If Polls are important - why can't they be found ?

[Digital Doctor]

I think it's fair to say that the number of people voting on polls is low.
Why ?
A design flaw.
Polls, here and with vBulletin, are not given any more importance than a regular post.

Don't you think there are some important polls here @ xenforo.com ... covering important things to vote on (like xenforo features) but you don't know where all the polls are ?

POLLS need to be seen !!! Help them !!

There are many ways to accomplish this.
For me, I would like to see a list of "EVERY POLL" ... not per forum ... EVERY POLL.
I want to read the titles, skip the ones I don't care about ... and vote on the ones I do care about !

Voting in polls is important. Let's give Polls the respect they deserve. Over time, as people become more interested in Voting, Mods will need keep users from making stupid polls. But that's the moderators job anyway !

Let's bring back democracy to Polls. Polls that can't be found are unjust. Wouldn't you be mad if your city hid your Voting Station in 2012 ? and you a had to drive up and down the streets looking for it ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Idea: POLLS TAB

a "Polls" Tab could help this : Lists of Polls could be displayed
- a list of all polls,
- a list of new polls you haven't read.
- a list of most voted on polls
- List polls in Forum X

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts:
- Should users be able to "Subscribe to all polls" ? (ie. I'd get an alert if a new Poll was posted) ?
- Should users be able to "Subscribe to all polls in a forum" ? (ie. I'd get an alert if a new Poll was posted) ?
- Should admins be able to "Sticky" polls ? (Make them prominent on the Polls Tab, so they are more likely to get Votes?)
- Does vBulletin or another forum have a "Polls Tab" Mod as described ... what does it look like ?
- Could a Poll be marked urgent (admins only)... such that everyone is asked to vote ... and the admin has the option to put an "Alert" message for the entire forum about the vote ? (to be used cautiously).

 

[captainslater]

I don't want to have an own poll tab but a option for advanced search eg. "Search only polls" would be nice.

 

[Jeremy P]

I don't think polls should get much more exposure than any regular thread to be honest.
If the poll is official or important it could be made a sticky.

Though to help a little I've created a page which lists the 10 most recent polls (and # of votes/replies, etc.. discussion list style view) for my forum.

 

[Scott Brown]

how about a "latest poll" for the sidebar block?

 

[Shelley]

Dunno if I mentioned it but the "question mark" on the left could have an option (upon clicking by the creator) to upload a image relevent to the poll and/or have their avatar reside in that space to make it a little more personal and at the same time social if the desire is to allow/implement/upload relevant imagery for the poll.

 

[MGSteve]

Well, call me stupid and hit me around with a kipper, but I didn't even know there was a poll attached to this thread before I opened it. That does kinda suggest that something needs to be done to make them stand out a bit.

 

[dutchbb]

Well you can't see it's a poll from the list of threads.... Maybe show a poll icon to the right of the list (where the icon for sticky thread is) or even in the title:

 

[Jaxel]

I think a polls tab is too much... However, you could very easily write a portal module for my XenPorta mod if you wish. Its pretty simple, I just don't plan on doing it since I don't have a need for it.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I don't want to have an own poll tab but a option for advanced search eg. "Search only polls" would be nice.

That would help the initiated and keen - like yourself ! But those keeners already voted probably !
I think the weakness is people would have to search for it and we all know how under utilized the search button is.

how about a "latest poll" for the sidebar block?

you could very easily write a portal module for my XenPorta mod if you wish. Its pretty simple, I just don't plan on doing it since I don't have a need for it.

This is a great idea. Ideally, the sidebar block could take people to say one of the 3 latest polls (ie. the block displays 3 polls) or an option to go to a "POLLS" page ... where they can see a list of all the Polls. People might get in a "Voting Mood" and want to vote on all the polls they have missed in the last X days / weeks.

I don't think polls should get much more exposure than any regular thread to be honest.

I think many forums that aren't using Polls for specific information gathering probably don't want more exposure for Polls. This thread mostly deals with Forums that really want to know what their users think on a specific topic.

If the poll is official or important it could be made a sticky.

I'm not a fan of stickies. I think either a poll is not important enough (doesn't warrant a sticky) or is too important (people ignore stickies anyway).

Though to help a little I've created a page which lists the 10 most recent polls (and # of votes/replies, etc.. discussion list style view) for my forum.

This is a great idea.
Could you screenshot this or give a URL ?
I've suggested in my original post some things I think would be useful on a "POLLS" page.

I think a polls tab is too much

It probably is for many sites. I think it probably is too much as well.
A Polls Page I think would be handy.
But where would it go ?
The XenPorta (Portal) sidebar block is a good idea.
Anywhere else ?

This is a good idea. But it would only make Polls a wee bit easier to find. I definitely think this should be implemented. I think this should be a Default Xenforo setting.

 

[Jeremy P]

I think many forums that aren't using Polls for specific information gathering probably don't want more exposure for Polls. This thread mostly deals with Forums that really want to know what their users think on a specific topic.

If it won't be useful to (most) all forums I'd rather see it materialize as an add-on. This forum software is lean and bloat-free so far and I'm hoping it stays that way.

This is a great idea.
Could you screenshot this or give a URL ?
I've suggested in my original post some things I think would be useful on a "POLLS" page.

It's nothing too special, it just grabs the 10 most recent polls, filters out the ones the user doesn't have permission to see, and displays them in a list.

Users on my forum requested a specific category for polls, but as a compromise I created it so that the polls could still reside in the forum which they'd usually belong.

Nonetheless, I've attached a screenshot of it on the default style from my local test setup.

 

[kkm323]

sidebar poll easier for the user to see
if you vote for a poll another one appear + link for dissuction thread.. etc
simple thing can mean a lot to some people and i truly agree you

 

[Digital Doctor]

Democracy doesn't work when you can't find the polling station.

 

[Digital Doctor]

why oh why is it so hard to find a POLL !

 

[Shelley]

why oh why is it so hard to find a POLL !

Not sure whether it was suggested but having the ability to add it to sidebar (like the xfrocks fw widget addon). I did notice that when a poll is displayed on the sidebar it gets a lot more usage quite significantly.

Pity there isn't a standalone addon as that would be nice rather than having to install a whole FW to get the feature.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Not sure whether it was suggested but having the ability to add it to sidebar (like the xfrocks fw widget addon).

Great tip. I didn't know about that one. But that effect will only last as long as you have the poll in the widget. But it will help the "Polls fade away too quickly" problem. This will especially help if you have a really important poll.

I did notice that when a poll is displayed on the sidebar it gets a lot more usage quite significantly.

Good to know.

To me, the "best" solution is for the first 2 weeks, VOTES bump the thread back to what's new.
As well, there should be a way to find polls.

 

[Shelley]

there should be a way to find polls.

Prefixes?

 

[Digital Doctor]

Prefixes?

If you could auto-prefix all polls with a prefix ... it might help.
You would then be able to search for that tag.

I don't think auto-prefixing is possible.

Interesting idea.

 

[0xym0r0n]

I've always had a section for my polls. Though some through slip through my mods and I.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I've always had a section for my polls. Though some through slip through my mods and I.

If polls are important to your site ... that is one solution, albeit labour intensive.

It definitely doesn't respect the vB and XF notion that Polls should be created everywhere and anywhere and that EVERY new thread should be giving a [Poll] option.

 

[0xym0r0n]

If polls are important to your site ... that is one solution, albeit labour intensive.

It definitely doesn't respect the vB and XF notion that Polls should be created everywhere and anywhere and that EVERY new thread should be giving a [Poll] option.

Yes, if there was a sortable option for polls it'd be nice. That's I voted for polls tab lol