Yeah that’s one way of looking at it.
But what percentage does the average poster tend to annoy? I’ll be generous here and say the average poster only tends to outright annoy other posters is 15%. (I actually think it’s much lower than that. But for the sake of argument…)
So by that standard, 34% is pretty damn high.
You betcha.
There are currently 1,609 views of this thread.
Current website Members: 169,293
Current website Active Members: 5,242
By those standards, a total of 34 members is pretty damn low.
If anyone on this board wants to annoy me specifically, start signing your posts as follows:
Your obedient servant;
(your username)
Gives me PTSD, it does. :shivers:
Fair enough. But I explained it, so now you know better.
Unless you want to persist in the belief that this is about a completely nonsensical crusade against the specific word “regards”, and not about being annoyed by sign-offs in general. Up to you.
It’s a sample, that’s what polls are. It would be unrealistic to assume that every single active member of this board is even aware of this thread.
Annoying 34% of the people surveyed, is still high.
The point is, it is not valid to draw any conclusions about the opinions of the posters on the SDMB as a whole from such a tiny sample size.
Two things: That quarry one is pretty stupid. Hard to beat that. Secondly, some might not want to give old S (fill in the rest) the satisfaction of reglistering their annoyance.
Also, not that it proves anything at all, but the poll is single-choice. So it doesn’t mean that the other respondents aren’t annoyed by the third option. Just that they find one of the other options *more *annoying. 
It was the quarry for me because the first several times I saw it I had no frame of reference and no idea what the hell it meant.
Why not? This has been a standard process decades.
Why else would news media bother to do polls if it meant nothing?
(Underline added)
The poll is what the poll is.
The Moderator Speaks:
Let’s go down to the quarry and throw stuff in there!
Regards, S----- (Finish the name yourself)
Shakes annoys me the most.
Only one of these choices could be considered a sign-off. Clearly, the poll wasn’t about sign-offs. It’s about annoying board memes (and there’s some question about whether these even qualify as memes).
Moses and the Israelites? All of them? They ganged up on this dude?
Hey, as I said, feel free to continue believing whatever you believe. If it makes you happy to think that a certain percentage of posters on the SDMB, for some unknown reason, hate the word “regards” irrespective of context, and take a black marker to it in every dictionary they find, go ahead. Whatever makes you feel good.
What’s in it for you? No idea. But, again, go ahead. I won’t stop you.
I’ll just take it as an instruction in how people cling to ridiculous interpretations for incomprehensible reasons, when a perfectly sensible one is readily available. That might explain a lot of things about society and the world in general.
I’m also not stopping the user in question from doing what he wants. I’m just saying what I, personally, find (a bit) annoying. I’m providing one (1) data point, for that poster’s consideration.
Are we cool?
Reglistering?
Of course, some might not care enough, either way, to voice their opinion on the matter. That’s life.
A poll asking if anyone might be slightly angry or upset about four selections chosen by the OP is supposed to be cheeky and fun. 
Annoy -
verb
› to make someone slightly angry or upset:
I know you’re doing this only to annoy me.
I’m cool. 
Your explanation suggests that the four choices were sign-offs. Your explanation is flawed, but it is readily available.
Your interpretation of my interpretation makes exactly as much sense as your first interpretation of the issue.
But keep believing this one, too, by all means.
Or, you’re being disingenuous for kicks. It seems to be popular. But maybe I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and not suspect malice when something else is a possibility.
On the other hand, again, I guess which interpretation I will pick of your interpretation of my interpretation will depend on what seems more sensible. So you do the math.
BTW: Too bad that there isn’t a third option where you come out looking good.
Are you sure that you’re replying to my post, or did you mean to quote someone else’s? Because your reply doesn’t relate to anything I wrote. I didn’t condemn the word “regards” as such, nor did I argue that it shouldn’t be used to close a personal or business letter.
A public forum is not akin to personal or professional correspondence; it follows an entirely different etiquette and tone. To treat it as if it were something that is not, shows at least a lack of social perception, unless it is done in full knowledge, in which case it’s a sign of lack of sincerity or outright mockery. It alludes to a level of formality that is wholly inappropriate. It’s like addressing your boss as “your majesty”. The expression could express deepest reverence, in the correct context - but it only conveys sarcasm when in the wrong context. No-one does that, unless they’re oblivious of social conventions, or they want to provoke.
Take a moment to consider the adjective “tiny.”
Also, polls are undertaken to ensure that the smaller sample is as ethnographically similar as possible to the larger cohort being represented, and if it isn’t to weight it appropriately. A voluntary Internet poll of any kind does not do this.
Only by people who don’t know or don’t accept the definition of the word by the man who coined it.