Thread Starters: Why So Few Polls? (Not A Poll)

[BookMan]

What is the most votes you have had in one of your polls JT?

I really don't know. Lots?

I noticed in one of your polls the other week there were about 200 people who voted which I thought was quite a lot. I'm sure there must have been polls with 300, 400 people have voted.

I feel a sign of a good poll is reflected in the number of people who voted.

Be good to have some ideas of numbers so people who do post their forst poll can have a benchmark to work around

[Jingthing]

I agree a lot of votes is a good indicator. You know you've got a DUD when there are only a few votes! However, you really can't reliably predict which polls will be popular and which will be duds. No big harm in starting some duds. They simply fade away.

[StreetCowboy]

 

I agree a lot of votes is a good indicator. You know you've got a DUD when there are only a few votes! However, you really can't reliably predict which polls will be popular and which will be duds. No big harm in starting some duds. They simply fade away.

 

Make sure you do walk away. It's all too easy to go back and give it a kick or a prod with a stick and it'll all blow up in your face

SC

[OldChinaHam]

I was referring to Nate Silver, and he used to know plenty about basketballs.

[sustento]

Why don't you start a poll of who prefers "pedantics"

And who prefers "pedants"?

You got me there. There is no plural of pedantic, correct?

Pedant is a noun and can thus be plural (pedants). Pedantic is an adjective and can't.

[Jingthing]

Why don't you start a poll of who prefers "pedantics"

And who prefers "pedants"?

You got me there. There is no plural of pedantic, correct?

Pedant is a noun and can thus be plural (pedants). Pedantic is an adjective and can't.

Sounds right. No poll. No donut even!

[StreetCowboy]

 

What would people think about a rule prohibiting excessive nitpicking about the STRUCTURE of any poll? I wouldn't expect it but I would welcome it. Would that encourage more people to start polls? I don't know.

 

I think it would be a good rule, and one that I would be proud to flaunt

[OldChinaHam]

Let me better understand this a bit.

Design a poll to achieve maximum response.

Which requires intimate knowledge of the readership/members.

But we cannot poll the readers on TV about touchy subjects.

So we cannot really know what might help maximize the response.

When we design the poll we are planning?

And then we don't care or wonder why we get duds?

It's just more I dunno? I dunno?

And you worked where? did you say?.....

Selling soap powder with Ogilvy?

[Jingthing]

Not really. It doesn't matter if a poll here gets a poor response. Trial balloons. They're cheap. No need to over think it.

[OldChinaHam]

In that case, why not try a lead balloon.

I have been thinking that someone smart ought to design a poll in commemoration of recently hitting 400 PPM.

What could be more interesting

And more timely

And more important to our future enjoyment of CM?

[Jingthing]

In that case, why not try a lead balloon.

I have been thinking that someone smart ought to design a poll in commemoration of recently hitting 400 PPM.

What could be more interesting

And more timely

And more important to our future enjoyment of CM?

So are you gonna start a poll or are you gonna jerk around all day? (Inquiring minds might possibly want to know.)

[OldChinaHam]

And you say there are only two of you at your keyboard?

[OldChinaHam]

I won't start a poll if you will.

(I get no respect around here. Sorry.)

(And, my being on thin ice, it is now no more cans of worms from me.)

Edited May 14, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[Jingthing]

I won't start a poll if you will.

(I get no respect around here. Sorry.)

(And, my being on thin ice, it is now no more cans of worms from me.)

Your post(s) remind me of a hard boiled ex-coworker of mine. (Yes, I used to be employable. I know: Amazing!) As I was approaching 35 and losing my lovely boyish bloom she said to me: You know, you're not as CUTE as you THINK you are. Devastating!

Edited May 14, 2013 by Jingthing

[Patsycat]

Darn, it's shit getting older isn't it?!!!

[OldChinaHam]

Not hard boiled actually.

Just full of ham and plenty of nihilistic thoughts.

Probably no hope for me now unless the world takes a sudden turn for the worse.

That's the only way I can feel really happy.

Take care, Thing.

[OldChinaHam]

"I happened to watch the Bill Gates interview by CBS yesterday, of course not on my television, which is full of snow. I was intrigued to learn that this guy has a collection of DVD university lectures on random subjects which he enjoys watching, and that he likes reading about fertilizer."

Actually, watching university lectures as a replacement for watching soaps on television can become very enjoyable and pleasantly entertaining. It is lots of fun because there are no tests. Just sit back and learn as much or as little as you want, watch as much as you want and take as many notes as you want. You don't feel guilty like you do when you are watching soaps on television or commenting on TV.

Here is the link to the Open Yale Courses site where I used to spend much time lurking:

http://oyc.yale.edu/courses

It is not about learning something, it is about enjoying something without the test-taking that makes learning something sometimes taxing.

I never take tests when I am enjoying my Yale lectures in Chiang Mai.

I was surprised to find that Gates enjoys the same pastime as I.

If you are from Chiang Mai, you might enjoy this pastime too.

The best lecture at Yale, from my perspective, is Wyman's Global Problems of Population Growth which deals much with population issues in China and Asia. I think you will like it, I really do. Far better than Upstairs Downstairs. http://oyc.yale.edu/molecular-cellular-and-developmental-biology/mcdb-150

It would be really interesting to take a poll to find out how many people in Thailand also watch US university lectures from their Thailand computers, what they think of the lectures and the new opensourcing of the lectures. And maybe some other questions relating to people in Thailand watching US university lectures.

The Wyman one semester course is intended for people of any age with a brain who care about this planet and the lives of their kids in the future.

Well, investigation of this lecture watching in Thailand is what I would not poll myself on TV, if I had a choice which I do not.

I know that it would be a dud anyway, so there is no point in discussing it further I suppose.

Which may not stop me if I think of this topic in the future.