alexandgruntz
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Do you like polls? If not, why not? :drool:
A poll about polls...
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voice
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I'm not a huge fan of polls. Polls can be great indicator of attitudes, wonderful predictive devices, and sometimes just fun, but, overall, I think polls can be and ofter are misused to skew issues. Polls, like any other statistic, can be arranged in such a way as to be misleading.
Statistics in general can point to some funny things. Did you know there is a statistical link between ice cream sales and drowning? It's true. But if you look at the same fact differently, you that this is a false statistical trend. Both ice cream sales and drowning increase in hot weather. People buy ice cream and go swimming when it's hot, so drownings go up because of the weather, not the ice cream.
Polls are just as easily manipulated. Consider this:
You get a phone call from an office representing Candidate A. The representative says, "Hi, I'm taking a poll on the behalf of Mr. A. Would you be willing to participate?"
"Sure, why not?" you say.
"Great," says the representative, "Now, as you know, Mr. A is running against the esteemed, Mr. B this year. For which of the following reasons would you vote for Mr. A over Mr. B. His views on..."
"Hold on a second," you interrupt. "I plan on voting for Mr. B."
"Okay, but if you were to change your mind, why would you vote for Mr. A instead?" asks the representative.
At this point, you're stuck. If you didn't an answer they find valid, your opinion is thrown out. If you do answer, the statistic reflects support of Mr. A, no matter how you answered it. A month late, you'll see and ad slurring Mr. B that says, "80% of voters polled favor Mr. A for his stance on Proposition Z." This creates a false impression of public support for Mr. A.
Eve looking at Gallup polls on the news, they might say Mr. A has 46% of the public's support, Mr. B has 44%. What about the + or - 5% for error? Unless the candidates are 10 percentage points apart, you can't really claim one has a definite lead.
That said, I don't mind forum polls in the least. Someone could post a poll which said, "Do you prefer to eat kittens or puppies?" (Please don't post that poll, though...) and it wouldn't matter so much. It's all in fun and nothings official, even whn the topic is serious.
Statistics in general can point to some funny things. Did you know there is a statistical link between ice cream sales and drowning? It's true. But if you look at the same fact differently, you that this is a false statistical trend. Both ice cream sales and drowning increase in hot weather. People buy ice cream and go swimming when it's hot, so drownings go up because of the weather, not the ice cream.
Polls are just as easily manipulated. Consider this:
You get a phone call from an office representing Candidate A. The representative says, "Hi, I'm taking a poll on the behalf of Mr. A. Would you be willing to participate?"
"Sure, why not?" you say.
"Great," says the representative, "Now, as you know, Mr. A is running against the esteemed, Mr. B this year. For which of the following reasons would you vote for Mr. A over Mr. B. His views on..."
"Hold on a second," you interrupt. "I plan on voting for Mr. B."
"Okay, but if you were to change your mind, why would you vote for Mr. A instead?" asks the representative.
At this point, you're stuck. If you didn't an answer they find valid, your opinion is thrown out. If you do answer, the statistic reflects support of Mr. A, no matter how you answered it. A month late, you'll see and ad slurring Mr. B that says, "80% of voters polled favor Mr. A for his stance on Proposition Z." This creates a false impression of public support for Mr. A.
Eve looking at Gallup polls on the news, they might say Mr. A has 46% of the public's support, Mr. B has 44%. What about the + or - 5% for error? Unless the candidates are 10 percentage points apart, you can't really claim one has a definite lead.
That said, I don't mind forum polls in the least. Someone could post a poll which said, "Do you prefer to eat kittens or puppies?" (Please don't post that poll, though...) and it wouldn't matter so much. It's all in fun and nothings official, even whn the topic is serious.
alexandgruntz
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I meant the forum kind of polls, but okay, good point.
nat1192
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Poll on forums for the most part are good, but I do have one complaint: on many polls, possible options are usually left out. For instance (not trying to flame this guy but...) the weather poll on this forum. It allows you to pick summer or winter, but not both (although I could see some instances where possible answers may be purposely left out).
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I like polls because if you don't have much time and you want to see quickly what peoples opinions are, all you have to do is glance at the poll and you know what people think. I think they could be inproved by putting a text box in the other section and so people can make new sections. But I suppose that would end up with loads of options which would just be silly.
InsanityOnline
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I like polls in general, but I think polls could be better represented by forum software. For instance, capability for multiple polls in a thread, or choosing a certain part or something. Well, I guess I'd rather them be made more like HTML forms rather than singular, multiple-choice answers.
