Meta-poll

[andrewducker]

In response to this question on my previous poll:
[Poll #986074]

Personally I'd view that as making answering polls pointless.

Comments

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

And by right, I mean most amusing to me.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I do occasionally check what other people have said first. It depends on the poll.

I don't think that necessarily makes it pointless to answer, although certainly in many cases it does.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Yeh, it depends. If you have a poll which asks "which of these is true" , it's only intelligent to look to see what other people have guessed first:-)
If you asked me "Do you like cheese?" (for example:-) I'd answer without checking!

[andrewducker]

If you have a poll which asks "which of these is true" , it's only intelligent to look to see what other people have guessed first:-)

Sometimes you really do think in a way that's completely alien to me. I was wondering _what my friends thought_. It's not a test, nobody is going to grade you on it later, praise you for getting it right or laugh at you for getting it wrong. The answers I got told me something about how various of my friends see me, and that was what I wanted out of it. If you're using it to show people you know me better than they do then that seems a little...odd to me.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I wasn't trying to outdo your (other?) friends actually - i scanned the poll, knew the right answer instantly (as you well know) and thought I'd see what everyone else said for my interest's sake (just like yours), then noticed you'd already answered your own poll, which to *me* seemed a bit peculiar - not much mystery there..
Usually when people do this kinda thing they give the answers in a later entry.

[andrewducker]

Aaah, gotcha. Doesn't quite tie up with:
If you have a poll which asks "which of these is true" , it's only intelligent to look to see what other people have guessed first:-)
But I assume you were just kidding when you said that then?

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I'm not afraid of my own opinions! I hold them for what I believe are good reasons and am unlikely to be swayed by others' answers. If I afterwards found that I'm in the minority I'd be looking for reasons as to why and maybe some doubt woudl creep in, but I'd not want to know what people said ahead of time.

That said, it does depend on the poll. For example: If it's "what day is the best day for me to hold my party?" then knowing who else has picked what day can be handy and you can offer your second choice rather than first if it fits in better.

[odheirre.livejournal.com]

I chose "I just give the answer I think is right/fits best" because I checked the answers and saw what everyone else was doing.

[dapperscavenger.livejournal.com]

I check the answers first most usualy. This is skewed slightly by the fact that I take part in my dog communities weekly photo contest poll. All the photos are so cute and sometimes its hard to choose between my two favourites - so then I check and then go for the one with the least votes.

[aliiis.livejournal.com]

Also, I thought the 'View Answers' link only came up once you had filled it in yourself, making this a bit academical... maybe I'm just witless though. :)

[yalovetz]

My honest answer to most polls is 'no preference' or 'I don't know'. Sometimes I have an inclination towards an answer but part of my decision making process involves collecting as much information as possible before deciding for good, so sometimes I do check other people's answers before answering myself. I don't think it changes what my answer is going to be, just lets me know whether I'll be answering against or with the grain. Often I can't pick an answer at all and don't fill out polls myself, but just look to see what other people have answered.

[andrewducker]

part of my decision making process involves collecting as much information as possible before deciding for good
I think possibly you put too much weight into poll answers. And also real life. There are rarely _final_ answers - one can always change one's mind later.

[yalovetz]

Actually, I just don't care about polls that much. I don't find them particularly interesting or meaningful most of the time, and don't see the point of arbitrarily choosing an answer when I don't really care one way or the other which box I tick.

I don't take them seriously, I was just trying to describe what goes through my head when I see a poll on my friends list. I look at it, don't have much of a response, peruse what other people have answered, and then most of the time either ticky or move on depending on how much time I have at my disposal and how much a poll has interested me. Sometimes the order of tickying and perusing the results is reversed, depends.

BTW...

[yalovetz]

... I'd be interested to find out exactly what you mean when you say I put too much weight on things in real life. I know I can come across as overly serious a lot of the time, (especially online which is mostly how you know me,) so I'm curious as to whether that's all you meant or whether you were thinking of something in particular?

Re: BTW...

[andrewducker]

I seem to have got under your skin with this one, which wasn't my intention.

It was simply spurred by you saying part of my decision making process involves collecting as much information as possible before deciding for good and me thinking that the "for good" was a fascinating suffix that meshed with my general 'feel' for the way you act. You consider things for long periods of time so that you can make the _right_ decision - and the thought that this might be because you feel that each decision is in some way final seemed right to me.

Of course I don't actually know you all that well, so I may be misreading this entirely.

Re: BTW...

[yalovetz]

I seem to have got under your skin with this one, which wasn't my intention.

That probably wasn't helped by the fact that I'm on my second day of a ferocious migraine plus other assorted bad health stuff, and my mother is coming to stay tonight for three days.

Actually I think your impression of me, as you describe it, is pretty accurate. I tend not to make decisions by coming to an initial conclusion and then revising/improving on that (which seems more like your decision making process, if I read you right?)

Re: BTW...

[andrewducker]

I vary, depending on what I'm doing. Certainly at work I tend to jump in, do something, find the flaws and then improve it bit by bit. Other decisions vary, depending on whether they're ones that can be easily changed.

Since we're talking about accuracy on polls...

[avatar.livejournal.com]

This poll is a bit biased, I think. I'm being nitpicky, but bear with me.

I'd probably switch the answers around - people are more likely to answer to the first, more obvious, choice if the second choice sounds awkward.

Also, remove words like "just". It gives off the "why bother with anything else" vibe that more people would probably associate with because it sounds more "ideal" - the pollee doesn't want the poller to think they make things difficult.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Actually where livejournal polls are concerned, I tend to go for the answer that amuses me.

[andrewducker]

Damn you and your result-skewing ways!

[taromazzy.livejournal.com]

The poll is for your delight & delictation mate, I dont check after I've filled it in, cause I'm not arsed - you're the one that wants to know what your pals and random strangers think!

Anyway, enough essay avoidance already, gotta get back.