Would you like the ability to add polls to your questions?
I'd add a poll in here:
1) Yes
2) No
3) I can't decide, I'll tell you why in the comments
But obviously I can't ;)
There are a number of reasons I think it would be a great improvement to the community, but the most obvious is tallying up what people think since going through dozens, sometimes hundreds of comments isn't as easy or satisfying as simply knowing the answer to your yes/no question.
And for those that are going to say we already have a system, the up/down vote..... I say, what the up/down vote means is unclear and from what I understand, is your like/approval or dislike/disapproval of a question, not your answer to the question.....
I'd like to get a snap shot of answers when I first open a question up. Then I can delve deeper and read the comments. It would also solve the problem of wanting to subscribe to a thread, but receiving a notification for every yes/no is annoying & a waste of bandwidth/data storage.
by
mschauber
asked 4 months ago
All a poll would do is give us something to dance around.
That said, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. So I guess I'm a 1.
I would. A lot of stuff can either have a yes or no answer, or simple answers along those lines. It would be easier, if nothing else, to get the overall opinion without reading a bunch of comments. You can always vote and elaborate.
@thedogma: Thank you. A much more concise way of describing my reasons :)
Eh. You held a poll just fine in your post. What would you ask in a poll that you didnt ask in your question?
@teenracer6: Cumulative data. Wouldn't it be nice to have a quick view of the responses. Sort of like you can get a quick view for the question as far as # of views, up votes, down votes, etc.
Since the pre-internet age when we had 1200 baud dial-up BBS's, forums have had poll functions built in. If one is lucky enough to ask a question where 100 people want to respond, being able to get a quick view of the results would be a blessing. From the responders perspective, clicking a radio button or selecting a box is a faster way to answer a quick question. I think it would encourage more people to respond to some questions, IMHO.
Edit: BTW, this question has been viewed 23 times, as of now, and only ONE person has given a 1, 2 or 3 answer...
@mschauber: Since you asked: 1. However, I doubt most people are going to answer with simply a number, because currently this is more of a discussion room than a polling site.
Open ended questions tend to encourage more discussion, in my experience.
That said I'll pass along the suggestion.
@jsoko: I would never want to eliminate the discussion. I was NOT suggesting the questions be simply a poll, like the ones Woot has. But that someone posing a question to the community could add a poll to the question.
This would be the best of both worlds. Easy for people to answer who don't want to participate in a particular discussion, yet easy to get results, while still allowing all users to discuss to their hearts content.
@inkycatz: Please see the reply I just posted to @jsoko.
The idea isn't to stop asking open ended questions or to limit discussion. it's to allow people who want to ask a question, like do you prefer butter or margarine, to get their answer in #'s in addition to comments.
The poll would simply be part of the question, so you click the radio button or check box (if more than one answer is possible) and then you have space to make your comments, if you so desire.
I don't think polls would discourage discussion, quite the opposite. When people can start seeing how many others agree or disagree with them, you open up more discussion as well as sharing alternate ideas, in my experience of ~25 years on the internet and it's predecessors.
@inkycatz: As @mschauber said, I don't think it would necessarily inhibit discussion, but just give a consensus. There have been some times when I felt I could answer a yes or no to a question, but couldn't really elaborate, or what I would say has already been said, so I didn't participate. Giving a poll option opens up such participation.
It also gives a general opinion. Perhaps a weak example, but let's say I posted "What do you like better, cats or dogs?" lots of people would elaborate. But say I'm just interested in the end result...I can see how many voted for each side and skip the meat, so to speak.
Sure, the elaboration and discussion is what's fun, but for a quick glance polls are definitely useful. And also fun!
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1
Absolutely. So many of the question on this site are of the "do you X or Y?" variety. Polls would make it much easier to discern the general consensus.
@mschauber: My answer was more directed at your: "Edit: BTW, this question has been viewed 23 times, as of now, and only ONE person has given a 1, 2 or 3 answer..."
Us Wooters are trained to give insightful answers rather than just a number at the current time.
@jsoko: And I'd say trained well, for the most part ;)
See the way you and a couple of others have answered makes the most sense to me. You answer the 'poll' and then give your reasons/arguments/love or hate/name calling (well preferably not)/etc... But for that person (I'm not talking about this discussion per say,) who just wants to answer the poll and contribute in that way, they can...
Of course, this is all IMHO ;) ;)
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts...
@mschauber: I do like the idea, as a quick reference point for a direct answer.
Stats
- Asked
- 4 months ago
- Asked By
- mschauber
- Answered
- 15 times
- Viewed
- 314 times
- Voted Against
- 3 times
- Voted For
- 45 times
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