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Subject: Polls damage discussion in threads.
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Posted by: Halcylon
Agree or Disagree...

Needs a poll.
And then the 'Why?' is lost.

  • 07.25.2012 11:55 AM PDT
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So what, if you get more text when you don't post a poll? What if I don't care why you prefer one choice or another? What I just want to know the general consensus? And how much help does all the text give when many of the user's responses and arguments are generally exactly the same?

If someone has something they wish to say, they'll say it; if they don't, they won't. One reason why I don't bother with a lot of threads that are lacking a poll.

  • 07.25.2012 11:58 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: Izak609
So what, if you get more text when you don't post a poll? What if I don't care why you prefer one choice or another? What I just want to know the general consensus? And how much help does all the text give when many of the user's responses and arguments are generally exactly the same?

If someone has something they wish to say, they'll say it; if they don't, they won't. One reason why I don't bother with a lot of threads that are lacking a poll.
The point of a forum is to discuss things. If you don't care what people have to say on the subject, why are you on a forum to discuss that thing?

[Edited on 07.25.2012 12:04 PM PDT]

  • 07.25.2012 12:04 PM PDT


Posted by: DeeJ
In terms of managing a community, I have always found polls to be an effective means of arriving at a consensus. They are also a good vehicle for soliciting input from lurkers who don't want to explain their opinions at length.


The difference is people feel compelled to respond to your polls because they actually (usually) have a visible effect on the community. Whether it be a photo contest or something to do with Mail Sack, when you post a poll it's usually for a reason and people feel the need to respond to you because you have fancy colored text. And it happens when mods post polls too. When average community members post polls, all it really does is overly simplify the possible responses to the OP.

While I do agree with whoever above said the key to discussion is a good OP, I think the vast majority of the time polls just kill threads.

  • 07.25.2012 12:07 PM PDT

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Posted by: Breadisgood91
You should have added a poll to this thread.

  • 07.25.2012 12:15 PM PDT

Posted by: TopWargamer

Posted by: Breadisgood91
You should have added a poll to this thread.
It would have damaged discussion.

  • 07.25.2012 12:20 PM PDT

I am a Floodian

What the difference between someone selecting "yes" and someone posting "I agree?" Practically, there isn't a difference other than the latter bumps the thread. I think that makes polls helpful for discussion because they limit the clutter by limiting one word or single phrase answers.

[Edited on 07.25.2012 12:31 PM PDT]

  • 07.25.2012 12:24 PM PDT

Ah, someone leaked. Now to find the leak and.... plug it.
With justice.

I use coup 5
Never Played halo 1 = Invalid opinion
Bloom isn't whats broken, its your idea of what good is and your opinion
Thats like saying uber nerf armor lock because like 20 percent of the community hates it. Oh wait..................

Yes they do, Which is why each vote should be worth .5 of a post when it comes to keeping a topic on the front page.

  • 07.25.2012 12:25 PM PDT
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Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
The point of a forum is to discuss things. If you don't care what people have to say on the subject, why are you on a forum to discuss that thing?

Because there is more than one topic in these forums, and some topics I am not as interested in. Because there is a limited amount of arguments that can be made for and against a subject, and I don't want to read through the same five+ paragraph essay saying the exact same thing. Because I visit these forums for a good time, not to answer your question that merely attempt to deconstruct the weakest and most irrelevant points of my post.

  • 07.25.2012 12:26 PM PDT
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WyIdfyre: 'lol, who the hell would even wear those?'
AuSam: 'lol, who the hell would even have sex with dogs?'

-K-

Steady on.
At no point in this thread have I claimed polls are bad, or serve no purpose. I've simply posed a statement.

First of all, I have nothing against polls, and I'm not backing change in their form on this site at all. They're great for quantitative data, provided they're used correctly, and like other users have said, they'll display a general concensous if one is in existence.
But look at this thread. It's a hot topic, has two pages of expanding, relatively solid discussion. Would you all have contributed as much to it if I had given you a simple Agree/Disagree poll? I wanted to create a thread which warranted discussion, and I think this has produced a good measure of it.

  • 07.25.2012 12:48 PM PDT

Key


Posted by: Izak609
Because there is more than one topic in these forums, and some topics I am not as interested in. Because there is a limited amount of arguments that can be made for and against a subject, and I don't want to read through the same five+ paragraph essay saying the exact same thing. Because I visit these forums for a good time, not to answer your question that merely attempt to deconstruct the weakest and most irrelevant points of my post.
If you can't be bothered to read responses, don't make a thread. If you were talking about just reading others' threads... I'm still not sure why you're on a forum if you don't want to read. It seems to go against the whole point of being on here.

And what do you mean the weakest part of your post? The part of your post about not being bothered to reread boring and overused posts and ideas is the majority of the post I quoted, and the majority of the one I'm quoting now. I tried to respond to what I thought was your main point.

[Edited on 07.25.2012 12:50 PM PDT]

  • 07.25.2012 12:49 PM PDT

Me gusta


Posted by: edableshoe
They should count to helping bump a thread, even if it's only half as much as a post. But you are correct there, they do in fact hurt threads, especially in The Flood.


I do like this idea. But on topic yes polls do ruin threads.

  • 07.25.2012 1:52 PM PDT

The world is not beautiful: And that, in a way, lends it a sort of beauty.

~Kino's Journey

Polls tie the discussion to the OP, now as bad as derailing can be, it often leads to the best discussions/threads.

Polls need to go.

[Edited on 07.25.2012 1:54 PM PDT]

  • 07.25.2012 1:53 PM PDT

Key


Posted by: Verachi
What is stopping people from doing that now? We get those type of responses all the time, I don't believe it would change too much with what I posted. If people are spamming they'll eventually get banned and hopefully they'll learn their lesson.
Nothing is stopping them from doing it now, but if someone is forced to compose a post that they don't want to compose to get their point across, they're much more likely to have that post be very simple or borderline spam length.

If you force a kid to clean his room for no reason, he's going to do a terrible job, but if you give him a reason or incentive to do it, then he'll do a better job. I know it's not a perfect analogy but the point is people don't like doing things they don't want to do so if they have to do it they'll do a bad job.

  • 07.25.2012 2:10 PM PDT

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Bye.

I'm inclined to believe that if your poll can't generate any meaningful discussion then it probably wasn't a very good topic to begin with.

Polls aren't thread killers. Bad threads are poll killers.

  • 07.25.2012 5:28 PM PDT

Posted by: Breadisgood91
You should have added a poll to this thread.

First thought that ran through my head. Second thought was whether polls actually ruin discussion. It depends. Few things are black and white. I've usually found that threads with polls and a well thought out paragraph tends to generate more discussion, although topics themselves can do that sometimes. I guess the real good threads are the ones that let you vote, but still tempt you to post and elaborate on a simple yes/no.


By the way, you totally should have added a poll to this thread.

  • 07.25.2012 6:16 PM PDT

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Sometimes it does, because mostly the answer you will post is the same one you voted for..

  • 07.25.2012 7:17 PM PDT

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~DeeJ


Posted by: Breadisgood91
You should have added a poll to this thread.

  • 07.25.2012 7:25 PM PDT
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Posted by: im am b0red

Posted by: Breadisgood91
You should have added a poll to this thread.

  • 07.25.2012 7:27 PM PDT

Oh hey there

Posted by: petarded2
It's a metaphor for the 07s' lack of identity. too old to be newfa­g, yet too new to be oldfa­g, we wander b.net in search of a home, forever trying to be something we are not.

I agree. People, myself included, often vote but don't post.

  • 07.25.2012 8:02 PM PDT

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Posted by: Verachi
I guess a way to fix this is, you can only vote if you post with your vote. Just like we can't post empty posts, you can't vote if its a post-less vote. Hopefully that makes sense.
Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
If it's a thread comparing Gears of War to Call of Duty, and those are the options, what's to stop people from just posting "Call of Duty" or "Gears of War" without giving any explanation at all? That just creates spam which bumps a thread probably full of equally spam posts.
Posted by: Kalriq
Ideally, that would be a solution. But think about the population of this site.
All you would get is X ammount of posts with their one word answer to the poll, and maybe something of sense amongst the others.
It would just create spam and unnecessary thread bumping for the most part.


Don't get me wrong I don't want what I said implemented.I agree with you guys. All I did was say what I thought would fix the problem of the thread dying off because of people voting and not posting.

Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Posted by: Verachi
What is stopping people from doing that now? We get those type of responses all the time, I don't believe it would change too much with what I posted. If people are spamming they'll eventually get banned and hopefully they'll learn their lesson.
Nothing is stopping them from doing it now, but if someone is forced to compose a post that they don't want to compose to get their point across, they're much more likely to have that post be very simple or borderline spam length.

If you force a kid to clean his room for no reason, he's going to do a terrible job, but if you give him a reason or incentive to do it, then he'll do a better job. I know it's not a perfect analogy but the point is people don't like doing things they don't want to do so if they have to do it they'll do a bad job.

And I agree with that, when I said this..
Posted by: Verachi
What is stopping people from doing that now? We get those type of responses all the time, I don't believe it would change too much with what I posted.

I was trying to get across that, when we have threads like Blargh vs Blarghhhhh some people post one word posts/spam. What I was saying is if my fix/idea was implemented then it wouldn't make that much of a difference since people already give one word posts.

Posted by: x Foman123 x
Polls do not damage discussion. People who want to make their voice heard will do so regardless of a poll option.

The real problem is that threads that are conducive to polling are usually not conducive to discussion. If you're trying to "survey" a forum by asking a question that can be fully and completely answered with a one- or two-word answer (such as "yes" or "no"), it doesn't matter whether there is a poll or not -- your thread sucks and will not encourage discussion.

If you're going to have a poll option on your thread, ensure that users cannot fully and completely respond to the thread simply by clicking on the poll. I could try to provide some examples if you want, but I really think this is self-explanatory.


Also this...

  • 07.25.2012 8:03 PM PDT

Posted by: A Bit Of Zero
This thread would have appealed to me more if it was written with crayons.
Posted by: King Dutchy
I broke one of the cords for my X11s because I couldn't get past the final American course in Doritos Crash Course.

Sometimes people actually make threads for information, not to see if they can get a hot topic.
Polls are good because lazy people don't need to post, they just have to click the mouse twice.
More people are likely to participate in a thread if there's a poll rather than relying solely on comments (If its a pollable question)

[Edited on 07.25.2012 8:17 PM PDT]

  • 07.25.2012 8:16 PM PDT

Checking out my profile I see?

I disagree if I would have normally commented on a thread I would still comment on that thread if it had a poll as well. If anything adding a poll will draw me into a post I wouldn't normally visit and possibly have me comment on it if the discussion is interesting.

  • 07.25.2012 9:08 PM PDT
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Why can't we put Bungie Cards here?

I find that polls can be pretty flawed because people only vote if they have a particular interest in voting. Therefore it's not a true representation of the community

  • 07.25.2012 10:16 PM PDT

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