don't hate me, but Could Fluther benefit from a feature I saw on another Q&A site?

I’m not sure I understand. Exactly what is the poll? What information would this graph contain?

I apologize, I should have included a picture of what I was talking about. Here is a screenshot of one of answerbag’s polls.

Ah. Thank you! Well, we don’t vote on anything so I’m not sure how it could even be calculated. We don’t have any clear cut answers, really, so how would you even determine the information for the poll? Everyone’s answers are generally different and often elaborate.

@free_fallin “we don’t vote on anything” ..I know. What I am talking about, is adding a new element on the page.

Personally, I do not like the idea. I think the majority of our questions warrant detailed answers and would not be able to be boxed into a voting system. I think not having the ability to vote sets fluther apart from the likes of AnswerBag and YahooAnswers. You would force people to make a clear cut decision on questions and the questions themselves would have to be worded differently. For instance, the question “Why do you spend so much time on Fluther?” Would fluther provided a list of answers to choose from? Would we type in our answers? With the amount of active users we have now you could end up with 100 different answers which would leave the poll null. I definitely do not want to have any additional restraints added to our questions or answers and, in my opinion, this idea would do that.

Certainly not knocking you! I just don’t agree with the idea.

When I joined fluther, part of its appeal was its beautiful, intuitive simplicity.

We’ve been adding complications ever since.

Not to fault you for your suggestion, @rpmpseudonym, but here’s my answer to this poll: if people want polls and surveys and stats on responses, let them go to sites that have that feature. AnswerBag, for instance.

~ I can’t believe you would ask… it is like asking your wife to fix her hair like the floozie you slept with last night. ;)

Seriously though, I find it a bit distracting. It also might encourage polls over meaningful dialogue.

I see my ugly stick of a question has beaten the hive all to hell. :) Apologies. I love fluther as much as all of you & yes, the more I think about what I am asking – the more I hate the idea. I tried to think of an example question that would not warrant the need for eloquent & witty answers…but then I thought, who the hell am I, to deny these great jellies from giving a 2 page write-up on why they believe marshmallow peeps are a sugary gift from the heavens? That is just foolish & ignorant of me.

Not to place blame…but I raise my arm in objection & point to Fluther & say…“I blame you!” That temporary shutdown from last night – had me running into the arms of another Q&A. I felt cheap & disgusting. It only happened the once, I showered since then, but I can still smell it on me. It corrupted my brain & had be doubting the abilities & effectiveness of Fluther.

Let this terrible question be a reminder & a warning sign to all others. Don’t cheat on Fluther. Because you’ll pay for it in the morning. I’ll whip up a batch of my famous Lurve filled Whoopie Pies (a New England treat) to share with everyone as an, “I’m sorry, please can you forgive me & my cheating bastard ways?”

The entire time I was a member of Answerbag, I wrote the staff begging for a poll feature – at least monthly.

They only finally put it in when they destroyed the site completely. And they did it wrong. The poll isn’t supposed to be separate, it’s supposed to be an optional addition to the question and answer.

So, I still have no idea whether it would be a benefit or not. But I’ve always thought it was a nifty idea. I’ve always liked having polls on forums. That way you can look at a glance and see the consensus opinion, and then look for the deeper meanings.

That said, I’m perfectly happy with Fluther not having a poll feature. ^_^

@rpmpseudonym You realize this means you will never get the Cake in the Frizzer award now. :)

@free_fallin You may jest (at least I think you are), but when I read that, my heart sank & I thought, now I need a new account. One that isn’t associated with this shame & embarrassment & banned from achieving ‘cake in the frizzer’. Honestly, your comment worries me. Would it help if I put guacamole on the whoopie pies?

Guacamole and/or pancakes, and all is forgiven. :p

@Jeruba- “When I joined fluther, part of its appeal was its beautiful, intuitive simplicity.
“We’ve been adding complications ever since.”

That may have been your greatest response to a question ever! I really wish I could give you Super Lurve for that! I encourage all to give you GA on my behalf.

No, I don’t like polls, and I don’t like the poll like questions here either, even though I am such a hypocrite I sometimes contribute to them. I did find a site that claims they will pay you to take polls and surveys, but I’m too chicken to try it out.

Nah. It looks pretty dumb.

@rpmpseudonym, I’m certain you know that people have closed their accounts and come back under new names for less cause than that. I hope no one makes you feel that you really, really ought to do that out of shame. No, we’ll forgive you. I’m sure we will. Really sure.

Thanks, @AstroChuck. I feel like I’ve made something of a reputation for myself as not liking changes to the site. It’s not necessarily the changes per se as all the stuff they drag along with them. Tabs. Awards. Bulletins. Reasons for modding. Tweeter lingo like “following.” (I’m not following anyone, and I object to the implications.) Posted stats. Cross-references. It bothers me to think that losses are outweighing the gains.

@Jeruba Is there some sort of witness protection program I can be admitted into? Just until this debacle blows over? Until then, I’ll change my avatar to something more appropriate.

There, there, darlin.’ Be a good jelly and promise not to do it again. All’s forgiven.

Besides, you gave me the opening to say something I’ve been wanting to say for many months.

<—Though you can’t see through that paper bag of shame. There is a scared little boy underneath that recyclable dunce cap. Give him some time to reflect on his bad decisions. He may not see your faces of judgement, but he can still hear your words of both comfort & ridicule. He promises it will never happen again

Like Dog said it’s a bit distracting.

Votes are too “yes-or-no”- type questions, which can be considered more suitable for the chat room and not an entire question.

To the one two people who gave me the ‘GQ’. Please, for the sake of your Fluther life, don’t make your self known.

I’m so with @Jeruba on this one.* sigh *

Edit: I also gave a GQ. Everything we know comes from “other” sources, and to actually say where it is from is simply to give credit. I hate it when people quote things or post things and don’t give credit – allowing the reader to assume it’s original. Fluther the site, and Fluther the people aren’t afraid to hear about ideas from other websites. How could we be? It’s also not exactly the oldest social network, or website, on the net; certainly not the biggest. It’s simply the best. GQ!

I think polls discourage actual discussion. If you notice the usage stats on an Answerbag poll, there are a lot more people who have voted than who left a comment. Fluther encourages users to give more than a single yes/no or one word answer, which is in my opinion a positive thing.