Polls?

I looked around a bit and couldn't find a section dedicated to suggestions. Is this the section we should use for that?

Anyways, on to my real reason for creating this thread. I don't know about most people here, but I for one would find some use for an option to add a poll to a thread, like you see on many forums elsewhere. It would be a quick way to get a rough idea of opinions and I'd be willing to bet many people who wouldn't take the time to type out a full reply for various reasons wouldn't mind taking a second to vote in a poll. Of course, there'd probably have to be some kind of restriction similiar to the post count required before being able to start your own thread.

Of course, if there's an option for this already and I've somehow missed it over the last couple years, please inform me.

There used to be a polling system within the forums. Just as you would post a new thread. It was removed due to script kiddie exploits and such. Not sure if those precautions that had the poll function removed are still applicable as of now. This happened many years ago, and the board and it's code have changed dramatically since then.

Should you search for "polls" in the BB&Q section you'll see that it's a popular question. ATS has never had poll threads (as with some other forums) - at least not for as long as I've been a member.

There are several opinions and suggestions as to why it won't be implemented. Among the reasons would be that the "data" is typically useless. Many people deliberately vote "against the grain" to skew the results. And if you look at some forums with polls you'll see that the questions that are asked become watered down and pointless. We can expect questions such as "Should the White House be painted red?" or "Do you think I'm HOT?"...

In the end ATS is a discussion board. You can still have your polls. For instance start a new thread: "Do you think that a second shooter killed JFK?" then you will get Yes and No answers - BUT because of our 1-liner rule you'll also get the reasons why people have that opinion AND additionally you have the opportunity to change their minds.

That said, admin sometimes surprise us. So who knows; maybe tomorrow when we log in there's a Poll Thread option... I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
And if you look at some forums with polls you'll see that the questions that are asked become watered down and pointless. We can expect questions such as "Should the White House be painted red?" or "Do you think I'm HOT?"...

That was another reason (I'm Sure) they shut the poll function down. The quality of the threads themselves should show you what kind of polls we would see. As far as I can tell, Gemwolf is right, it would be pointless. Besides, I personally would much rather discuss topics than to submit a predetermined answer for someone else's potentially biased agenda.

Thank you, Gemwolf, for your swift response and logical input.

-Baked

My only response to this is that there is a reason that one line posts are not allowed. We on this site dont want to know who agrees with what, but instead wish to deeply examine the nuggets of thought and information which are provided by the membership.
Merely knowing that one person agrees with a statement or approves of it in some way, does not educate or provide information on WHY , and it is this level of detail which is desired from a poster.
In truth, I think this site needs to avoid becoming a glorified opinion poll, but is in danger even without the mechanic you suggest, of becoming just that, due in part to some members forgetting that this site is about detail not vaugery , about specifics rather than ambiguity .
We need more prescision, and less uncertainty of meaning on this site, and I feel that while it might be handy for some , a poll would put us much closer to the brink of utter confusion than anything else .