new poll on main page

[fba827]

Yep, it would. It would also get different results if posted only in the Meta Forum. Or on a page dealing with the history of Rwanda.

But the history of Rwanda page referenced is not on the poll in question.

Placement is one thing, and I don't disagree, but when you have the situation:

On Page A, you ask the question:
Which page do you visit:
Page A,
Page B, or
Page C?

Wouldn't it make a difference here that it is assumed the person comes to page A? The people who just use B and/or C aren't going to see the poll let alone have a chance to respond to it. Thus, "page A" becomes more or less assumed.

Placement does change the results, sure. The question isn't if it'd get different results, but where it'd get results that answer the questions Morrus wants to ask. If he's looking for information on the "generic" user of the site, then it's in the right place.

Ah - see, this is where we differ in our discussion. What defines the people that go to the main/front page as "generic users" ? By virtue of it being on the _same page_ that the poll is asking about, the poll is not getting the generic user. It is getting "the generic users who visit and read the main page" -- the main page being where the news stuff is. So in a way, to even answer the poll is to say that you at least see and pay attention to the news page.

There are a couple people who replied in this thread (and I don't believe they are the only ones) saying that they just come straight to the boards, they wouldn't see the poll.

Are they not counted among the generic users? Surely they add to the traffic and they use up resources (and so probably account for whatever Morrus is trying to figure out).

If they were to take the poll, they would answer "the community section" but those are votes that aren't going to be obtained because they wouldn't have gone to the main news page to see it.

Hmmm..

Let me back up a moment and make it clear that I'm not picking an argument with you, Umbran, I just happen to be quoting and responding to your comments.

We are obviously agreeing on the basics here - that placement will change the results. I just wanted to point out that observation so that those looking at the poll results will keep it in mind.

I didn't mean for this to become such a topic of discussion.

 

[Morrus]

The poll on the main page (regarding what features of the site do you use) might have skewed results because it presumes everyone goes to that page.

Obviously, yes.

The same argument applies no matter where the poll is placed.

 

[Umbran]

Wouldn't it make a difference here that it is assumed the person comes to page A?

Yes. I already agreed that placement makes a difference.

As Morrus noted, you have the same issue no matter where you put the poll. So, your choice is to pick somewhere, or to not get any information at all.

Ah - see, this is where we differ in our discussion. What defines the people that go to the main/front page as "generic users" ?

It contains the most generic content, content that one would expect most visitors to be interested in. It's also the front page. If you do a Google Search on "EN World", or go to "www.enworld.org" that's the page you reach. It is designed to be the nexus, the front door to the site as a whole. It is reasonable to assume that folks not coming for very specific reasons (like message board users) will probably go to that page first.

We are obviously agreeing on the basics here - that placement will change the results. I just wanted to point out that observation so that those looking at the poll results will keep it in mind.

Oh, Morrus has been doing this for quite a while. I'm sure he's aware that such polls are not "scientific". But if the server software doesn't give him specific use data, he's otherwise out of luck.

 

[Morrus]

It is a problem which is hard to get around, but I'm going to try something - I'm going to see if Bravenet allows me to paste the code into two locations (e.g. within the text of a thread). Maybe that way it can be included here on the boards.

The main reason for the poll, as somebody hinted at, is allocation of resources (both server resources and people resources). But, of course, I will be taking the obvious bias into account.

As for traffic - I do know that the main site as a whole gets vastly more visitors than the messageboards (at least, that was the situation last time I went to the trouble to find out - the difference is enormous). The messageboards, on the other hand, get more page views, because a single visit to the boards usually results in 10+ page views whereas a visit to the main site results in 1-3 page views.

 

[Morrus]

<!-- The following line of code must be on one line, it can not wrap // -->
<div align="center"><script language="JavaScript" src="http://pub30.bravenet.com/minipoll/show.php?usernum=2554597330&cpv=1">
</script></div>

 

[Morrus]

Cool! It works!

 

[Ravellion]

And I used it here! In any case, even though I do sometomes go the main page, I skim it at most, unless directed there by messageboards threads.

In any case out of 2000 votes only 500 actually said they used the news. So I think the 'skewing' can't be all that bad.

Rav