Poll in the BOI?

[A_Kendergirl]

I had brought this up in another thread as it went with the general flow, but I am also interested in knowing if others like this idea. So, let me (and Webslave, I hope) know what you think.

Just an idea...

Perhaps BOI threads can have a poll of good guy/bad guy very similar to the Good Guy Certification. Perhaps "Undecided" could be a viable option in the poll as well.

People could them vote as they see fit about the thread, and change their vote if needed. It doesn't happen too often, but good guy threads turn bad and bad guy threads turn good. With the poll available, a person who opens the thread can get a quick glance of the general direction of the thread. If a good guy thread did turn bad (or the other way around) it would be readily seen without having to read 100 posts ... and may inspire someone to actually read all of the posts to see what happened. Likewise, if a bad guy thread has 95% bad guy votes, then there is little question about how people feel. If there are a lot of undecideds, or a near even split, that could be plenty of reason for someone new on the scene to read the whole thread so they can decide by themself.

Take the Bill Leverton thread ... with it's umpteen million posts that are mostly beating a dead horse. At the start of the thread, it actually goes in Bill's favor. Anyone who only reads a page or two might feel he's OK. In the first few hours, his poll would have had a number of "Good Guy" votes, a number of "Undecided", and a few "Bad Guy" votes. Then, several people make it very clear that it's the same snake...and eventually Bill confesses. Nearly all of his "Good Guy" votes would have disappeared, there still would have been a number of "Undecided", and a lot of "Bad Guy". A week or two later (I'm NOT about to look that up!) the info comes about about the shill bidding. At that point, he would have nearly all "Bad Guy" votes. If the poll were in place, by opening the thread a person would be able to see that a WHOLE LOT of people think he's bad...and it saves them from several hours of reading, trying to weed out the truth for themself.

With this in effect, people still have the option of reading all the posts involved in the thread, but they are also more at liberty of skipping from beggining to end and still have a good idea of how the middle went. I KNOW that people do this frequently on large threads....it might actually stop them from posting an opinion that was repeatedly stated 100 posts back, but is now old news.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

OOPS!! I meant to have an actual poll along with this!! Well, post what you think anyway!

 

[Rebel Dragons]

I personally don't like the idea.

I like to form my own opinions of people by reading myself what they have to say and what others have said about them.

Forming a premature opinion based off of a poll at the beginning of a thread, before I even read it, is just not appealing to me.

It would be a classic "judging a book by it's cover" scenario IMO.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasoning behind it. I just don't think it would be fair to the person(s) involved in the thread.

 

[Sasheena]

I think that it is an interesting idea. Some may not like it, and that's okay, because everyone forms their opinion in the way that works for them. I think that the software is already in place for anyone who desires to set up a poll when they post a bad guy (or a good guy) thread. If I ever have to post a bad guy thread, I will consider doing this. I don't think that it needs to be something that is mandated. If some people do it, and others like it, then more will do it and it might become "standard" for people to include that. I think it will be overall quite interesting.

I especially like it because an individual can change their opinion and change their vote. Though I think that having the "participants" in the poll visible to any who care to look will help to keep it more honest.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

I agree that it should be public knowledge as to how you have voted. The ability to change your vote is also key. When new info comes out and you change your mind, you should be able to express that change. I imagine it would clear up a lot of the "I agree" posts that can clutter up a thread.

I would like to see a thread or two in the BOI with a poll...to test out how it works. It might be a smash hit when people see how it works, or it could be a total flop. At least we would know that someone tried it. LOL...To anyone that does it, please be sure that it's a legit BOI thread, we don't want anyone getting into trouble.

As for Mike's concern, people do that without a poll. They often will make a decision without reading everything. I'm sure there are people out there that don't even read the thread, they just look for a title saying "Bad Guy". All of the posts would still be there (as I see it), and everyone would still have to freedom to read at will and make up their own mind...this would just help the people that don't have hours to spend reading a bunch of stuff that has little to do with the meat of the thread.

 

[Sasheena]

I agree that some people have to try the poll thing, on a legitimate thread, before it can be seen how it will or won't work. I know that if there is a thread like that I will try to read it and participate in the thread/poll. I haven't purchased snakes from anyone in over a year, and am currently trying to cut back on my collection more than add to it. But I do have opinions on some of the threads in the BOI and wouldn't hesitate to add my opinion.

 

[Serpwidgets]

I like the idea but I would want at least a fourth option. I don't think that someone who was trying to pull a scam, but then aborted it and paid up because they got busted on the BOI, is a "good guy" in any way shape or form. Yet a lot of people would not want to vote "bad guy" because they did end up (under pressure) completing the deal.

... if that makes any sense.

(Although personally I believe it's what one does when one doesn't believe there will be consequences, that truly determines one's character.)

 

[Dr Owens]

Shanti,
If you'd like I can edit your topic and turn it into a poll. If you'll PM me with what you would like for poll options, then I'll add it for you.

 

[Dr Owens]

There you go Shanti! I'll be curious as to where this might go.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

An "On the path of redemption" option? It would make sense. Though few in numbers, a person who finds themself on the wrong end of a Bad Guy thread and tries to make a change for the better doesn't qualify for the Good Guy/Bad Guy/Undecided options. In my opinion, they would not be exactly good or bad at that point. They would have to do many good things without relapse before I would consider them good again. For others, they will never be considered good again - and they could just keep their "Bad Guy" vote as is.

 

[Rebel Dragons]

OK, the Adam at Millenium Morphs...give me my money thread, got me thinking. It would be interesting to see how a poll would have played out on that one. I for one would have changed my vote about 5 times already.


Kudos for the good idea!!! You just may be onto something.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

LOL - I was just thinking the same thing. If he refunds the money in the next 24 hours, I would vote "good guy" still. If he drags it out for a few days, but still refunds, I would say he's "on the path to redemption". If he continues to play around and doesn't refund for weeks on end, he would be getting a "bad guy" from me.

 

[WebSlave]

Three issues concerning this idea come to mind.

(1) How many people will be able to properly construct a poll and make the choices reasonable and not ambiguous?

(2) How many people will simply vote along with the "opinion of the moment" and the vote not really be their own thoughts at all? Some people will just follow a crowd.

(3) What is to prevent duplicate polls? Polls cannot be combined like threads can to fix a problem like this after the fact.

At one time I was actually thinking of a concurrent forum using a poll, much like I did in the Good Guy forum, and similar to what is being proposed here. Kind of a BOI Lite. There were several technical issues involved, not the least of which it would have put me in the position of having to set up each and every poll for every person to come through the BOI. That would have been the only way I could have made sure it was set up properly and there were no duplicates.

Further drawbacks would be such as when someone changed their business identity. Or when a business entity was composed of more then one person and they went their separate ways. Yeah, all the same problems I will face with the Good Guy Certification section, certainly. But the difference is that the Good Guy Certification is voluntary, where a BOI Lite would not be.

In some respects I think a separate section would be best, but here are still issues that need to be addressed either way.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

The way I see it, it would be the same poll for every BOI post. Simply put...has this thread shown the person in question to be 1.good, 2.bad, 3.on the way back up, or 4.is there not enough evidence to make a decision. Period. To allow polls outside of a set format would really confuse things. I think the polls should be more of a barometer telling you which way the winds blow, but not topic specific.

For sure, there are people out there who can't think for themselves. There are also those who hold a grudge and don't care about what the thread is about. If the way you voted was public knowledge, it would be easy to see the people who consistently stink up the place. I would like to think the majority of people reading and commenting on the BOI are capable of making up their own mind, and THEN voting. That may be naive, but I can hope! I think this would get more of the lurkers to respond. A poll can get 100 votes easily, when the actual thread may have the same 10 - 20 people posting.

The way I imagine it, the poll would be an addition to the BOI as it currently is. It would automatically have the set responses for every thread. Seeing as the 3 types of threads that pop up in the BOI are good, bad, and "who are they" the poll would easily apply to all normal situations. Even the "who are they" threads inevitably fall good or bad.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

For those of you voting "No", I'm curious as to why you think it's a bad idea.

 

[WebSlave]

Certainly it will be (and has been) optional for anyone creating a thread to include such a poll, but I doubt there will be much consistency in the format people will chose to utilize. As for requiring it's use, that will not happen. That means I would have to edit each and every new thread that flubbed it, for one reason or another, putting in the poll.

Actually, I think your question answers itself about why people are voting "no":

For those of you voting "No", I'm curious as to why you think it's a bad idea.

 

[WebSlave]

Oh, one other thing. Anyone setting up such a poll would be REQUIRED to set it up to display the names of the people voting. Otherwise it become the equivalent of an anonymous posting if the votes are made anonymously. Any votes made would have to have the member's name attached to it. Otherwise the poll would have to be deleted.

 

[Serpwidgets]

The way I see it, it would be the same poll for every BOI post. Simply put...has this thread shown the person in question to be 1.good, 2.bad, 3.on the way back up, or 4.is there not enough evidence to make a decision. Period.

I'd go one step further with it, by adding "on the way down the tubes."

If such a poll were present on the current "Millenium" thread, that would be my vote right now.

Since it would be changing constantly throughout the progress of the thread, the subject of the thread might want to know that they are heading in the wrong direction but are not (yet) being seen as a bad guy. Give them more incentive to go into "damage control" mode and to fix the situation as quickly as possible.

 

[A_Kendergirl]

I think it would be great incentive. If he could see that more and more people are saying "Boo!", he might come around. Another form of peer pressure.

I guess I get to sit back and wait for a BOI post with a poll! I'm not currently doing business with anyone, so it won't be coming from me. Whomever does do it, I hope will use a cut and dry format that has been suggested.

As for the poll in this thread, it is interesting the way people respond. So far there has only been one "nay" post that has since turned into a "maybe". Yet, you look at the poll and there are far more "Nays" than just the one person who spoke up (thanks Mike).