So, I posted a poll recently which was locked because it was considered a duplicate topic. I do agree that there were strong similarities between the poll topic and another debate topic. However, I was interested in gathering an informal statistic as to how people's opinions differ based on political self-identification. So, my question is: is it possible to add a poll to an already existing debate topic so that such things won't get marked as duplicates?

Polls can be added by the person who originally started the topic if done within 15 minutes of starting a new thread. I'll have to check with Mike, as he handles the technical end of things, but I think only admins can add polls later.

If there is a poll you would like added to an already existing thread (that you didn't start), we would need to get permission of the thread starter and the staff would have to approve the poll question and responses in order to ensure it actually related to the original topic. Honestly, this is not something we encourage.

Also, we do not allow members to post polls to merely gather statistics or survey public opinion. They must be relevant to an actual debate question.

I hope that answers everything.

Thanks for the information. I didn't see where gathering statistics was disallowed on this site. So, in other words, the only time a poll won't get flagged is when it is associated with a unique debate topic and the debate topic is the focus of the discussion (and not the poll), correct? Just wanted to be clear so I don't make any unintentional transgressions in the future.

It was never specifically disallowed because we set the parameters for new threads in the Rules, Section A, II"Post Requirements"


We can't debate a public opinion survey and therefore, we don't allow them purely by themselves - there must be a question for us to debate to go along with it.

Hope that helps

It helps. Thanks. I suppose I was under a false impression that "polls" were in different category since one uses a different button to start them. One suggestion I would have then is to make it clear that "polls" are counted as new debate topics in the Rules section.

Darn. I guess I was not clear. Sorry.

Polls are NOT counted as new debate topics. They can be additions to the debate topic. The "starting new topics" help topic explains, "The question to debate must be contained within the body of your post." - We specifically wrote it this way so that the topic to debate could not be a poll question nor could it be posted in the title of a thread.

If this doesn't help, I'll ask Mike to stop by this thread. He sometimes explains things better than I can.

Okay, I see. Yep, I was confused again. So, here's one of two suggestions then:

1. Don't have the "New Poll" button start a new debate topic. Instead, after starting a "New Topic" have a button called "Add Poll" which can be selected by the topic owner.

2. Barring the above change, I would still suggest stating in your Rules guide that if one starts a "New Poll" it really means starting a "New Topic & Poll".

I don't mean to be a useability nitpicker here, but I'm an engineer/computer science guy. I think this type of change would go a long way towards avoiding future accidental transgressions.