On polls

[necaladun]

 

I've seen more and more posts recently with polls - which is great, however I'd like to address how these are viewed by the staff and players here.

 

While these polls can be useful to gauge the opinion of people in the thread, please acknowledge they are a -very- limited sample size.

 

In a few recent ones, I've seen the threads authors claim that the % in the poll is representative of the communities wishes. This is only the case for the people who have bothered to vote - which means they have signed up to the forum, are actively reading the threads, and the issue interests them enough to weigh in on. They also have to have formed an opinion about the issue, which generally should take at least a few days. Aesthetic changes may be faster, and changes to balance that require the meta-game to catch up can take longer.

 

For many of these polls, there are less votes than there are admin, let alone players in our community. Please do not confuse the % of votes in polls with the % of the community that feel the way about the change - especially with such small sample sizes and short times after the change.

 

Polls are a useful indication and summary of the thread, and I'm not saying they shouldn't be used or done, and they are most definitely taken into consideration by the staff, but they are only taken into consideration. They are not a true and fair representation of the communities wishes.

 

[Shadeykins]

 

I've seen more and more posts recently with polls - which is great, however I'd like to address how these are viewed by the staff and players here.

 

While these polls can be useful to gauge the opinion of people in the thread, please acknowledge they are a -very- limited sample size.

 

In a few recent ones, I've seen the threads authors claim that the % in the poll is representative of the communities wishes. This is only the case for the people who have bothered to vote - which means they have signed up to the forum, are actively reading the threads, and the issue interests them enough to weigh in on. They also have to have formed an opinion about the issue, which generally should take at least a few days. Aesthetic changes may be faster, and changes to balance that require the meta-game to catch up can take longer.

 

For many of these polls, there are less votes than there are admin, let alone players in our community. Please do not confuse the % of votes in polls with the % of the community that feel the way about the change - especially with such small sample sizes and short times after the change.

 

Polls are a useful indication and summary of the thread, and I'm not saying they shouldn't be used or done, and they are most definitely taken into consideration by the staff, but they are only taken into consideration. They are not a true and fair representation of the communities wishes.

 

I'm sorry to snark here Necaldun, but only people who vote get to decide who's in government.

 

If you can't be bothered enough to get onto the forums and voice your opinion, then I don't really think you get to have an opinion/say/right to complain.

 

If a poll is loaded or hard to get to, that's one thing. If it's up there and people aren't bothering to put in ten to twenty seconds of their time to make their opinion known, that's another. A poll is a more accurate way to gauge what a community wants than an admin's "gut feeling" about community direction in about 90% of cases. A great example of this is the company HiRez Studios which has absolutely slaughtered it's playerbase time and time again by going with their "gut feeling" rather than consulting the community. There are instances of course where polls should be disregarded (ones that are obviously jokes) but legitimate polls that show players are/aren't behind a certain idea/concept should be taken seriously and not always as "this is a knee-jerk reaction to something new".

 

Believe it or not, just because time passes and people stop grumbling about something does not always mean they've "come to accept" or "like it", more often it means that the people in particular feel "No matter what I say, it's going to be misconstrued/not taken seriously so why should I even bother at this point?".

 

That's my two cents.

 

[necaladun]

 

I'm not at all saying the communities feed back isn't important.

 

But recent polls have equated the voting % in the poll as "x% of players want this". And this is simply not the case. at all. The polls represent those who not just have decided to make themselves heard, but also who have the time to read over every thread, and to pitch in and form an opinion.

 

I rarely myself get time to do it. The same goes for a lot of other staff and players. Just because someone doesn't have the time to read all posts on the forums doesn't mean that they agree with the majority in a poll of 10-30 people.

 

And while the feedback of the community is important, this is not a democracy. Should 51% of the players want ERP to be allowed, it wouldn't happen.

 

Even if it were, a poll on the forums is not a fair way to vote. It can easily thrown.

 

Again, I'm NOT saying that we don't take the polls as feedback, but do not equate 20 votes out of 30 in a poll to the wants of 66% of the playerbase.

 

[Fj45]

Yes, please, just use basic common sense with polls, don't overuse them, don't do them for really small things, ect.

[Citinited]

 

I'm sorry to snark here Necaldun, but only people who vote get to decide who's in government.

 

If you can't be bothered enough to get onto the forums and voice your opinion, then I don't really think you get to have an opinion/say/right to complain.

 

If a poll is loaded or hard to get to, that's one thing. If it's up there and people aren't bothering to put in ten to twenty seconds of their time to make their opinion known, that's another. A poll is a more accurate way to gauge what a community wants than an admin's "gut feeling" about community direction in about 90% of cases. A great example of this is the company HiRez Studios which has absolutely slaughtered it's playerbase time and time again by going with their "gut feeling" rather than consulting the community. There are instances of course where polls should be disregarded (ones that are obviously jokes) but legitimate polls that show players are/aren't behind a certain idea/concept should be taken seriously and not always as "this is a knee-jerk reaction to something new".

 

Believe it or not, just because time passes and people stop grumbling about something does not always mean they've "come to accept" or "like it", more often it means that the people in particular feel "No matter what I say, it's going to be misconstrued/not taken seriously so why should I even bother at this point?".

 

That's my two cents.

 

Just because people don't vote on the polls doesn't mean they have a valid opinion on the subject. They might not have voted for legit reasons, for example: not seeing the poll, not agreeing with any of the options or having split feelings about two options, or not having a strong enough opinion to vote on the matter. As necaladun said, the polls are a really small sample size and are unfairly biased towards people who have strong opinions on the subject. However, that being said, you can *generally* get an idea of what the community wants, but it's in no way scientific.