Poll Options

We were wondering if we could have an 'all of the above' and 'more than one choice' options on some of the polls that don't have one correct answer or involve subjective choices because some of us (yupper the '..aholics') are having a tough time choosing one answer on some of the polls. Thanks for listening.

A Poll Fan ^_^

Good question!

Short answer: sorry but no.

Longer answer: the weekly voting booth not is intended to scientifically, precisely measure anything. The responses (individually or collectively) are interesting to us, but they are not scrutinized or relied upon for major decisions. In reality, the voting mechanism is just a segue to the discussion thread ;o)

Historically, the weekly voting booth gave non-subscribers a way to chat with our subscribers and give them a glimpse into what our community was like, while keeping the topic structured so it wouldn't become a "free-for-all" forum. (It was introduced in late September 2001, and all forums went to "subscribers-only" status a couple weeks after that: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/105399/

Back then, the membership was still pretty small, so the voting booth helped "jumpstart" conversations when there was a lull. Like an ice-breaker at a social event, it gave strangers a way to get to know each other in a fun, non-threatening way.

So the questions have always been phrased in such a way that many members are encouraged to explain their answer by posting to the thread, rather than capturing everything in their "vote."

We've since added a lot of forums and many of them were created to be available to all registered members, so there's less of a need for the voting booth to act as the main "conduit" between subscribers and non-subscribing members.

We're also large enough (400,000 and growing) members, and getting people to chat isn't as much of a problem any more (*grin*)

But we maintain the weekly voting booth because it's still a fun crossroad where everyone (regardless of the forum(s) they call "home" can)--at least once a week--weigh in with their opinion or answer to a botany quiz question. The poll results (and conversation thread) often serve to remind us how much we all have in common, regardless of where in the world we live, how long we've been a member of DG, or how young/old we are ;o)

And in case anyone is counting, since September 25, 2001 (when the voting booth made its debut), we have run 375 polls.