When suggesting a new idea, large or small, should a poll be created, to establish percentages?

Halcyon

Halcyon

Member
When I browse a xenforo suggestion thread, its difficult to see the for & against ratio, I'm frustrated with not being able to tell what is & what isn't considered to be a good idea. :confused:

I feel the use of a poll on each new suggestion thread to be 'useful 'to both users & 'developers' alike.

Please let me know your thoughts, for me it'd help massively to establish if I want to invest now, later or not at all. I like quick, reliable data...

Cheers, Halcyon ;)

Agree to disagree?
 
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Trombones13 said:
While I see your point, I'm not sure polls are the best way to do it here (if we're even considering using something other than the like system, which I think works pretty well), especially when you can't tell from looking at the discussion list that a given thread is a poll. As an alternative, I might suggest this: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-thread-voting-feature.363/ :)
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I like the 'up-voting system' - it gives long-term validity to questions that may not seem important at first but thereafter, tend to grow on you...

Whilst I agree the like system has a degree of success, it is still a very insular method of attaining an overall consensus, i.e. a general opinion. A 'total amount' of likes (a total counter, dial or meter) would need to be created & viewed both in-thread & in-forum to assist in recording opinions. At present, someone would need to physically trawl through the thread & count the likes on a piece of paper.

Dean - you'll still have to count the likes, is a poll so offensive to all that its not the obvious choice? Its a painless system, just read & click. When deciding to vote for a local government, I know I don't like him/her into a position of authority. Its the policy he/she stands for.

My reasoning for using a poll is to record opinion, allow instant access to that poll & its data & use this to assist in the development of xenforo software. I see the upvoting system as a way to promote ideas that grow & evolve within a thread thats already established.

In the gold release, I'd like to use both systems to record peoples choices. Liking & voting is becoming a large part of forum use & its a feature that will set xen aside from its weaker brethren. It'll form a huge part of my site. If these systems are not in place by default, I'll get it modded.
 
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Halcyon said:
Dean - you'll still have to count the likes, is a poll so offensive to all that its not the obvious choice? Its a painless system, just read & click....
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I was trying to make a joke, sorry if that was not clear.

I believe the idea is to 'sort by likes'. By default the threads in a forum are sorted by last post date, but the they can be sorted by number of first likes. Polls do not bother me at all, but I am not the one to decide on what does or does not get implemented, and I believe the idea is that would confuse people by having both 'like the first post' and also a poll.
 
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Halcyon said:
Whilst I agree the like system has a degree of success, it is still a very insular method of attaining an overall consensus, i.e. a general opinion. A 'total amount' of likes (a total counter, dial or meter) would need to be created & viewed both in-thread & in-forum to assist in recording opinions. At present, someone would need to physically trawl through the thread & count the likes on a piece of paper.
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Would it help to make a mod to show the number of first-post likes in the thread list, so that when they're sorted, you'd have a visual representation of the number of likes? I know that's not what you're suggesting in this thread, but it is something I had thought of a couple months ago and now I think it would be possible for me to create if it was wanted.
 
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From the provider's (or developer's) perspective, it doesn't matter who doesn't want a feature, it matters who does.

I work for a company that provides Windows web hosting. About four years ago we discontinued MySQL support due to lack of interest from our user base. A couple of months ago we added MySQL to the options again. Why? Because enough people were requesting it to make it viable. Even though 95% of our users have no interest in using it.

A feature or a service doesn't always require a majority opinion to be introduced. Sometimes features are introduced that no one asked for. Look at the "disallow like" feature here. ;)
 
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Halcyon said:
Whilst I agree the like system has a degree of success, it is still a very insular method of attaining an overall consensus, i.e. a general opinion. A 'total amount' of likes (a total counter, dial or meter) would need to be created & viewed both in-thread & in-forum to assist in recording opinions. At present, someone would need to physically trawl through the thread & count the likes on a piece of paper.
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this is how its done on xf:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/likes-review-most-liked-posts.5329/
 
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Bottom line: the Like system involves training each and every new customer/board member to "like the first post if you like the suggestion," which requires a lot of nagging and repetition, while the Poll system is self-explanatory. So why go with a system that you have to constantly explain?
 
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anotheralias said:
Bottom line: the Like system involves training each and every new customer/board member to "like the first post if you like the suggestion," which requires a lot of nagging and repetition, while the Poll system is self-explanatory. So why go with a system that you have to constantly explain?
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This is one of those ideas on paper would work well but in the real world but would most likely fall flat on it's face. The factors I'm concerned about are from both sides, the OP (making the suggestion) and the members voting. What's to the say the Op won't create a set of questions in the poll being biased towards the suggestion and not giving the option for the member to vote for the question not wanting to accept the idea? Secondly, in reality not everyone would vote, it would be nice if they did but reality is they don't. Going back to my OP concern, In the event that the op doesn't include all unbiased suggestions in the poll would most certainly lead to the staffs workload being increased in the way of editing and including questions which they therefore need to contact the op and ask what's best suited to include.

Ps. I'm sure I misunderstood this thread. I'm english.
 
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Shelley said:
This is one of those ideas on paper would work well but in the real world but would most likely fall flat on it's face. The factors I'm concerned about are from both sides, the OP (making the suggestion) and the members voting. What's to the say the Op won't create a set of questions in the poll being biased towards the suggestion and not giving the option for the member to vote for the question not wanting to accept the idea? Secondly, in reality not everyone would vote, it would be nice if they did but reality is they don't. Going back to my OP concern, In the event that the op doesn't include all unbiased suggestions in the poll would most certainly lead to the staffs workload being increased in the way of editing and including questions which they therefore need to contact the op and ask what's best suited to include.

Ps. I'm sure I misunderstood this thread. I'm english.
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Fair comment, but if you can only 'Like' a suggestion, how do you cater for those that don't like? Most users won't register their view as there isn't an option. And if they do muster up the effort to post their viewpoint (in thread) it still won't be recorded. We need an opposite of 'Like' for a true concensus to be achieved.

I'd like to see an 'agree to disagree' button if polls are to much effort. You can only click the 'agree to disagree' if you add a small comment explaining why you don't agree.

A 'Like' only system is unbalanced & biased, thus its purpose is flawed. If you don't like something do you just 'let it go man' or should you speak up?

A forum is a community & should be self policing... play the game or go elsewhere, don't be idle? Why join in if you can't be bothered?

If someone doesn't vote - it possibly means they have their own agenda & to participate will endanger their final objective or aim.
 
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Halcyon said:
Fair comment, but if you can only 'Like' a suggestion, how do you cater for those that don't like?
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You click on the Reply button and explain why you don't like something.

That way you're registering your view and providing feedback which may ultimately improve the feature.
 
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Halcyon said:
Fair comment, but if you can only 'Like' a suggestion, how do you cater for those that don't like? Most users won't register their view as there isn't an option. And if they do muster up the effort to post their viewpoint (in thread) it still won't be recorded. We need an opposite of 'Like' for a true concensus to be achieved.

I'd like to see an 'agree to disagree' button if polls are to much effort.
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There's always an obstacle in the way when you want everyone's opinion on the matter. To answer your question, they simply respond in that thread stating they don't like the idea. But the point of the matter is that people generally don't respond, vote, unlike, like etc because they are not aware how the system works but often than not they just can't be bothered or interested.

Unless a member feels they are benefiting from that suggestion any OP makes they may like, vote, respond. If the idea doesn't human nature creeps in and they simply don't want to know.

There are a hundred more factors I can mention but I think the point I made is clear. Not that I'm against your idea, I just feel a better thought out system is needed and finally implemented when it comes to the suggestion areas.
 
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Brogan said:
You click on the Reply button and explain why you don't like something.

That way you're registering your view and providing feedback which may ultimately improve the feature.
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Is there some reason you couldn't do this with a poll?

Shelley said:
Secondly, in reality not everyone would vote, it would be nice if they did but reality is they don't.
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If they don't bother to vote, they aren't all that keen on the suggestion? Maybe the easiness of Liking a post gives a false impression of who really likes the idea. Also, someone who sort of likes the idea will be constantly advised to Like the post, so they might end up Liking it just to get people off their back.
 
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Its mad here. I come from a design engineering background. 23 years of solid global industrial experience. I work with Unilever, Proctor & Gamble & Glaxo Smith Kline to name a few... Without data I can't get my products to work. Without data, I may as well be sitting in my garden sunbathing... I design something, I prototype it, I test it by obtaining data, then using that data I improve my product. I repeat this until it works without exception.

All I'm after is... how do we record people ideas here effectively? I don't like reading 200 to 300 threads to find what people really think. I like to see instantly what people think by the choice they decided to choose.

Any ideas how the developers here collate the views of the people on the site? Then how they decide which are the most popular?

I'd just like to see a method to record opinion. That way I can decide, one way or the other, if I'd like to buy xenforo. If this can't be achieved, then I'll find a company who can give me more info concerning what they are trying to achieve.

I'm not out to offend anyone or be a pain... I just want a big picture, not a forum that uses the Pollock expression painting method of recording its outcomes.

Cheers... ;)
 
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