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connected... connected...
 
M$2 December 17, 2008 03:48 AM

Do you think Mahalo Answers should create a Polls area?

I have noticed that a lot of questions are "polled" based. It seems like Mahalo should create a Polls area to handle this? What do you think?
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chaimchaik... chaimchaik...
 
 December 17, 2008 02:13 PM
No and Yes

They should not have a seperate section BUT:

I think they should incorparate polls into questions for example when you ask a question you should have a choice to make it a poll.
You could then enter possible answers.

Users must then choose one of the answers or other and can add a comment if they wish as well as sources, pictures etc.

The questions that are poll based should show up on the homepage, feeds and such.

There should be a category on the side called Polls which shows all the questions that are polls.

Users should still be able to place their poll in a normal category as well as the Poll's category.

The best polls could be shown in the sidebar with all the options ready to click like a normal poll on any site or perhaps it should be a random poll.

Users could offer tips to Poll voters for the best comments, sources etc
Asker's Rating:
• Many many many many good answers, but I liked this one the best! ;)


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tracebooks tracebooks
 
December 17, 2008 03:50 AM
Yes. Polls make it easier to tabulate poll-type questions than having to manually go through and count. It would probably save some server space, too.

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pescina pescina
 
December 17, 2008 03:50 AM
All of the above.

P. S. I thought there would be more answers above mine already, so the joke isn't so funny that way. Polls can be in the frontpage and there is no need to give any points, like I said below (see infra).

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ckinniburg... ckinniburg...
 
December 17, 2008 03:51 AM
It's so much more fun to count. Like this one. So you will have to actually read this whole post to know if I think it's a yes or a no. It's a really painful system. So I think there should be.

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jasoncalac... jasoncalac...
 
December 17, 2008 03:51 AM
If we do a polls section we're going to build graphs and what not, and we will NOT count the answers in there toward points because taking a poll is NOT what leveling up is all about.

I think polls on Yahoo Answers is the reason they are sucking wind/having a lot of bad folks leveling up. We want folks to level up for high-quality answers... leveling up because you picked the color blue as your favorite? meh.

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pescina pescina
 
December 17, 2008 03:54 AM
You could do polls for specific things WITHOUT giving any points at all, like they do at Slashdot. Yahoo Answers sucks because of many things, by the way.

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eatthatpop... eatthatpop...
 
December 17, 2008 03:56 AM
yahoo answers wouldn't suck if it were like mahalo...
gave money away :p

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budgallant budgallant
 
December 17, 2008 03:59 AM
If there's polls, I think they should definitely not count towards points.
I understand the scenario you're talking about, and it would really detract from the main purpose of the site, and trivialize things. That example you gave is really apt. I'm not opposed to polls, necessarily, but don't really see that in the same category as what is already here. I wouldn't like to see the site slowly change into a "get paid for survey" scheme, and I would worry having a lot of polls would put things in that direction.

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sgtoox sgtoox
 
December 17, 2008 03:53 AM
Absolutely, the person asking the question could propose a number of options and people could just vote on the pick. A running poll could be kept easily showing results without having to scroll through and skim the answers. It would certainly be interesting to say the least.

the diversity of questions that could incorporate polls is limitless. Anything from choosing an outfit to selecting a college to attend; polls could be applied anywhere.

splendid idea

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coreychare... coreychare...
 
December 17, 2008 03:53 AM
I'm a fan of polls. Makes it easier to get an overview of what people are thinking instead of reading every post!

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researchzi... researchzi...
 
December 17, 2008 03:54 AM
yes, absolutely - with simple expirations and choices AND the ability to link to items (URL or image path or whatever - as in 'which of these shirts is the ugliest' with a link to 4 images as choices etc) - same way it works for current posting, but with a clear "per poll option" path for video/audio/photo

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ppalmer21 ppalmer21
 
December 17, 2008 03:55 AM
Absolutely! I'd even recommend a different point system for polls. They require so much less work that a well thought out "help" or "how to" response.

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deucenaut deucenaut
 
December 17, 2008 03:56 AM
I believe this would be a good addition to the site, but if it is not currently in development, it could take a little time. It definitely would increase the appeal of the site though.

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toddgilmor... toddgilmor...
 
December 17, 2008 04:08 AM
I'm leveling up on Jason and making an executive decision. No.

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ssmacd ssmacd
 
December 17, 2008 04:17 AM
Polls would be useful, but wouldn't necessarily replace poll-type questions in Answers. I'd probably keep asking mine here, because I really like hearing the "whys"!

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menlotechn... menlotechn...
 
December 17, 2008 04:24 AM
No. The web page is almost too busy. The entire site is based on participation. I think think the Mahalo property should offer polls in another subsite.

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jondy1703 jondy1703
 
December 17, 2008 05:04 AM
I don't think polls should be specific to Mahalo Answers, it should be an overall Mahalo Polls section if anything.

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tmarx tmarx
 
December 17, 2008 05:33 AM
I don't think Mahalo Answers is the place for polls. Keep it focused on actual content in my opinion.

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justinleun... justinleun...
 
December 17, 2008 05:36 AM
I think the 'helpful' rating system is working well, and in the future another Mahalo section could be added for polls separately, but at this point you should focus on worded answers.

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garance garance
 
December 17, 2008 05:40 AM
That kind of polls has not a good basis in statistics, for several reasons, which means that the answers are meaningless. It would bother me, there is enough crap on the internet as it is. But small games would be neat (small mysteries, puzzle questions)

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mollyfud mollyfud
 
December 17, 2008 05:51 AM
Personally I think not. That is a different service and if you get to broad you get away from the original idea of the service.
JMTC

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etphonehom... etphonehom...
 
December 17, 2008 05:55 AM
Here's my idea:

Allow anyone asking a question to optionally include a poll as part of it. Users responding to the question could either give a text-based response as now, select an option from the poll, or both. That way people without anything new to add to the dialog could simply vote and have their opinion count, and the people who want to add an insightful tidbit as an answer could still do so.

This system would still allow for the current system of tips for particularly good answers. It would also allow poll-type questions to be found in their same category as free-response questions dealing with the same subject, and it would not require the addition of a separate section to the site with a separate user interface to learn.

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offthedome offthedome
 
December 17, 2008 10:28 PM
Some polls should be implemented. Another option is to implement the ability to create a poll as a question instead of putting them totally separate.

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