Pet Peeve--Useless Polls

[SpaceMouse]

If you are going to make a poll, please put an Other category in your options. Unless you are Leonardo Newton Einstein you're never going to get all the possible answers with what you put out there.

A poll without Other means its pretty much useless.

[steveblackledge]

Thats the way to do it Chip,
If anyone wants to post a poll PLEASE do a search to see if it's been done already, you may be surprised how often the same questions come by

[Anonymous]

What do YOU define as useless. Not all of us have over 4000 posts on this site.
Don't take this personally as I dont.[:I][:I]

[SpaceMouse]

A poll without an Other Category is useless. You never know how many people didn't vote because they couldn't.

And 4000 post doesn't mean I kow anything.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to make a poll, please don't.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

how about a poll of our favorite poll??????

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nelsonb

What do YOU define as useless. Not all of us have over 4000 posts on this site.
Don't take this personally as I dont.[:I][:I]

Chip has posted 10.84 posts to this forum each an every day since joining it 381 days ago. I wonder if everything was poinant and useful?

If people want to make stupid polls, and it bugs you, just don't reply.

Trevor

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TrevorG

QUOTE: Originally posted by nelsonb

What do YOU define as useless. Not all of us have over 4000 posts on this site.
Don't take this personally as I dont.[:I][:I]

Chip has posted 10.84 posts to this forum each an every day since joining it 381 days ago. I wonder if everything was poinant and useful?

If people want to make stupid polls, and it bugs you, just don't reply.

Trevor

I'll be the first to admit that not all my posts are poignant. The point is that in most of the polls with no Other category I can't vote. If I can't vote then others can't as well. When you don't know what you are excluding you are limiting yourself to answers you already know. And if you already know the answers, what's the point.

[David_Telesha]

Just curious...

This wasn't spurred by my Trivia poll was it? I wouldn't think so because there are too many possible answers and I put the right one among the ones I put.

Maybe its just the timing but just checking...

Other wise I agree - too many useless polls, many done to death...

[Anonymous]

I guess I didn't think it was useless or I would have asked the questions. Sorry I didn't include the "Other" catagory.

[SpaceMouse]

I'm not anti-polls although some that are asked over and over again like, what is your favorite road name or what scale do you model happen a little to often for my tastes. And there are polls that seem to be for star production, but polls that ask interesting questions can be fun. But when you leave out other...

[wjstix]

I think we need a poll to see if there are too many polls. [%-)]

[selector]

QUOTE: Originally posted by David_Telesha

Just curious...

This wasn't spurred by my Trivia poll was it? I wouldn't think so because there are too many possible answers and I put the right one among the ones I put.

Maybe its just the timing but just checking...

Other wise I agree - too many useless polls, many done to death...

A trivia-type question, by definition, ought to have the correct answer provided amongst the choices. That is, there IS a correct response. On a poll, one looks for opinions, which cannot always be characterized as right or wrong. Further, on a poll with seeks to learn what proportion of a responders (and that is all the sampling you get) will answer to possible answers given, then some will surely be excluded from participating if their response does not match any of the possible choices of responses offered by the author of the poll. So, Chip is asking pollsters to include, as a final option, the response, "other" so that those whose response does not match any of the ones thought of by the author can still participate, and explain their choice.

[dwRavenstar]

Chip (and others),

I've been thinking that maybe we need a poll on WHY polls are created.
Something like:

I post a poll because ......

# I'm curious about what the others are thinking
# I want to know if anyone sees things the same way I do
# Unable to strike out on my own I need to see where the pack is running
# Being such a strident individualist I need to locate the pack and avoid it
# Needing a post count infusion I need to repeatedly answer my own poll because I have no good answers for the members who are asking questions
# Needing an answer to a specific question, I'd rather post a poll and get a response than expose my need and inability to come up with a solution
# I dunno, I have other reasons than those listed above

I guess another choice could be that the pollster needs a quick response because reading the volume of past pages would require too much effort.

Chip, I've always felt that your high volume of posts relates to the guy picking stones out of his proposed garden....... he didn't think he had actually done so much work until he turned and saw how high the pile had gotten. No one can offer gems with every post but I'd hazard to say that I think your postings are way above the average percentage when comparing informational and helpful posts to total posts. I can only hope to achieve a percentage of that magnitude.

dwRavenstar

[Tracklayer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TA462

I'm with Bob, what is it with this site lately. Everybody is going wacko.

It's probably caused by the full moon coming on TA462. It seems to happen about this time every month... I think it's even gotten to old SpaceMouse. ([:o)])

Tracklayer

[whitman500]

I'm not sure I agree with the necessity of having an "other" category on every poll. Many of the polls that ask for people's favorites (favorite engine, favorite railroad, favorite region, etc.) are attempts at determining what is the most popular of something within a limited universe of choices. Including an "other" category often produces a poll where each choice gets 1 or 2 votes and "other" ends up with 20 votes in which case the results of the poll are useless.

As an example, I recently posted a poll in which I asked the extent to which people tried to imitate the prototype on their layout. I included 4-5 fairly broad categories but no "other" category. While this may have limited the responses, the categories I had created were ones that I could interpret and relate to (the goal of the poll being to get a sense for how my own approach compared to that of other modelers). In this case, as in many others, the results of the poll would be much more informative if people chose the category that was closest to their actual approach rather than clicking "other" if things did not match up exactly. In my mind, the comments section is where you provide the color necessary to describe an approach or view that does not fit perfectly into one of the categories.

More broadly, I think polls are an important tool for newbies who are trying to get into the hobby. When you are starting out you face a host of big questions like which railroad to model, which era to focus on, which region to do, what DCC system to use, etc. While you shouldn't slavishly follow what the majority of other people are doing with regards to each of these things, polls are a quick way to guage what others are doing and this is useful information. For example, the most popular railroads and eras also have the best selection of products.

Brad

[Anonymous]

I think they are ALL pretty much useless. That's why I have NEVER posted one.

[selector]

QUOTE: Originally posted by whitman500

I'm not sure I agree with the necessity of having an "other" category on every poll. Many of the polls that ask for people's favorites (favorite engine, favorite railroad, favorite region, etc.) are attempts at determining what is the most popular of something within a limited universe of choices. Including an "other" category often produces a poll where each choice gets 1 or 2 votes and "other" ends up with 20 votes in which case the results of the poll are useless.

As an example, I recently posted a poll in which I asked the extent to which people tried to imitate the prototype on their layout. I included 4-5 fairly broad categories but no "other" category. While this may have limited the responses, the categories I had created were ones that I could interpret and relate to (the goal of the poll being to get a sense for how my own approach compared to that of other modelers). In this case, as in many others, the results of the poll would be much more informative if people chose the category that was closest to their actual approach rather than clicking "other" if things did not match up exactly. In my mind, the comments section is where you provide the color necessary to describe an approach or view that does not fit perfectly into one of the categories.

More broadly, I think polls are an important tool for newbies who are trying to get into the hobby. When you are starting out you face a host of big questions like which railroad to model, which era to focus on, which region to do, what DCC system to use, etc. While you shouldn't slavishly follow what the majority of other people are doing with regards to each of these things, polls are a quick way to guage what others are doing and this is useful information. For example, the most popular railroads and eras also have the best selection of products.

Brad

That is "situating the estimate". If I want to know how many people prefer a BLI loco out all the others (there's that word again), and say which do you prefer, LL or BLI, I will poll only those who have experience with those two brands, and not find that more potential responders actually prefer Atlas...which I had excluded. If I want to find which locomotive manufacturer "you prefer", as these polls are frequently stated, then a more accurate representation will be had if a catch-all "other" allows everyone to contribute, even if they are the sole responder to "other".

Yes, I can limit the responses, but I limit the sampling and the accuracy thereby. I also preclude the participation of "others" who may want to voice an opinion.

[whitman500]

Selector:

Isn't this an argument for trying to have a reasonably comprehensive list of choices rather than for including an other category. After all, in your example adding an other category to BLI and LL wouldn't increase the accuracy. 100 responses to the "other" category tell me nothing.

[selector]

QUOTE: Originally posted by whitman500

Selector:

Isn't this an argument for trying to have a reasonably comprehensive list of choices rather than for including an other category. After all, in your example adding an other category to BLI and LL wouldn't increase the accuracy. 100 responses to the "other" category tell me nothing.

Yes. However, "other" permits views of those who favour neither, and their numbers get factored into the total responses. So, in my example, the poller might get 10 responses for BLI, 10 for LL, and 34 for another two companies that make the entire response set nearly balanced in terms of preferences. To the point, if 24 said Spectrum (and added in their comments that they had had serious problems with BLI and LL in the past), then the poller has served himself well by adding the third option...to find that the two companies he was most interested in are not generally well regarded.

Of course, the sampling problems are numerous, but "other" does two things: increase the range of responses, and encourages the participation, in a public forum, of more people.

A forced-choice response set is good in testing, not in polling...unless you have an agenda, as one might in political polls.

-Crandell

[tstage]

To add onto what Crandell just said, the forum also allows you a unique opportunity to "elaborate" WHY you chose the option that you did. If you are given the "Other" option, and you choose to elaborate what "Other" actually implies, this helps the poller (and those interested in the outcome of the poll) a better understanding of the data.

Tom

[bcammack]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FundyNorthern

If you are going to make a poll, please don't.

Bob Boudreau

LOL

Amen, Bob.

[Soo Line fan]

The polls should be in their own area, like the MR boxcar is. The people who find them so endearing can then go and poll each other 24 / 7 with out annoying the heck out of the rest of us.

That would be an easy way to get some of this stuff cleaned up.

Jim

[waltersrails]

i agree spacemouse.

[WilmJunc]

I agree. Stop the polls.

[Budliner]

no
you lynch mob
are not going to stop people from posting with your bad attitudes

[wjstix]

I guess I don't mind a poll now and then, but I guess if somebody is doing it to just ask a question, I would rather they just post the question and let us respond per usual. Like if someone is thinking about building a new layout, and not sure if they should freelance or model a prototype, I think posting a question to that regard, and asking people to talk about the pros and cons of each, why they chose one or the other etc. it really takes care of the issue. Starting that out with a poll where you can choose either "I freelance" or "I model a prototype" doesn't really add that much to the discussion.

[Budliner]

I like the poll's and will not stop for this group of trolls

[Budliner]

here is aggro and bob now

[csmith9474]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Budliner

here is aggro and bob now

[?]