Captivity vs. Liberation

I still don't understand your motive or logic, but carry on.

At the time this poll was posted, WR was involved in a conversation in another thread - the subject of which I don't recall at the moment.  It was a conversation with the moderators of this forum, and to me WR's poll question seemed to be derived from that conversation.  Something on the order of "do we want to be governed by a group who insist on tight control, or would we rather be free to do/post whatever we want, however we want?"

That was / is my take on WR's poll question.  My assessment has a margin of error of +/- 100%.

At the time this poll was posted, WR was involved in a conversation in another thread - the subject of which I don't recall at the moment.  It was a conversation with the moderators of this forum, and to me WR's poll question seemed to be derived from that conversation.  Something on the order of "do we want to be governed by a group who insist on tight control, or would we rather be free to do/post whatever we want, however we want?"

I didn't quite get the impression that it was about anarchy, or thereabouts. I'm quite happy with the explanation he's already given about the Poll forum, which I've always found to be a little strange, and in fact very hard to use effectively as anything other than a blunt instrument. I think that William has proved his point about that - not that there was ever much doubt in my mind about polls in captivity - I've already let one get out!

It might be said that the usefulness of a poll is in direct proportion to the usefulness of the *question*.

Chris

At the time this poll was posted, WR was involved in a conversation in another thread - the subject of which I don't recall at the moment.  It was a conversation with the moderators of this forum, and to me WR's poll question seemed to be derived from that conversation.  Something on the order of "do we want to be governed by a group who insist on tight control, or would we rather be free to do/post whatever we want, however we want?"

That was / is my take on WR's poll question.  My assessment has a margin of error of +/- 100%.

Nope.......Although, to be honest, I think my initial micro-goal was to show how difficult it is to get an accurate "show-of-hands" when it comes to preference. And that aim was directly related to the yelling and shouting going on at the time. But I immediately realized that this didn't do that.    So, I can assign whatever purpose I want to this experiment with a clear conscience, even if I did think of it later.  

No, I'm not quite as melodramatic as would be required to post this question as a representation, symbolic or otherwise, of mine and Steve's disagreement. But maybe it colored the topic........I dunno. The idea was, "What should everybody agree on ?" and I really think this question qualifies. No matter what your idea of either option, the choice of "relative" freedom, as opposed to slavery, would be chosen by everyone, I should think. So the slavery votes get counted as "erroneous" in this case.

It might be said that the usefulness of a poll is in direct proportion to the usefulness of the *question*.

Chris

Yeah it might, but if you asked ,"Would you rather everybody just packed it up and we stop having a forum here ?" you'd get the same effing 10-20 people casting votes in a 50-50 mudpuddle. It's grotesque.

It might be said that the usefulness of a poll is in direct proportion to the usefulness of the *question*.

Chris

Yeah it might, but if you asked ,"Would you rather everybody just packed it up and we stop having a forum here ?" you'd get the same effing 10-20 people casting votes in a 50-50 mudpuddle. It's grotesque.

Another example of a stupid question. When there's no content, everyone just has a goof with it. Trying to rationalize it after the fact doesn't make this poll anything more than what it really was: a tantram.

Chris

How dare you call me erranous!

 Another example of a stupid question. When there's no content, everyone just has a goof with it. Trying to rationalize it after the fact doesn't make this poll anything more than what it really was: a tantram.

Chris

Right, that's part of my point. If you don't think the question is important, or it's "stupid", you'll just sit and click buttons until something shiny grabs your attention. Instead of just, not voting.

And no, it wasn't a tantrum, just ill-conceived initially. What. Did you think I hoped to get a bunch of free votes and then go tell Steve, "Well, sorry Steve, but everybody wants to be free so, it looks like you're out. No more enslavement......."    

 

If you don't think the question is important, or it's "stupid", you'll just sit and click buttons until something shiny grabs your attention. Instead of just, not voting.
 

Well now.... that's an assumption on your part, of course....  
You're discounting those of us who aren't voting at all - seeing no point in doing so - and just lurking and chuckling over this whole thing...  

Best... -Jon

Uh, what assumption ?

I can see only ten people have voted. (If you vote, you get to see the totals, Jon). But I can also see that half of them voted that they'd rather be a slave. So the only assumption I've made is that, in the modern world, "freedom" is always preferable over "enslavement". And I think that's a no-brainer. It's why I asked it.

BTW, I'm not taking any of this all that seriously, lest anybody think I'm getting excited.   But, I spend a lot of time choosing my words very carefully to mean just one thing. Look, if I didn't like anything about this forum, would I be camped here ?

BTW, I'm not taking any of this all that seriously, lest anybody think I'm getting excited.  :) But, I spend a lot of time choosing my words very carefully to mean just one thing. Look, if I didn't like anything about this forum, would I be camped here ?

they very well might mean only one thing to you, but in all probability mean something entirely different to me

on the other hand I have no particular interest in words that 'mean just one thing' . . . may be why I got out of hard science

(damn, first time in my life looked for an emoticon as punctuation and was forced to reject them all)

Uh, what assumption ?

Hmmm... well, I just thought that the part you wrote, which I quoted, implied that you were indeed making an assumption of sorts... don't you think?

Okay, my mistake - perhaps I should have said a presumption,  then. After all, as I see it, you did rather make a presumption by saying (and I'll quote it again here for clarity):

If you don't think the question is important, or it's "stupid", you'll just sit and click buttons until something shiny grabs your attention. Instead of just, not voting.
 

I won't...  And I'd guess others won't either. My response was simply a literal one, addressed to that statement, not the overall situation - no foul.

Actually, I'll come completely clean here, as well - I cheated.
On these forums, you can view the results without voting (unlike the old Snitz forums).
Heh-heh!

Best... -Jon