meet a goal when they have no knowledge of what the others contributed and there is no reason to choose one over the other except for intuition. I smell a Nobel Prize. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/19 "2011-04-28T18:43:05Z")
I just tied up options 1 and 2. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988/20 "2011-04-28T18:47:18Z")
I just untied 1 and 2. Dammit, I thought 3 would be the most popular. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-other-tie-poll/579988.md?page=2)