Just wondering what everybody thought of all the polls, in general.
I’ve liked most of the polls I’ve seen on this forum.
Yes, some polls border on being silly or provactive but in general these polls can give us a generalized idea what the modelers on this forum gravitate towards.
I’ve read where posters fear that some polls can potentiall encourage flaming, such as the “Which DCC Do You Prefer” poll. I disagree 100%. All one has to do is give a straight answer as to why or why not they like this or that. No one has to chime in and say “Well, this is better and that is junk”. Polls can become flame pots only if we allow it.
I’ll continue to respond to polls that deal with subjects I can relate to.
Peace![:D][swg]
Brunton,
Just a suggestion. Consider editing your question and removing the word “hate”. Don’t worry I’m not a political correctness freak. Just that this word is too extreme. Dislike is more realistic.
I do not care too much about posting polls myself anymore,
allthough I made some up in the past when I was a newbie overhere,
but if I can do another forum member a favor by answering his poll why not, it is just a click !
Typically the polls are so poorly worded and the choices so limited as to make them worthless as anything other than pure amusement. Most really don’t generate any real data or conclusion.
Dave H.
I’m really generally neutral on polls. I usually only vote/post/check results on about 1 in 20 of them because most don’t interest me, or deal with a subject that I don’t have an opinion on.
On the other hand, it doesn’t bother me to see them in the forum. They’re labeled as polls and it’s easy to just skip them. I figure they’re kind of like posts on DCC. Doesn’t interest me at all, but there are enough of them that obviously a lot of others are.
Regards
Ed
Done!
I was wondering how long it would be before someone posted something about this…
I can almost tell time by the appearance of the “what’s your favorite DCC system” and the “what’s your favorite engine” polls: They appear like clockwork.
That ties in to one of the features I’d like to see added to personal profiles in the forum software- the ability for a user to check a box and no longer be shown polls in the topic list after he signs in. That would “enhance the user experience” for me. That way, those who enjoy or otherwise get some value from polls can continue to use them to their hearts’ content, while those who don’t wouldn’t even have to see them.
Yeah, I’m in the camp of those who think that polls have gotten a little out of hand here- I’d check the box to not show me polls.
Personalized topic/poster “killfiles” would be another neat feature along the same lines. They’ve been available in Usenet readers for ages, and in some cases they are all that makes some Usenet groups still useable.
And while I’m dreaming, I’d like a pony…
-Fritz Milhaupt
Web Guy, Rails on Wheels
http://www.railsonwheels.com
The problem seems to me that there are so many polls here lately that most people don’t respond to them. Thus you get maybe 20 or 30 votes toatl on many polls–not enough to really learn much.
Ron
I’d rather the polls strung out a bit. When you look at the front page and over half are polls, then you have too many going at once.
Wow - I logged onto the first page, and eight out of twenty posts were polls! What a waste of bandwidth. There should be a totally different list just for those who want to make and answer polls. They push useful subjects down in the list, and they sometimes can be overlooked.
Ban Polls!
Bob Boudreau
Fully half the polls posted are just plain silliness. Those polls whose result actually might be interesting to see all suffer from far too few respondents to have any real meaning or show any hobby trend (the recent “Average Model Railroader” poll being a prime example). Overall, I think most polls do more to mislead than inform forum members. And I have to agree with Bob B on the fact that the multitude of pointless polls often pushes subjects of actual significance far down the list in short order, where they are quickly lost from sight.
CNJ831
I think this is the fifth “what do you think about polls, poll” that I have responded to today. Good Gawd Gertie - I can’t believe I am doing this!!!
So, here’s what I have to say (again) - don’t read 'em if you don’t like 'em (polls, that is).
Some games are won - others lost and still others are rained out. Such is life!
Now back to my model railroading …
Can we have a poll to determine which poll about which poll was the poll that triggered the poll about tha poll all these recent polls about polling?
The polls are getting out of hand. Most don’t allow participants to gain any significant insight due to limited or poorly considered choices for a response, or are reiterations of the “what’s your favorite…” idiocy. A lot of those have nearly nothing to do with the hobby anyway.
IF MR wants this site to be of use to modelers seeking information they can actually use, I would strongly suggest that a separate forum be established for polls. That idea has been floated before, and I think it’s still valid. As Bergie indicated on another thread, eliminating the star ratings and post counts would also be a big help in discouraging meaningless posts intended to run up personal totals.
I agree that the numerous meaningless polls have diminished the impact and information gathering ability of the good ones. For instance, when I posted the “era swapping” poll I was trying to gain some insight into what others do. (see thread: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31266 ) Sadly, there were far from enough meaningful votes or comments for me to learn anything. [:(]
Some are good, but I have a choice, like any subject here. As long as it doesn’t end up like last night.
Tim
I love polls they allow almost everyone to have a say or thought in these forums.
Keep them up[:D][:D][:p][:D][:D]
I agree, polls need to have their own forum heading.
They should get rid of “Where is the 70th Anniversary Boxcar?” and make that the polls forum. That forum is even more useless than all the polls that are posted.
Bryan
Have to agree with Bryan. Move them to a different forum all by themselves.
Gordon