posted
UBB doesn't happen to have any kind of "poll" feature that could be implemented does it?
It'd be nice to be able to poll people here like: "You like which of the following titles best?" And get some automatically calculated results instantly.
posted
I agree. I often have names, titles, plot points that I want to throw out for a litmus test, but it always seems like a waste of a thread. Posts: 346 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I think a simple poll feature is nearly worthless, other than for amusement. Answering "yes" or "no" to the question "Did you like this book" gives no relevant information. WHY a book is well-liked, or not, is useful to know.
Posts: 2026 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Elan, I would want to ask people questions about my own work. Say, if I am tossing around three or four versions of the a title for a story, I poll Hatrack to see which they like best.
Otherwise, yes, I suppose it would be pretty useless to say "Did you like Eragon? Yes or No"
(Of course, we all know the answer to that question anyway.)
posted
Simply Yes/No polls might not be terribly informative in isolation, but if the poll feature had the option of multiple responses, and the ability to post beneath the poll in a thread (in order to explain your response or discuss the results generated, for example), it could be a nice visual way of getting feedback.
Posts: 201 | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Yeah like wrenbird, I was talking about my work in particular.
Other forums ie: ones that use PHP(I think?) you can attach a poll to the top of a thread, but otherwise it would still behave like a normal thread with plenty of room for detailed or lengthy responses, and still allow for a simple, anonymous poll at the top. For easily colleced data.
[This message has been edited by Zero (edited December 18, 2007).]
posted
I suppose there's always surveymonkey.com or something like that. But I have to say that writing an effective poll isn't as easy as it sounds. I do similar things like that at work, and in order for the information to be meaningful, you have to start with lots of background work.
For example, I can't just say, "Is this hook effective?" That is too arbitrary, and is left up to chance. You would have to provide hook A and hook B, and then take a poll of which is more effective than the other.
The same for character development. Your qestion couldn't just be, "did I develop the character sufficiently?" It would have to be, "Regarding character A: should his character be developed in direction X, direction Y, or direction Z."
The problem with any of this is that it might take more time and effort to get consistent and meaningful feedback than it is worth...
I think this is one of the problems with the 13 lines. We are limited to a first 13, so we are hard pressed to say, "Does intro A work better than intro B?"
I disagree I am certain I could get very meaningful and interesting writing-relevant information from a poll, regardless of whether you think you could.
posted
There's already a mechanism in place to solicit and receive useful feedback. It's called a critique. Much more informative than a poll.
Posts: 2026 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Bah. Just because one strategy is more useful more often, doesn't mean another can never be useful ever.
Posts: 2195 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Ummmm.... OK, Zero. Didn't mean to try to disillusion you there. I don't believe I said that you couldn't do it, just that it takes a lot of effort to do it so that you get what is, IMHO, meaningful information.
And I use the word meaningful in the sense of statistically significant data that is non-heteroscadastically distributed, and that is usable for inferential applications. Because it sounds like that's what you're going for. If you want to move past opinion and take a "poll" that is meaningful, then you are hoping to inferentially apply those results to a broader population.
As to my name/signature-- no, I don't have any illusions that I'm some futuristic robot. My name is Thane Thompson, so my initials are T.T., which I have just gotten used to shortening to T2 as a signature to most electronic communication. After five years or so, most of my colleagues at work just call me "Tee-Too," as geeky as that may sound.
[This message has been edited by Igwiz (edited December 20, 2007).]
posted
The "hasta la vista baby" works for you, you should keep it.
But as for this,
quote:And I use the word meaningful in the sense of statistically significant data that is non-heteroscadastically distributed, and that is usable for inferential applications. Because it sounds like that's what you're going for. If you want to move past opinion and take a "poll" that is meaningful, then you are hoping to inferentially apply those results to a broader population.
This isn't stats class. "Meaningful" is pretty subjective, or rather what you decide is meaningful is pretty subjective. And I think it's generally agreed upon that "meaningful," when written, means something along the lines of "having purpose." And here's the kicker, the purpose is subjectively decided by the asker.
posted
No, Zero, this isn't stats class. Which is why I keep wondering where you're going with this line of inquiry. You seem to think that you can take a poll of whether or not your writing is good. I think everybody is saying that this is usually done through individual critiques.
But it doesn't sound like that's what you want to hear. I didn't even shoot down your idea. I just told you that it would be a lot of work.
You prove my point by continuing to argue about it, especially when you say, "'Meaningful' is pretty subjective, or rather what you decide is meaningful is pretty subjective. And I think it's generally agreed upon that "meaningful," when written, means something along the lines of 'having purpose.' And here's the kicker, the purpose is subjectively decided by the asker."
No kidding. In other words, this topic is too subjective to take a poll for.
The real irony is that it sounds like you think that if you write to the "poll," that it will make your work better, or give you a better chance of getting published. And that might hold true if the sample you are polling (us) were the decision-making body.
But we're not. So your data would have two fundamental flaws: It wouldn't be representative, because you couldn't achieve a large enough sample size, and, if you did get a large enough sample, it wouldn't be meaningful, because you're not polling the right people (which are magazine editors and literary agents).
What I find most fascinating is that you seem to be hell-bent on criticising me, my opinions, my responses, my electronic signature -- all because I'm not telling you what you seem to want to hear.
So here, Zero... I'll make your day.
Take a poll. Write to it. Submit your pieces. I certain it will work for you.
[This message has been edited by Igwiz (edited December 20, 2007).]
The topic was created to ask if such a device could be implemented here with our UBB format.
So, returning to topic. I think a poll feature would be useful, I'm not interested in whether or not people agree with me. I'm only wondering if we could implement one here with our web-standard, or if it would be impossible.
[This message has been edited by First Assistant (edited December 20, 2007).]
posted
It seems to me if it could be implemented the people who like the idea could use it and the people who don't could ignore it.
Posts: 1588 | Registered: Jul 2007
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