Should we limit polls to the polls section?

we have a polls section?

important polls should go on the main page if people actually want responses to them since the polls page gets little traffic. too bad importance is all subjective and newbies will keep polling the same subjects.

True, Your Holiness

Feck no. Keep 'em here and everywhere.

get rid of them, why do you think there's little traffic in the poll section? nobody cares that's why!

I agree - put them all in the polls section, which is what it's there for. Snoutcounting is tedious, and the opinion of others frankly doesn't interest me in the slightest (excuse the arrogance). CTB

All polls should be on the Polls section as they are a waste of time and I need never visit it. 'Fave NO Album', 'Worst NO album' Jesus H. Christ. And what the fuck is an 'important' poll? 'What do you think Bernard's favourite colour is?', 'Have you ever bought a New Order record?', 'Do you think the version of Temptation mixed by Dick Head is better than the version Dick Head did that was 4.0000007 seconds shorter?'. Personally I am not in favour of polls.

My problem is what do the results exactly signify when all the votes are counted? A hypothetical example: "39% of NOOL'ers believe that Technique is NO's best album". It very well may be, but what happens when you're one of the 61% that prefers another album? Now, if the results had some sort of meaning, it might be different, but otherwise, what's the point?

It is true the the polls do stir discussion around the subject in question, and thus, not all of them are worthless, so it's not easy to just nix these. I think my reaction was when it seems to have gone overboard, like now.

Maybe the pollsters should ask themselves: What's wrong with silence when there's nothing to talk about?

I don't think there's an easy technological solution to this either. About the best thing I can suggest is to force poll creation in the main thread to be moderated, and let the moderators determine if they're worthwhile, and then either to offer to let the user wait for their decision or to have it go forward in the polls forum.

all voloutary surveying is flawed for a simple reason.

In your example above, what the result actually states is... "39% of NOOLERS with a prediliction for responding to polls think that...."

I put my unimportant polls on the SOTN forum and worthy NO related polls here.

No, I don't mind the polls in here. They will eventually be moved to the SOTN polls forum anyway. The problem with putting ALL polls in that forum is that they will not get as much feedback as if they were initially in this one. Some people just avoid SOTN but if presented with a poll in Digital Republic, they'll vote and comment. So of course the poll creator will want to maximize means to generate feedback and as long as it's relevant to NO and people enjoy it, then what is the harm?

I can understand when a poll seems uninteresting or unimportant - but that is subjective. I just skip over those threads (poll or otherwise) that don't appeal to me. The subjects may have been covered before but also keep in mind the search function is still unavailable. I liken this topic to what's on TV or radio. If you don't like what you see or hear on one channel or station, then don't watch/listen to it! Find one that interests you and let the others be.

All in all, I think Nic's got it right.

By the way, what is "snoutcounting"?

"Snoutcounting" comes from Harry Turtledove's "Colonization" series, and is the invading lizard-like alien species derisive term for voting.

Anyway, the folks who care enough to vote (as Steve Campbell rightfully points out) are evenly split on this issue. I think all I succeeded in doing was making the problem slightly worse. Funny how life works like that.

And Some Distant Memory's comment suggests the pollsters know exactly what they're doing...maybe what we need is a Poll Tax. :D

Richard Latanville wrote: I put my unimportant polls on the SOTN forum and worthy NO related polls here.

You've done a worthy one? Must have missed that!

The Happy One wrote: "Snoutcounting" comes from Harry Turtledove's "Colonization" series, and is the invading lizard-like alien species derisive term for voting.

Anyway, the folks who care enough to vote (as Steve Campbell rightfully points out) are evenly split on this issue. I think all I succeeded in doing was making the problem slightly worse. Funny how life works like that.

And Some Distant Memory's comment suggests the pollsters know exactly what they're doing...maybe what we need is a Poll Tax. :D

No Poll-ination without representation!

Besides, 76.48327% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

i wonder if we could get john snow to do a poll of polls,then maybe he can explain with the use of graphics what direction we are swinging on this one

oldmonkey wrote:

Richard Latanville wrote: I put my unimportant polls on the SOTN forum and worthy NO related polls here.

You've done a worthy one? Must have missed that!

Some Distant Memory wrote: No, I don't mind the polls in here. They will eventually be moved to the SOTN polls forum anyway. The problem with putting ALL polls in that forum is that they will not get as much feedback as if they were initially in this one. Some people just avoid SOTN but if presented with a poll in Digital Republic, they'll vote and comment. So of course the poll creator will want to maximize means to generate feedback and as long as it's relevant to NO and people enjoy it, then what is the harm?

I can understand when a poll seems uninteresting or unimportant - but that is subjective. I just skip over those threads (poll or otherwise) that don't appeal to me. The subjects may have been covered before but also keep in mind the search function is still unavailable. I liken this topic to what's on TV or radio. If you don't like what you see or hear on one channel or station, then don't watch/listen to it! Find one that interests you and let the others be.

All in all, I think Nic's got it right.

By the way, what is "snoutcounting"?

Surely this is fair enough what some distant is saying...Why are some so anal about it? Does it matter anyhow?

I voted yes.

As long as the polls generate discussion and are directly about NO they should, I reckon, stay here.

I'm off to start another poll on ver Republic...