Poll Results

[Winston Smith]

I've noticed that one or two names are usually missing when I look at public poll results (see example below). Is there a way to fix this?

 

[Dav]

It's not that the names are missing, it's that there are guests who vote in the polls.

 

[Winston Smith]

It's not that the names are missing, it's that there are guests who vote in the polls.

Oh, I didn't know they could do that. Thanks.

 

[Redress]

Considering the topic, give it a few days and there will probably be hundreds of names missing, for the reason Dav mentioned.

 

[Orion]

Polls on this site are no longer reliable due to guest voting, and I wish guests didn't have access to this feature.

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

Polls on this site are no longer reliable due to guest voting, and I wish guests didn't have access to this feature.

Maybe there's a way to turn off guest voting in some forums or make it an option to check off when a poll is made? That'd be nice.

 

[RightinNYC]

Maybe there's a way to turn off guest voting in some forums or make it an option to check off when a poll is made? That'd be nice.

We've discussed this before, but have repeatedly decided against it for three main reasons.

First, polls on this site (and every other site) have never been reliable, as they're just self-selecting internet polls. You can't really draw anything too useful from them regardless of who can vote.

Second, allowing guests to vote in polls before they register as members has one of the better ways to attract new people to the forum and get readers to take the first step toward more regular participation.

Finally, if people really want to know how the membership of the forum breaks down, they can look at the names and count them up to get an idea of how the forum feels on an issue.