Bring Back Polls

Simple, I want polls to be enabled.

(If this will never happen, can I ask why?)

People were making polls when they weren't needed - spamming with pointless polls; etc. General abuse of that privelage. Admins found it easier to take it away - and I highly doubt we'll get it back.

ok

I think its time that Admins gave us one last chance, and enabled polls again. It takes away a bit of the fun out of a forum without polls I reckon. And if they enabled them again they could put up a big sticky and announcement telling us to go easy on them and not put up pointless polls.

And also its not going to hurt anyone giving us one last chance with the polls admins. Please, pretty please? :P

If you have an idea for a poll that you feel is worth making, PM it to a mod and they may add it to your topic.

But yeah, maybe a few people in the forums have excellent ideas for polls, but many others will use it for dumb things so polls won't come back.

If you have an idea for a poll that you feel is worth making, PM it to a mod and they may add it to your topic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But yeah, maybe a few people in the forums have excellent ideas for polls, but many others will use it for dumb things so polls won't come back.

The ability to make polls as back and gone pretty much in 24hrs (exaguration).

And when we could make them again - they did tell us not to abuse them or they'll be removed; people didn't read / listen.

If you have an idea for a poll that you feel is worth making, PM it to a mod and they may add it to your topic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But yeah, maybe a few people in the forums have excellent ideas for polls, but many others will use it for dumb things so polls won't come back.

Ty, ragen did it for me, painless

Most of the topics in General P2P are "What do you barrow with" , "Why do you use Guthans" etc. So in my opinion taking polls away did nothing, people just create text polls. (Which annoy me even more to be honest).

I can see idiots abusing the poll privilege though, perhaps it could be made available to users with a 500+ (or other number) post count?

Again, if you think you have a poll that's worth making, PM a mod and they may add it.

If your poll is really worth putting up, it'd be as if you put it up yourself. :)

Ragen did mine for the TIFCon thread, I'm so happy, still! =D>

Well, if you really want a poll, there are two things you can do:

1. POLITELY ask a moderator to make one for you

2. use an external polling service

Just out of interest what harm does making pointless polls actually do?

Are they that much drain on the system resources?

Pointless polls like other pointless topics quite quickly drop off the first page never to be seen again.

Just out of interest what harm does making pointless polls actually do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are they that much drain on the system resources?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pointless polls like other pointless topics quite quickly drop off the first page never to be seen again.

Every time the topic is loaded, it adds a database query to get the information about the poll itself, then another to get the information from the table which stores the votes for the poll. Add that to the query it send each time someone votes, along with the 4-5 queries it takes every time a user replies that the poll is stupid, plus the query it send when a user reports the topic for being spam, plus the query it sends when a moderator requests the information about the report, etc etc etc etc etc

If we had a totally mature userbase , then it wouldn't be a problem , but unfortunately too many of our users don't fall into that category. They abuse every single feature that is allowed to them and makes it too difficult for the moderators to keep up with , and dont forget , they are volunteers doing this because they want to , if they start getting flooded with more and more useless work , then they wont want to , and the forum turns to mush in a week or less without moderators.

 

Just out of interest what harm does making pointless polls actually do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are they that much drain on the system resources?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pointless polls like other pointless topics quite quickly drop off the first page never to be seen again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every time the topic is loaded, it adds a database query to get the information about the poll itself, then another to get the information from the table which stores the votes for the poll. Add that to the query it send each time someone votes,

So a poll results in a extra three querys. Two if someone did not vote. The rest of the ones you mention are fairly generic and can apply to any topic.

If we had a totally mature userbase , then it wouldn't be a problem , but unfortunately too many of our users don't fall into that category. They abuse every single feature that is allowed to them and makes it too difficult for the moderators to keep up with , and dont forget , they are volunteers doing this because they want to , if they start getting flooded with more and more useless work , then they wont want to , and the forum turns to mush in a week or less without moderators.

When polls were allowed back on Scapeboard (only referring to polls in Off Topic not on other boards) they were not that big of a problem. I doubt the forum members were any more mature back then.

Back on Scapeboard it was never difficult for us moderators to keep up with the workload. Often if you wanted to find something to 'mod' a real effort was required to get there before another moderator did. The only massive workload was deleting all of the excessive market pages because the forum software was broken and would not auto-delete and writeing out 'warning' reports.

People make polls for three main reasons.

1) Because they are genuinely interested in the results.

2) Because they want the poll to 'highlight' their topic.

3) Because it is there.

The latter two have few merits, but the later does have value. Why should of the actions of irresponsible idiots interfere in the rights of normal users in making polls.

Back on Scapeboard it was never difficult for us moderators to keep up with the workload. Often if you wanted to find something to 'mod' a real effort was required to get there before another moderator did. The only massive workload was deleting all of the excessive market pages because the forum software was broken and would not auto-delete and writeing out 'warning' reports.

Out of curiosity how does the amount of users compare between then and now? I can't possibly imagine that there aren't more people posting now.

And I'd have to say that the TIF vs Scapeboard userbase seems somewhat more immature.

 

Back on Scapeboard it was never difficult for us moderators to keep up with the workload. Often if you wanted to find something to 'mod' a real effort was required to get there before another moderator did. The only massive workload was deleting all of the excessive market pages because the forum software was broken and would not auto-delete and writeing out 'warning' reports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of curiosity how does the amount of users compare between then and now? I can't possibly imagine that there aren't more people posting now.

According to web-archives.

Jul 13, 2003 scapeboard had 72703 users*

Dec 02 2003 Scapeboard had 49436 users.

April 1 2004 Scapeboard had 59647 users who posted a total of 1211421 articles.

(*The july 13 figure was recordred Apri 07 2007 :roll: )

What these numbers do not show is how many and how often accounts were deleted or how active the users were. I suspect the forums are currently 30-40% more active currently with regards to users being online.

And I'd have to say that the TIF vs Scapeboard userbase seems somewhat more immature.

The users of the 'Pking Section' on scapeboard had reached the pinnacle of immaturity. I do not believe there is much of a difference between the two boards with regards to maturity levels.

Maybe the topic starter could be able to make a poll once the thread has reached x amount of pages?

What about the Runescape Suggestions?

It would be way eaiser than a supporter's list

Why should of the actions of irresponsible idiots interfere in the rights of normal users in making polls.

Unfortunately, thats the point everyone seems to be misunderstanding , the ability to create a poll on a topic is not "a user's right", its a privilege.

When a privilege is abused , its taken away.

I would say that the Moderators being polite enough to offer to put a needed poll on a users topic could also be considered a privilege. One that has not yet been abused and removed and should be considered a blessing.

As a user of the forum , I'm sure you're well aware that a good amount of the topics created on the forums that need not be posted in the first place, nevermind voted on. Giving them the ability to add such a poll would just encourage users to post a poll for every silly question they may find interesting.

A recent example:

The users wanted more space for their signature, we granted it, and it was instantly abused and still remains to be.

Also , you may not see the significance of adding additional page loads and database queries , but you must remember that this site is run FOR YOU at NO CHARGE. Dedicated Servers and bandwidth cost money and the only thing paying for them is the Advertisements, which most of the users block by some means anyways. So I don't think we should feel inclined to consume additional resources at every user's request.

Anything could be considered a right or privilege depending on the context. In many ways the two terms are interchangeable. If someone is allowed to do something then it is a right of these even if it is a privilege.... It is just playing around with English distinguishing between the two.

Also , you may not see the significance of adding additional page loads and database queries , but you must remember that this site is run FOR YOU at NO CHARGE. Dedicated Servers and bandwidth cost money and the only thing paying for them is the Advertisements, which most of the users block by some means anyways. So I don't think we should feel inclined to consume additional resources at every user's request.

The bandwidth I use to view the advertisement is a direct charge upon myself. So saying at No charge is technically incorrect. It is also possible to donate money to the running of tip.it which is another revenue source which is not advertisement.

There are also other 'useless' privileges/rights which remain. Such as the the hosting of Avatars which from my understanding are hosted locally. They add nothing to the information and discussions taking place which is the core roll of a forum. The only purpose they serve is a graphical representation of the user. Unlike avatars polls give across the user views on a issue. They are not perfect and do have their negatives but they can be a quick and informative way to summaries the populations view on a argument or issue.

So exchange the privilege of avatars for the privilege of polls. :D