Picking poll questions
By Steve McClure on Fri, Jun 20, 2008
Picking poll questions certainly isn’t an exact science, but few of us expected such a dramatic drop off this week when we went with this one.
None of us expected it to generate the hits our previous question did. Heck, there aren’t too many topics that are going to generate the kind of interaction Wal-Mart does. But dropping from almost 2,1000 votes to just squeaking past 100 was a bit of a surprise.
We’ll probably set up a new question Monday so folks can comment on the redesigned newspaper, but what poll questions would you like to see us ask?
Tags: Notes On News
June 20th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
The Wal-Mart question allowed unlimited votes from a single subscriber, though I think this was fixed by the end of the poll. It is likely that a few people clicked their mouse hundreds of times each. That may partially account for the large number of votes.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Matt,
I have no doubt that there are a couple of people out there with callouses on their “clickin’ finger.”
The polls are hardly scientific, but it does generate some interesting discussion. And historically, Wal-Mart related issues generate even more discussion than other topics.
Do you have any suggested questions?
June 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Honestly, I have absolutely no idea about this poll, because I’ve never been able to access any of the news about it (I don’t have a subscription). However, there was plenty of information regarding the Wal-Mart issue on the ‘developing’ or ‘breaking news’ which I can read…
Maybe that’s part of the issue?
June 20th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Sarah,
Thanks for the response. Yes, the university district is a topic that you’d probably need to read up on a bit. I expect that will remain one of the challenges associated with our site, since the subscription model isn’t likely to change.
We’ll keep that in mind, though, when we pick new questions.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Here is a suggested question - Should the Daily News hold the on line comment section to the same standards as the print version and require the use of real names?
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Matt,
Thanks for that. I’ll pass it along to the editorial board. I’ve talked about this in previous columns and still believe the comments section should allow for anonymity. I think people are participating in conversations they might otherwise not join.
And, to be quite honest, there are several instances in which I can’t say there’s a huge difference in the level of discourse between “named” and anonymous.
One thing we have changed in recent months was inclusion of “Web Chatter” in our printed edition. We stopped including comments from the Web site about five weeks ago.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Steve, yes, in some instances things sink to the lowest common denominator. The people using their names are publicly accountable, anonymous posters are not. It seems that a few people are destroying the utility of the on line comments. I know that some people are hesitant to write a letter to the editor because they do not want to be subjected to the insults. It stifles more conversation than it encourages.
It should not be a blog, but a community forum.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Actually a good poll question might be, “Do you vote for the best candidate available regardless of party?” You’d be surprised by how much people will vote for someone evil just because they’re in their party.
There’s a guy in Lewiston who is running for U.S. Congress against Bill Sali and not even the media is giving him attention. He’s running as an Independent.
I see on blogs and things all day about how much people like to complain and so on and then you suggest switching parties and it’s blasphemy. Partisanship will destroy our country.
Mosher for Congress D.1.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I expect we’ll add some political poll questions as the election draws closer.
Steve
October 1st, 2008 at 5:54 am
Hello
Nice site!
G’night