Polls - would you like to be able to start them?

[JustineMumsnet]

It's been suggested on another thread that it would be a nice idea for mumsnetters to be able to start polls. i.e. when you start a thread you can set up a poll to go with it and specify a start time and end time. Then people can vote and see a page showing the vote balance.

Votes would be private and limited to one per nickname but results public.

So for every Am I being unreasonable? - type thread you could actually get a majority view if you wanted.

Anyway Tech says he can do without too much trouble - what do folks think - would you like it or no? (now if only we could start a poll on this...)

i htink its a good idea to have polls, you can have the debate in the thread too, surely? Poll results in OP or something?

I don't like polls.

There's usually no option for my opinion.

And "depends" is so often going to be the overwhelming outcome anyway.

Hmmm....I was about to say "yes, polls are good" but then I thought how easy it would be for someone to start one like, oh I don't know, maybe
"WOHM are crap - do you agree" and it wouldn't take much for all the WOHM to have all their neurosis fed by seeing a majority 'yes' poll....
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it could be abused quite easily.

Why not have a trial run?

I use another site (not baby related) that has polls - and debates to go with the polls that are equally as long as some of the MN classics,if not longer - I don't think they stifle debate at all!

My DH is a member of another website where they have polls.

You read the question, click on your answer and THEN you see the % vote (and who voted for what).

Underneath the OP which has the poll & results, you can reply/argue/debate/agree/disagree etc etc as usual.

What's the harm?

because you don't want 10 a day asking whether a poster should have a custard cream or a bourbon biscuit with her tea

Eeew! custard cream every time

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nadine shall we have a trial run on pentapeptides?

tbh I'm not that bothered re: polls, find them a bit meaningless but inoffensive iykwim

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So glad you managed to slip that 'u' in there cod

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Thanks for all the input. Looks like on balance there's no burning desire for polls. We'll maybe revisit it at a later time and perhaps try a test week... but for now Tech's got quite enough on his plate with new servers and the like.

Carmenere we love the idea of charging for media polls - thanks for the suggestion - we'll give it some thought internally.

Cod the polls on products and MN awards is what the reviews are supposed to be about but right now there's too much of an editorial bottleneck to make it work well. We are planning a re-vamp and a move to a Trip Advisor-style system - so you can post your views on stuff directly onto the site and rate other people's reviews - so it should function much more along the lines you suggest - ETA for that is kinda April-May depending on how clever Tech is (spot the gauntlet being thrown down there). Then I think publishing an annual awards list would be great wouldn't it? We could even have a dinner and all wear diamonds and posh frocks...

Maybe we could get Johnnie to provide the frocks

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