Polls, and why we don't like them.

F3A wrote:Whu hasn't anyone answered the question as to why you have to have permission before posting a poll?

Otto did answer your questions. To paraphrase, he said "Because you, as a user, are not intelligent enough to make lofty decisions like poll topics, you must seek The Mighty Forum God's approval."

-r

A related question: Most forums will allow me to vote in polls, but a few (MTA Metro-North, Amtrak) say "You cannot vote in polls in this forum". Why?

This place is not a democracy, as some would have you believe. It is the property (physical and intellectual) of a few people. If they say no polls, to the people, that's that. If you have a really fantastic idea, for a poll, PM the admins., and present it to them. Or, you can go to the forum, where the poll MIGHT be relevant, and ask the mod, to post it for you. I agree, that polls about "favorite color for a cut-lever grip", would quickly clutter up the site. Besides, you can open a thread (about cut-levers), in the appropriate forum, make your observation/comment, and see what follows. Here is an idea, for a poll. "How many people think a poll, is wasted space". The other site I belong to, runs polls, and they are really not contributing to the addition of info, but rather, the "me too" kind of stuff, that the "Big-Three" want to discourage. Ten pages of "me too" quickly fills up space, on the servers, and slows down what might have been time used, for gaining/distributing info! Just a thought, Regards

My experience has been that polls that I have both seen and conducted as part of my Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report have resulted in a response that wouldn't even be significant if the group population were the entire universe.

For example: 3000+ people in a e-list group, and 15 responses to a poll. In fact, there have been cases where there has been more activity talking about the poll than actually voting in it.

The only exception I have personally been involved with was a survey I did as part of the UMTRR on a particularly volatile subject. My response rate was over 20% of the readership... and I had to spend a lot more time than I thought compiling those responses.

Even that 20% isn't statistically significant, since the respondents "self-selected" into the survey.

If polls were not going to be available at all, then I might gripe. I don't have a problem with regulating them, because for me personally, they haven't added that much to the forums where I've seen them used.

I can appreciate the argument about not wanting to pay for bandwidth that basically doesn't have much content.

Sheesh, 3 replies so far, & still no one answers my question -- maybe no one knows?

Sorry, K'man, I don't know why you can't do that. Might be for the reasons already stated. Try to start one, in the FEC forum, just to see if you get the same message. (my forum, I will watch it "internally") I would think it's going to be the same on every board, if "The Powers that Be" have the boards set-up that way. I accept what they say, as it's really up to them, what flies, and what doesn't. As mentioned, those polls aren't real contributions, to the board, and don't get a lot of responses, excepting the "me too" kind of stuff. You will get the same info, but with an explaination, by asking the question that you want to have polled. People will tell you WHY they are voting a certain way, if you give them a chance. Just a thought. Regards

Hi Keotaman--
I go to several forums that use this same phpBB format, and I've always understood the "you cannot vote in polls" message to only be there if you're not registered, or not logged in. As soon as you log in, then the ban is lifted. There isn't a forum-by-forum policy about this, as far as I know--"can vote" or "can't vote" applies to the site as a whole.

Thanks Alloy & GOLDEN-ARM, I appreciate your answers.
I didn't want to start a poll, just wondered why I had no right to vote in one if it were there.
I ran a quick check, again, using the Employment forum:

logged out:
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

logged in:
You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You can edit your posts in this forum
You can delete your posts in this forum
You can vote in polls in this forum

Then, logged in to Amtrak forum:
You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You can edit your posts in this forum
You can delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

All the forums, as far as I know, work as Employment shown above, except for Amtrak & Metro-North -- maybe they were particular abusers in the past.

Not a big thing, it's just that "inquiring minds want to know."

No, it's that the mods encharged of those forums originally didn't wan't polls in their forums, and also polls like Otto said, take away from the actual discussion, I don't mind having no polls.

I don't know why you can't vote in polls already established. Try asking the webmaster.

-otto-