4 replies to this topic

[Princess Grr]

Hey! Welcome to BZPower's Voting Booth. Unsurprisingly for a voting booth, this forum is all for polls relating to Lego or BZPower. Think of it as a place where you can post surveys about issues and engage in some friendly debate, which emphasis on the "friendly" part.

Since this forum's concept is so simple, the rules around here are pretty simple as well. Please take the time to read this post and familiarize yourself with them; it will only take a few moments. The rules are merely in place to keep things from becoming a mess!

--------------------------------------------------

Voting Booth Policy

Unsurprisingly, all general BZPower rules and guidelines apply to posting/posting in topics in the Voting Booth. Yeah, I know: I shouldn't even have to bother saying that, right? Use your noggins, folks. I do want to give quick clarification on how two of the site-wide rules apply to the Voting Booth:

• Do not revive a poll that's been inactive for 20 or more days. Pretty simple! Discussion tends to die off by that point and it's better to start a fresh thread of conversation with new participants than to dig up the old, stale one.
  
• No duplicate polls. If a poll has passed the revival limit, feel free to post a new thread asking the same question - but if the previous thread is still active, just post there, please! There is no need for multiple polls asking the exact same question or questions.

A second thing of note before I continue: Only Premier Members have the ability to make polls on BZPower. It's a special perk that the administration gives as a way of saying "thank-you" to those who have donated to the site. But if you're not a Premier Member, don't worry! You can ask one of them to make a poll for you - just send a Premier Member a PM and he or she will usually be happy to oblige. Community!!

--------------------------------------------------

Now for some specific Voting Booth rules!

• No Off-Topic Polls. Makes sense, right? This forum is for Lego- and BZPower-related polls; questions not pertaining to either don't belong. This includes questions that are only tangentially related. For instance, "Favorite Color of Mask" wouldn’t be allowed, because it's really just asking "What's your favorite color?"
  
• No Personal Polls. That is to say, polls just about yourself or another member and related topics. Examples include polls about what you should change your name to, who should die in your epic, what color you should post in, avatars, signatures, and so forth, are not allowed. It is up to you what you decide these things, not the rest of BZPower. This also includes polls about BZPower members, such as "Who is the funniest/most creative/best/coolest/etc member?" or "Who will/should be the next Admin/Forum Leader/Forum Assistant?"
  
• No Off-Topic Poll Choices. They can occasionally be amusing, but poll choices that have nothing to do with the poll's question are really just examples of spam. So if you're making a poll that has the choices "I like the Exo-Toa with a Toa" and "I like the Exo-Toa without a Toa," don't add a third "I like pie" option to the poll. Use your heads, guys.
  
• No Blatantly Ridiculous Polls. Things like "Do you eat your Lego Bricks?" or "Would you marry a Bionicle set?" are outrageous and have no substance. A catchy way of summarizing this rule would be Don't Be Stupid. Actually that could apply to most rules on this forum.
  
• Only Use Multiple-Choice Polls when Appropriate. Another no-brainer, right? If you are going to ask a yes or no question, or something that requires only one option, then you should not check the multiple-choice box. Some examples:
  
  If you are going to ask:
  "Who is your favorite Toa Mahri?"
  Then you do not check the multiple-choice box.
  
  If you are going to ask:
  "Which Toa Mahri are you going to buy?"
  Then you do check the multiple-choice box, as it may include multiple answers.

--------------------------------------------------

As a final note, Think when making a poll. Topics that have choices too broad would be far better as a topic elsewhere than a poll, simply because there are too many variables. Sometimes, an "Other" option fixes this problem, but if it’s a subject regarding, say, what the name of a future bionicle product should be, it would be better suited as a topic, not a poll.

--------------------------------------------------

That is about it! If you have any questions about anything, feel free to PM one of the Voting Booth moderators and we will happily clear up your problem or question. Your help combined with ours will make this forum a better place for all of us. Excelsior!

[Princess Grr]

Voting Booth Tips and Tricks!

Making a Poll

Here is a quick guide on how to make a poll. It's all very straightforward, but since the options aren't available elsewhere on BZ, I figured a simple "how-to" could be handy for new members.

Creating a poll starts out just like making a regular topic (Think of polls like the X-Men are to humans: the same thing, but with special extra mutant powers). When you're in the VB forum, you'll see the "Start a New Topic" in the upper-right-hand corner. Click that sucker!



Now you'll be taken to the topic-making form. Aw yeah, we're getting somewhere! Are you ready to make a poll? Then click that button under the Topic Title fields that says "Manage Topic Poll"



Oh dang!! Suddenly you get OPTIONS! What do they all mean?



It's simple, dude! Ask your question ("What's your favourite Johnny Thunder line?" or "Which Toa team is your favourite?" or "Blacktron I vs. Blacktron II: Who has the more nuanced story?" - it's up to you) in the aptly-named "Question" field. Just type it in there! So easy! Then, type the choices for the poll in the numbered fields below that. Each question can have up to ten choices - keep hitting the "Add another choice" button for more. To allow voters to select more than one choice in a question, check the "Allow users to select multiple answers?" box. Holy carp! You can also add up to three questions total, so if you want to ask additional questions, click the "Add another question" button and repeat the process with your additional questions!! It's UNBELIEVABLE!! !!

And now you know how to make polls ... and knowing is half the battle.

[Princess Grr]

Voting Booth Administrative Dialogue

This topic will remain open to replies as an additional method of contacting the staff of the Voting Booth. If you have questions of any nature about the rules or policy here, or how to do something in this forum, ask away. I'm doing this as an experiment, as I suspect I will be quicker in responding to posts than to PMs - and because it gives an opportunity for the whole VB staff to chime in if necessary, rather than just one of us. Plus, I figure having multiple venues of communication can only be a good thing!

Voting Booth is a pretty quiet and simple forum, but if you have questions, feel free to post them here or PM me. I do ask that personal questions (such as any disputes you might have with a moderator's action) be confined to PM. Anything else is welcome here!

Edited by McSmeag, Jul 01 2011 - 02:08 PM.

[Sumiki]

Quick question regarding a small omission - what happened to the aptly named Premier Poll-Making Squad? Has it been disbanded?

[Princess Grr]

Quick question regarding a small omission - what happened to the aptly named Premier Poll-Making Squad? Has it been disbanded?

Yes. It was severely underutilized, so it seemed pointless to keep it going post-upgrade, especially given the amount of effort it took to organize and maintain. It was so rarely used that it couldn't really be considered a legitimate benefit to the membership, sadly. Thus it was not worth maintaining.