# The Polling feature is enabled. Here's how to use it **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109 "2009-09-22T18:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/21 "2009-09-22T19:35:12Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > You can’t out-wit me with fancy words! > > [L'esprit de l'escalier - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27esprit_de_l%27escalier) > > ☹ > > (I’m doing that all the time too. Or more to to be more precise I think of a ‘cool’ way of dealing with a situation while I’m walking away from it, too late) I find myself thinking about that fairly often, such that I was thrilled when I found a good descriptor for it. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/22 "2009-09-22T20:09:58Z")
FYI to Zogby wannabes: On some other boards, polls are automatically flagged with “POLL” in the thread title. This doesn’t seem to be the case here. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/23 "2009-09-22T20:12:04Z")
Fantastic new feature! ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/24 "2009-09-22T20:27:27Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > FYI to Zogby wannabes: On some other boards, polls are automatically flagged with “POLL” in the thread title. This doesn’t seem to be the case here. You sure about that? I see ‘Poll:’ before the title, on the thread list page. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/25 "2009-09-22T20:36:46Z")
Yes, I see that…hmmm, I didn’t see it in my thread title originally. Time for the reading glasses I guess. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/26 "2009-09-22T21:09:48Z")
“Lurk in the background, reading the results without voting.” I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/27 "2009-09-22T21:12:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It worked! And if you click on the number, you can see who voted for what. Cool. > [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Remember (as I described in the instructions) that whoever creates the poll can turn that feature on or off. I thought that poll results would be kept confidential. This is a gross violation of my privacy and I hope that the Powers That Be will take immediate steps to rectify the situation. In the meantime I am instructing all posters to this thread to avoid reading which option I voted for. This is the kind of information people will be using to make me the victim of identity theft and I for one **will not stand for it!!!** ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy8467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Cowboy8467](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy8467)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/28 "2009-09-22T22:51:05Z")
I thought the “bitch and moan” option was looking a little lonely. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/29 "2009-09-22T23:22:08Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I thought that poll results would be kept confidential. This is a gross violation of my privacy and I hope that the Powers That Be will take immediate steps to rectify the situation. In the meantime I am instructing all posters to this thread to avoid reading which option I voted for. This is the kind of information people will be using to make me the victim of identity theft and I for one **will not stand for it!!!** Okey-dokey. Have a seat then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/30 "2009-09-23T00:02:36Z")
Bitch and moan is tied for last? Apparently the poll feature is full of bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/31 "2009-09-23T00:05:29Z")
“Bitch and Moan” wasn’t an original option, so it has had less chance of being chosen. To usher in the new era of polls, maybe someone can start another ATMB thread bitching and moaning about how they don’t like the colors of the results or they don’t like the limit of options or something equally mundane. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/32 "2009-09-23T00:19:04Z")
Now that I can vote, I voted for bitch and moan…because that’s what I did. Will there be a corollary to “Hi, Opal” about polls with only two options? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/33 "2009-09-23T01:17:29Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Okey-dokey. Have a seat then. Harrumph. Back in my day we were given fainting couches. ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/34 "2009-09-23T18:14:41Z")
I plan to bitch and moan, but only because it’s by popular request. (Hey, when did I become popular?) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/35 "2009-09-25T03:18:01Z")
[Screw up my first attempt to use the new Polling feature and ask a Mod to close it while I’m covered in embarrassment.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533441) ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/36 "2009-09-25T15:22:42Z")
I have noticed polling here and elsewhere doesn’t always ask the right questions. In this case, in the OP, it jumps from ‘answer everyone’ to ‘lurk’. There is no opportunity to answer 'sometimes answer, sometimes not. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/37 "2009-09-27T08:08:02Z")
Meh, who cares? And to show how little I care, I didn’t even vote. Seriously, it’s a shiny new toy, and it’s going to be annoying until the novelty wears off, so I’m going to avoid all **other** polls until then. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/38 "2009-09-27T16:38:00Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Meh, who cares? And to show how little I care, I didn’t even vote. > > Seriously, it’s a shiny new toy, and it’s going to be annoying until the novelty wears off, so I’m going to avoid all **other** polls until then. You’re one of those people who _cares_ enough to point out that they don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/39 "2009-11-03T20:41:20Z")
I came up with this notion independently about a half century ago. Now two people have gotten this idea onto [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com): “There is often a vast gulf between how people say they behave and how they actually behave. … The fibs might even be subconscious, with the subject simply saying what the surveyor wants to hear.” - _Steven D. Levitt, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, along with former New York Times Magazine editor Stephen J. Dubner_ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109/40 "2009-11-03T22:32:23Z")
Hey, you forgot option “X”! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-polling-feature-is-enabled-heres-how-to-use-it/511109.md?page=3)