Writing poll questions

[HejiraHenry]

One of the little tasks that has fallen into my lap is writing the daily Web poll questions we do on our (awful) Web site.

It's been interesting to get a handle on what will attract a lot of responses – any kind of question involving our two SEC teams, or NASCAR – and what doesn't work as well. Which is pretty much anything else.

Anybody want to kick this topic around a little?

 

[User 1019]

I'm laughing soooo hard at you, right now!

On the topic, I got nothing.

 

[donaugust]

Simple yes or no questions are fairly boring. Even if those are the main answers, try to find a way to spice up yes or no with a second no possibility. Such as:

Will the Roger Clemens signing bring the Yankees a World Series title?
Yes
No, they were already going to win it
No, they still won't win

Something like that I've found to be a little more engaging in my various turns as web site poll writer.

 

[HejiraHenry]

I'm laughing soooo hard at you, right now!

On the topic, I got nothing.

Hey, it's a journalism topic.

On the news side, we used to have a bad habit of asking questions like "Are you going to the (fill-in-the-blank event) this weekend?" This would be some event where a lot of coverage was planned, and the poll respondents would overwhelmingly vote no.

The local TV station had a tough poll question last week: Are you afraid of tornadoes?

 

[GB-Hack]

After Spring Football: How optimistic are you about X's upcoming football season

They'll win the conference
They'll have a winning record
Reaching .500 would be nice
When does midnight madness start?

 

[Write-brained]

This thread is worthless without a poll ...

 

[John]

After Spring Football: How optimistic are you about X's upcoming football season

They'll win the conference
They'll have a winning record
Reaching .500 would be nice
When does midnight madness start?

Given the schools HH's paper covers, I'm guessing the best the fans can hope for is .500 records. But it ain't going to happen.

 

[HejiraHenry]

After Spring Football: How optimistic are you about X's upcoming football season

They'll win the conference
They'll have a winning record
Reaching .500 would be nice
When does midnight madness start?

Given the schools HH's paper covers, I'm guessing the best the fans can hope for is .500 records. But it ain't going to happen.

You are correct, sir. But that doesn't diminish the fan interest much ... if at all.

 

[ADifferentOkie]

I'm laughing soooo hard at you, right now!

On the topic, I got nothing.

Hey, it's a journalism topic.

On the news side, we used to have a bad habit of asking questions like "Are you going to the (fill-in-the-blank event) this weekend?" This would be some event where a lot of coverage was planned, and the poll respondents would overwhelmingly vote no.

The local TV station had a tough poll question last week: Are you afraid of tornadoes?

I really don't think that's such a bad question. Living in the heart of tornado alley, I'm not afraid of tornadoes. I don't want one to hit my house, but I know how to take precautions and I've had countless tornado warnings in my county and I haven't died from one yet.
It's just a part of life.
Are people in California scared of earthquakes? Are people on the east coast scared of hurricanes?
I think it's just something you get used to.

 

[GB-Hack]

After Spring Football: How optimistic are you about X's upcoming football season

They'll win the conference
They'll have a winning record
Reaching .500 would be nice
When does midnight madness start?

Given the schools HH's paper covers, I'm guessing the best the fans can hope for is .500 records. But it ain't going to happen.

You are correct, sir. But that doesn't diminish the fan interest much ... if at all.

So you could put it out there to see how pie-eyed the optimists are.

 

[HejiraHenry]

I'm laughing soooo hard at you, right now!

On the topic, I got nothing.

Hey, it's a journalism topic.

On the news side, we used to have a bad habit of asking questions like "Are you going to the (fill-in-the-blank event) this weekend?" This would be some event where a lot of coverage was planned, and the poll respondents would overwhelmingly vote no.

The local TV station had a tough poll question last week: Are you afraid of tornadoes?

I really don't think that's such a bad question. Living in the heart of tornado alley, I'm not afraid of tornadoes. I don't want one to hit my house, but I know how to take precautions and I've had countless tornado warnings in my county and I haven't died from one yet.
It's just a part of life.
Are people in California scared of earthquakes? Are people on the east coast scared of hurricanes?
I think it's just something you get used to.

'Round here, it's a bit like polling the bears to see if they poop in the woods.
I think the responses were about 90 percent "Yes."

 

[HejiraHenry]

So on Monday, in honor of the TSN blog entry about the BCS coaches, I asked which of the three D-I coaches in this state is the best. (One of them, at Southern Miss, isn't a BCS coach.)

We usually get 200 responses in a day for a good question.

I predicted we'd get 400 over two days for this one.

We closed it tonight with 800-plus.

And the Southern Miss coach had a majority of the vote.

 

[Clever username]

I just had to write one, my first one ever. It felt like a complete waste of time. I don't see the point. It's not like people are going to specifically go to our Web site just to vote in a poll. And once they're there on our site, is a poll really going to make them stick around?

 

[HejiraHenry]

As noted on another thread, it's all part of feeding the beast.

 

[Clever username]

Perhaps, but one day the beast is going to get tired of being fed all this dog**** and then is going to vomit into the big newspaper fan.

How's that for mixing metaphors and cliches?

 

[HejiraHenry]

Dug this one back up mostly to note that, over the last couple of weeks, no poll topic gets more responses more quickly than any question concerning Michael Vick.

 

[DGRollins]

What should happen to Michael Vick?

a) strung up by testicles
b) stung up by testicles and forced to watch 600 hours of New Jersey Devils highlights
c) strung up by testicles, forced to watch 600 hours of New Jersey Devils highlights and repeatedly poked by a big stick
d) strung up by testicles, foirced to watch 600 hours of New Jersey Devils highlights, repeatedly poked by a big stick and fed to wild cats.

Try that one.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Well, "make a plea deal" is a popular choice ... but wrong.

 

[TyWebb]

"Is NASCAR a sport?"

Yes, the drivers are great athletes.
Yes, but only because golf is one, too.
No, the cars do all the work.
No, because I drive everyday and I turn right 51 percent of the time.

You will surely get a lot of responses to this one. I know we have.

 

[imjustagirl2]

You win five million dollars from the Publisher's Sweepstakes, and the same day that that big Ed guy gives you the check, aliens land on the earth and say they're going to blow up the world in two days. What do you do?