To think AIBU polls are pointless due to demographic?

[Pewterschmitt]

I was thinking about this earlier, since the app doesn’t allow people to vote, the votes are almost meaningless as only a certain section of MN users will be voting.

Desktop users of MN are predominantly older which will also sway the voting % meaning it’s hardly a good barometer of what the general view is, it also explains why many times the comments will be very different to what the vote looks like.

The demographic breakdown of app vs DT users is easy to access if you put in a request btw before anyone jumps on that point

So AIBU to think that the poll results on here aren’t worth much and MN should allow app users to vote too?

People's opinions are more often improved with experience of real life.

I think AIBU polls would be more useful if only older people were allowed to vote 😜

78% of those accessing via the desktop version of the site are in the 55-75 age group. Yay, I'm in the 22% so must be considered young OP 😁
However only 13% of app users are in this group What happened to the other 9%? Do they access telepathically? 🤔 😜

Not sure why you're getting into such a state about something so intrinsically meaningless as the MN vote system. It's just fluff. Never used the vote facility, never will; it's a fat-headed way of expressing a "view", quite often one that hasn't even been clearly posed by the OP.

I value MN for the capacity to express a reasoned view, even when I disagree with both view and reasons.

And yes, you're being ageist.

MN has its own collective biases anyway. You'd get different results asking "AIBU to have a toilet brush?" or "AIBU to not eat cake baked by my colleague?" on AIBU to if you stood in the city centre and asked regular people.

There was a rare poll last week where 99-100% of posters were pretty much unaminous in their result. That's worth taking note of.

Sometimes the poll and the response vary. The justification of the typed response can be interesting and reflect stronger held views. People with more moderate points of view are more likely to vote and run.

How on earth is the op ageist?

Is it really that hard to comprehend that getting the majority of votes from one demographic is going to skew results? Really?

I dislike the app so I use the mobile version of the website on my phone. I can switch the the desktop version on my phone so it isn't the same thing.

I agree with you that age could easily sway the results but I think the main reason why polls are often different to comments is because people are afraid of saying what they really think in case they get piled on, especially if it's quite a touchy subject. So I wouldn't say they're meaningless.

OP are you aware that mumsnet poll results literally don’t fucking matter? shocking I know

Ummmm... did you think that Mumsnet polls were scientifically validated and statistically significant? 😶

You're misreading the stats there. It's not telling you which % of users in that age group access the site via desktop/app (and therefore needs to add up to 100% of users in that age group). It's telling you that 78% of those using the desktop site are in that age group, but only 13% of those using the app are in that age group. So it could also say that 1% of those using the desktop site are in the 0-5 age group, and 1% of those using the app are in that age group. It doesn't need to add up to 100%.

Having said that, I find the first stat very suspect, to be honest. I don't believe that almost 4 out of 5 of those who use the desktop website are in that age band. Because very very few users of the site overall are that age. IME the vast majority of posters on here are between 25-60, probably skewing towards 30-50.

This is quite a basic factor when looking into statistical data gathering.

Nobody would use an AIBU poll to gather data for statistical analysis. This is not research: it's a casual chat forum. The only people gathering data are the advertisers who pay Mumsnet to spy on us.

So what % of people overall are using the desktop site? If it's only 10% of overall users, then 78% of them isn't going to hold much sway.

Also what are the stats for people who use the mobile version of the webpage rather than the app?

Me too, 31.

I knew it wasn't as straightforward as add both together, but 1) it was too early in the morning for me to figure it out, and 2) I was being slightly facetious.

I think you've dipped your toe in the water of statistical biases, OP, but you need to dig deeper into it. Then you'll discover that these "just for fun" AIBU votes are merely the tip of a statistically insignificant iceberg.

PS I am a desktop user in my 30s.

Don't use the polls if you don't want to. The polls are just for fun, or should be. Same as the advice you get on AIBU. If you don't find it valuable or worthwhile, don't bother with it again.

I don't use the app, because I don't want a million apps on my phone. I'm either using the browser on my phone or using my laptop. I'm early 40s and probably a lot more of a stick-in-the-mud than many posters much older than I am. 😅

Who is trying to derive meaningful data from AIBU? It's just a bit of fun.

I use an IPad, I can vote. I like to represent the views of a typical Martian

Those age stats seem very unlikely, given the number of posters who use the mobile site. Do you have a link to the full set? And specifically what percentage of users use the app vs the website?

Most MN threads in general are subject to response bias anyway, in that it's usually people who feel strongly about the subject that reply.

Half the time it's not even clear what the question is. Most of the posters are just looking for everyone to say YANBU and agree with them