Point Proven

[andrewducker]

I post about The Political Compass, I get no responses. I post again, with a poll for you to put your answers in, I get 30 people filling it out and 16 comments.

Looks like I know how to get _your_ attention.

Comments

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

Both had been tabbed before I got around to reading them in my case, so obviously the one with the poll got the response.

But you're right - a poll will up the interest in a post.

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

Well, duh. I thought everyone knew the way to get responses is to put in a poll.

It's so bad that in lj_abuse when we're trying to get opinions on how to handle a case we have to include polls, or else everyone's like "eh, I'll get to it later" and never do :P

[andrewducker]

It#s a huge shame that answering polls changes the page- it means I have to open them in a new tab if I want to answer them without losing my place.

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

Eh, I open everything in new tabs anyway, and then close them when done.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

ooh! shiny!

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Well, there are other ways, but they'd probably just make us sick :-)

Nah, it's just classic stuff. People like it when they are asked about themselves. It's like if you want to come over well socially, ask people about themselves, their family, what they've been up to, what they like doing etc. etc. (nothing too personal) and don't talk much about yourself.

Never manage it for long myself, but it definitely works in terms of making people think you are pleasant. By observation, it works a LOT better if you mean it.

So, with polls being the LJ way of asking questions - it is bound to improves your reply rate :-)

[darkoshi]

Plus, knowing that one will be able to compare one's own results/opinions/etc. to other people's, in a nice simple format, helps add appeal too.

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

I would have thought that the addition of a poll was blindingly obvious: we like the illusion of interactivity. I think it's to do with getting told that we're in a democracy and can influence things if we just wish really really hard...

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Looks like I know how to get _your_ attention.

Not really. The first time you mentioned the political compass, you didn't include a link to it.

The second time, you did.

Certainly, poll or no poll, I couldn't be bothered to go off and find where it was again and do the quiz again... but when you supplied a link, I thought why not?