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Topic: Polls, Polls, and More Polls (Read 7241 times) previous topic - next topic
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Polls, Polls, and More Polls

HA's polls used to be few and far between, but they were usually about something for which a poll might be of some use. For example, a program developer might want to know which format should be his first priority to support, or Dibrom might want people to vote on an "either-or" modification to the site.

But now there are new polls every day for all sorts of meaningless stuff, like "What brand of toothpaste makes your teeth the sparkliest?" (only it usually comes out like "What audio coder makes your music sparkliest?"). Sure, I could just ignore the polls instead of complaining about them, but it's just one more thread I have to compulsively read. It's like reading one of those un-funny comics in the newspaper; it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, like when I discover that the milk in my cereal has been sitting on the counter for a few days, or I just slept through my math midterm.

I'm tempted to enact a poll asking HA denizens whether they think there are too many superfluous polls, but my girlfriend says I can only be hypocritical once a week. What does everyone else here think? Am I a codgy old scrooge, or am I not alone on this matter?

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #1 –
Quote
I'm tempted to enact a poll asking HA denizens whether they think there are too many superfluous polls, but my girlfriend says I can only be hypocritical once a week. What does everyone else here think? Am I a codgy old scrooge, or am I not alone on this matter?

Right, I don't like it either when every newbie question has to be modeled into a new poll...
ZZee ya, Hans-Jürgen
BLUEZZ BASTARDZZ - "That lil' ol' ZZ Top cover band from Hamburg..."
INDIGO ROCKS - "Down home rockin' blues. Tasty as strudel."

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #2 –
I agree with you in that people are too quick to create polls when standard topics are enough. Compared to the excessive number of polls I see at other forums, however, this place doesn't have it that bad.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #3 –
Hrmm.. this is a good point.  Since I've been so busy with other things for the last few weeks/months, I've kind of let some of this type of thing slide.  Perhaps I should make it to where polls can only be created in the poll forum, and that they are moderated (have to be approved before showing up).

What do you guys think?

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #5 –
I wholeheartedly agree to this point. No point having useless polls.
-=MusePack... Living Audio Compression=-

Honda - The Power of Dreams

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #6 –
Well, this has become only recently somewhat an issue imo. Yes, maybe we should make it so, that polls are allowed only in the polls-forum and should be moderated first.
Juha Laaksonheimo

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #7 –
Shall we have a poll about this first to see what the majority of the users thinks?





*ducks*

JUST KIDDING!!!!

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #8 –
Yes, please require moderator approval of polls. I don't see anything wrong with having polls in their forum of interest, but I guess there's no harm in making a dedicated poll forum, either.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #9 –
But seriously, since polls appear on the portal front page, it really should be moderated, just like news, to prevent abuse.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #10 –
Why should a poll require pre-approval unlike other posts? A poll thread is just a thread. It doesn't receive any special priority by the Invision software.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #11 –
Definitely need a poll to see if we we need a poll to.........................

auldyin

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #12 –
Quote
But seriously, since polls appear on the portal front page, it really should be moderated, just like news, to prevent abuse.

Polls don't appear on the portal front page now, unless specificly selected.
Juha Laaksonheimo

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #13 –
Well, useless polls can be deleted without deleting the actual messages.. Maybe we should allow poll posting to all forums, but with the pre-moderation. The poll-part can be deleted if it's not justified..
Juha Laaksonheimo

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #14 –
Well, I'm not irritated by poll's anyway, but if there should be any restriction - I prefer the option - first moderate them. If you put polls only in a special part of the forum, its difficult to find them, they are quite normal threats anyway.

and if its irritating for ppl that they show up on the frontpage, maybe its possible to not let them to...
[span style=\'font-family:Arial\'][span style=\'color:red\']Life Sucks Deeply[/span][/span]

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #15 –
Excessive polls are irritating, especially ones that lead to audio-format wars. If anything was to become from the data then a poll can be useful, but tallying users opinions on every level seems meaningless for a forum like HA.
"Something bothering you, Mister Spock?"

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #16 –
Ever since the "What is your most favourite <bla> of all time?" polls, being off topic, have vanished from the front page, they don't irritate me anymore. Maybe if a separate poll forum were created, we woulds get the following situation: "normal discussion" threads that do not require a poll, yet have one, become less in the regular forums and actual polls with less "discussion potential" will flourish in the poll forum without provoking too many responses, so that valuable information is kept in the regular forums while poll-lovers can easily locate new polls they haven't voted on. I do think that requiring mod approval for each poll is overkill. Interesting polls should still be selected by mods and put on the front page.

Maybe I'm being idealistic.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #17 –
Actually there has been a separate poll forum from the beginning. It just hasn't been so much in use. Or it has, but the other polls in other forums kinda make it less defined..

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=3
Juha Laaksonheimo

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #18 –
Quote
Perhaps I should make it to where polls can only be created in the poll forum, and that they are moderated (have to be approved before showing up).

What do you guys think?


I agree.
"Did you just say he contacts you through a bird? Did I just hear you say that?" Sonny Valerio (Cliff Gorman). Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #19 –
I don't agree with a blanket policy of moderating polls (do we really want to go down that road?) but do agree they should be moved immediately to the "off-topic" forum (if called for in the judgment of a moderator), and probably shouldn't show up on the front page unless they are fully on-topic & relevant.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #20 –
I don't think polls should be moderated, just let them be in their own category and maybe the moderators could make a few important ones show up on the portal page. The HA crowd has proven to be mature enough for self-regulation, I believe ever since the problem with the many poll threads came up it has been drastically reduced anyway. This is not your average kindergarten forum, it has quality members and it shows! They know how to behave, just give them a few hints
So much music, so little time...

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #21 –
and while we're at it. How about closing Polls after 1 or 2 weeks?

As it is the old polls pop up every once in a while cause a new user might think they're recent.
--
Ge Someone
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #22 –
SometimesWarrior has a good point, and Gecko a good solution,

here is my contribution (suggestion):


Polls appear by default in the off-topic section, and IF a moderator thinks they are interesting, they could be moved over to the real poll section...

BTW I dunno who came up with the off-topic forum idea, but it was terrific 
Let's use it for polls as well 

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #23 –
Quote
and while we're at it. How about closing Polls after 1 or 2 weeks?

'Concluding' polls after a certain time seems a good idea !
1 or 2 weeks is way to short    ( what about 1 - 2 months?    )

Polls, Polls, and More Polls

Reply #24 –
I've got another idea to handle "excessive POLLution":

Add a choice "This poll is pointless, convert it to an ordinary topic!" to all polls by default.

If it's chosen let's say more than 50% (counting starts at maybe 20 votes to prevent "unpolling" by the first few voters) it's converted to an ordinary thread.
Let's suppose that rain washes out a picnic. Who is feeling negative? The rain? Or YOU? What's causing the negative feeling? The rain or your reaction? - Anthony De Mello