We recently took our first shot at polling and got some terrific response in spite of some initial technical difficulties. With the kinks ironed out we decided to ask some questions to help us ask questions better. Embedding polls in articles and blogs is new to us and we've got plenty of options to help us ask questions in the best way possible. But aside from our technical ability to ask questions, if we're going to get the best quality answers we have to know what our readers want from a poll.
So, while these questions aren't anywhere near as interesting or exciting as what graphics card vendor would you pick, we've put together a collection of questions that will really help us tailor this new tool to our readers. There is a balance to everything, and we want to maintain that balance. Knowing what readers are comfortable with and how you guys want us to interact with you will really help keep us from using this feature in annoying ways ... like asking stupid questions about how we should poll you. :-)
But hey, it's here, we can do it, why not. After all, our dedication to the site is to deliver the best quality and most useful content to our readers as we can. The value of this kind of direct feedback can't be understated, and I'm hoping you will all be as excited about helping us refine and adjust things as we are about asking. Starting with how we should use polling to get your input.
Thanks! Here's the poll:
{poll 120:1450}
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Amiga500 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
1. I voted weekly for the number of polls - if there had been an option for "as is suitable" - I would have selected it. To get the readership engaged in polling and provide meaningful feedback, I think it is important not to have too many polls and it quickly becomes a chore to read an article and eventually only a small number will repeatedly fill the polls in.2. Weekly for poll length - having 1 new poll a week with the voting open until next weeks poll keeps things simple. It should also be useful for providing time-stamped snapshots of reader opinion for future reference. For example, in a year you might want to revisit a topic to see how opinion has changed - with only a 1 week poll window as opposed to unrestricted polling, the 12 month old data won't change over time as opinion changes.
3. I voted No for a permanent polling spot on the front page... in hindsight I think that was a mistake - if there was a link to "this week's story and poll" I think it would work quite well.
Ph00 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Just copy how slashdot does their polls.. just with more meaningful questions/answers :)strikeback03 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Second time you have done this, so I figured I'd mention it. Taylor is a name, tailor is the verb you are looking for in "help us tailor this new tool."DerekWilson - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
thanks for pointing that out. i have an extremely unhealthy dependence on spell check which doesn't usually catch it when i'm just being stupid :-) i'll do my best to remember that from now on ...Denithor - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
If you're going to keep the results around for more than a month or so, just set up a separate page for previous results. Move results there a month or so after the poll closes.If a poll is included with a specific article, move the results & leave a link from the article to the results. That way someone reading the article a while later can still find the results but I think there is value in having a central listing for all results.
BTW, there's an "Uber system poll" that takes place about once a year in the General Hardware forum. I find it very interesting to take a look in there each year and get an idea for how people's systems are progressing in general (looking at large shifts in speed, capacity & cores from year to year). If you ran a poll like this on the main page you'd get tons of data that would show nice trends from year to year.
Pottervilla - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
"If you're going to keep the results around for more than a month or so, just set up a separate page for previous results. Move results there a month or so after the poll closes."I second! And could you have a search function too?
This is really going to be fun...
StraightPipe - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
|Corland - Thursday, January 29, 2009 - link
your articels look unprofessional when you fail to do this.okthxbi!
DigitalFreak - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Pot calling the kettle black...Corland - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
See if you can spot the irony in the poll!It's an exciting fun game they have provided!