i think there is a massive number of arguements on the site at the minute. i think voting polls would be brilliant 2 the site.... (click yes or not) .. ( if u like the spin idea click yes or no) for example.... plus it would help with other arguements. instead of having to read everything just click yes or no and maybe add a little comment under the voting poll? ...

Edited at 23:07 Mon 29/12/08 (GMT)

good idea, but you don't want loads of people making loads on pointless polls, i think it should be the staff who are able to make them and the players (us) can put forward their thoughts and opinions about the chosen topic. i agree it would be a much more efficeint way of finding information on what different people would like to see on the site.

Edited at 23:16 Mon 29/12/08 (GMT)

If you were gonna have polls, should be made so only admins can make them


Other wise all spammes will be saying,


do you like toast with jam

yes or no

The reason poll's haen't been used is that they don't give a realistic view of opinions, nor provide any useful feedback.

The current system, where threads are made to discuss options, often seeing things grow in a completely different direction that may not even have been an option in a simple poll.

Not to mention many people oppose all changes initially, but come to support them after a time.

One carefully thought out reason for doing something can easily outweigh hundreds of simple yes/no votes.

http://www.funkysnooker.com/viewTopic.do?topicid=1597

http://www.funkysnooker.com/viewTopic.do?topicid=4539

There's some more feedback from it. Was pretty much all positive, but just drafted back and died

Edited at 23:21 Mon 29/12/08 (GMT)

Thing is with polls you have to be careful of desirable answers, or people will just go with the flow giving biassed and invalid results.

Perhaps for every change that could happen to the site there could be a poll for it. The results should generally match up with the thread's feedback and if they don't then you know the polls aren't working as well as they should!

I think polls should at least be trailed and if they don't prove as helpful as hoped then at least we can say we've tried it but unfortunately, it didn't work well and revert back to just the forums.

Edited at 23:25 Mon 29/12/08 (GMT)

Plus if the thread is called "do you agree the new spin is rubbish" that is a question leading into an answer of yes. Threads would have to be worded in an unbiassed way which isnt easy with yes/no answers.

If polls were brought in, then I would bring them in for more trivial questions such as the question jon asked above and availiable only for the bottom forums - fun and games and gen chat.

What do you think of the new spin and are you happy with it?

Is that not unbiased? A answer like "yes, i've adapted well and i'm pleased it's been introduced on all game types" or "No, I find the game quite difficult now and i'm struggling to cope with the new spin" would be able to come from the poll/question, giving a straight yes/no answer and explaining the reason behind it.

Edited at 23:35 Mon 29/12/08 (GMT)

Well worded but would other members word questions the same unbiassed way?

Maybe a better way then yes/no would be a rating out of 5 or a scale like

excellent
very good
good
poor
awful

This would make it almost impossible to ask a question which is leading a person into an answer.

Also its good to find out somethnig for yourself you could ask everybody

'Hi i'm going to buy a nmew games console which one would you all advise me on getting:

PS3
Xbox360
Wii
DS

Thank you'

If you ever use a PHPBB forum they have them due to it being a useful tool, and obviously if anybody does make somethnig so daft as 'Do you like toast with Jam' just remove their posting rights then you don't need to worry becuase when people no what happens the consiquences are people will stop being daft with them

Also whats more simple than asking a simple question then looking at the top of the thread to see

PS3 - 45
Xbox360 - 21
Wii - 92

etc

With this feature people can still post why they would buy each of them so the discussion level of the forum is still going to remain as high

If you introduce polls to the website then it will kill the forum. Because when people have an "open" argument on the forum it is quite funny what they say and the topic is "hot" and "alive" but when polls are introduced then it is basically a 1 post topic and it is a waste to use.

So my opinion is that we do not introduce polls to the website

no`
`

Thanks for that, as for polls I think mikes option would be best.

Polls are always usefull, and becuase there is a option it does not mean the topic is not 'hot or alive' clicking a button saying 'yes' or 'no' will not kill the forums,

Go back to my example Which console would you pick, say i clicked ps3 that does not mean i won't post

'I picked the PS3 becuase its the fastest console to date and it does come with Blue Ray so its more advanced' etc

SO the forums will continue, becuase you always get somebody who will post after saying 'nah xbox is better because....' It just means at the top of the thread you will have an answer straight away to what people prefer and it just makes things easier for me to find a answer, otherwise say theres 10 pages I will have to go through each post every page to see what the majority thaught which would not even be worth the hassle!

Just make it so you can only do 1 pole thread a week so that way the admin team might be less concerd about spammers, also if somebody does do a daft thread don't warn them just remove their rights to create a pole thread again then they can only be blaimed, you need to remember the majority of the forum users will only use it in good mannor anyways.

Even if this idea does have some doubt give it a try, see how it kicks off if its misused then remove it same as if forum activity goes down becuase we don't want less posts thats for sure

Also just a idea, why don't you use it in a certain forum like Game Queries or Fun and games just for a trial it won't hurt

I have no problems with fun forums being used on fun and games/gen chat as mentioned, but they are definitely unsuitable for important areas like game queries if used in a basic form.

One of the problems is that after a few posts, the initail question could be totally irrelevant.

People are also less likely to post against what looks like the preference of the majority, even if the idea is a brilliant one.

Take this thread as a perfect example.

i love toast with jam

Take his post for example, just plain sad for a grown man.

Just looked at them and i was all for it there lol, sows how things change I suppose

Polls must be an objective reflection of the opinion from the major part of a group. As one individual can vote more than once (ie by using more than one acount) like on this site, the voting is subjective and is not a reliable reflection of the opinion from the FS-community.