Remove polls

[Enkidu]

No you misunderstand and highly exaggerate. "Like showing that a member's opinion is worth a crap and that for that reason we don't need polls anymore..." o_O? Where did you get that from?

A well balanced and thoroughly thought through opinion is of far more value for those that read than an opinion condensed in a "yes" or "no" - if anything it is about empowering players and improving discussion. Moreover, it invites the player in question to actually think and structure an argument that gives valuable insight into the thought process behind the opinion that can help you change or modify your own opinion on the subject, although it is far less convenient. The opinion is of objectively higher quality when it can't be coded in a plain "yes" or "no".

Also we're all internet personae with countless alts, what "anonymity" is there to protect anyways?


EDIT: Also for those that don't understand, polls on this forum do not show an opinion that can be said to be representative to anything but the population that choose to participate - with this huge condition the data from the poll is virtually useless for anything but a tool for manipulation (unknowingly or not). It is a misrepresentation of the server and even community population as a whole. And this is not even factoring in the way questions and polling options are often presented in a biased way.
tl;dr: I'm not asking for no opinions, I am asking of opinions of objectively higher quality - whatever these opinions might be.

Let me summarise Narco's primary point:

You lose anonymity if you have to state your opinions directly - not human anonymity, but the anonymity to avoid ill-will by publicly declaring your opinion through the internet persona you have here. If you're at the centre of every controversy, publicly, then you will gain a reputation according to that. Polls actively minimise the risk of forum wars - true story.

It's considered tiring if people just repeat the same comments over and over in hackneyed replies, and is a waste of forum space.

Polls take a moment to fill and reduce replyspam as you can only poll once per account, and thus are far less open to abuse.

You cannot troll through a poll. If you care enough to poll then you certainly play freelancer (else why are you here)?

Polls give absolutes; they force people to pick a side instead of bringing reams of new discussion points to the table.

Lastly: The very fact that this thread has no poll attached is turning this thread into a quagmire of individualised opinions - this is dandy for an open-ended discussion, but not one with a fixed aim (I.E: voting to remove polls).


Nice idea, but it's conceptually self-defeating.

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[Mímir]

It depends on what you want the outcome of the discussion to be. I don't believe a straightforward quantifiable "answer" is of better value (even when methodologically sound) than an open-ended answer. I don't want people to have to choose either A or B if C is a better answer. Obviously there are rare exceptions to this.

Think about it: When you look to get inspired in what way does it matter what the majority* thinks? If you look for inspiration for cooking, what would be of more value - a poll saying 62% of all people love curry or a mouth-watering description of the qualities of the meal? Devs are our chefs that hopefully get inspired by the ideas the community provides them.

*Do note that polls here on the forum are in no way representative, and could be misleading 10/10 times for all we know.

P.S. True about forum politics and it sucks, but that's just the way it has to be. Most people are different and more relaxed in-game than on the forum anyways.

P.P.S. It's always up to ourselves to just ignore trolling and flaming, the mods are helping us with that as well. You can also ignore +1's or keep count if you want.

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[|nfrared]

I would leave the polling option as it is, but accept that what is said in the OP is true and that polling is not a legitimate tactic for those seeking a "majority" of the community. At best it can give you and indicator one way or the other on some issues, but using it for purposes of "The community feels like this" are misleading at best and manipulative and deceiving at worst.

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Shard - The Faceless One

[Kazinsal]

Recently resulted in positive change; leave it as is.

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Retired, permanently.

[7AlphaOne1]

I want pollzto stay. They make flood look better

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