[META] Make poll results accessible to people who have not voted

13 Post author: sp4233 27 June 2013 10:15PM

As far as I can see, the only way to see the results of a poll is to vote in it. If for whatever reason I don't want to participate in a poll whose results I am interested in, I vote randomly. Of the ~10 other LWers I know, at least 2 do the same. For the sake of accurate results, please let people see poll results without having to vote (and ideally without having to log in).

Response to obvious argument against: You can restrict people from (voting after they have seen the results).

Comments (12)

Comment author: fractalman 28 June 2013 05:34:02AM 9 points [-]

crude but hopefully-easy alternative: add a "i just want to see the results" option to all polls automatically.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 28 June 2013 01:22:09PM 2 points [-]

Many polls have done just this, and it's a common practice on LiveJournal polls. It looks to me like a sufficient solution.

Comment author: peter_hurford 28 June 2013 12:24:01AM *  5 points [-]

Should one be able to see the results of a poll without voting?

Submitting...

Comment author: bogus 28 June 2013 12:36:13AM 25 points [-]

This poll needs a third option: "I don't care, just show me the results".

Comment author: DiscyD3rp 30 June 2013 10:03:50PM *  2 points [-]

I honestly thought that was the joke until I realized the actual results of this poll effect the likelihood of the change actually taking place. And this is, in fact, an actual for serious poll.

Comment author: PhilGoetz 27 June 2013 10:58:14PM *  3 points [-]

That's fine with me. Sometimes I might not be able to decide how to vote but still want to see the results.

You want us to upvote/downvote this article? Why not make this a poll?

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 June 2013 02:05:43AM 2 points [-]

Who bells the cat? Will you write the code?

Comment author: LucasSloan 28 June 2013 02:26:49AM *  3 points [-]

Now accepting bids for this change.

ETA: not pointed directly at you, Eliezer.

Comment author: lukeprog 28 June 2013 03:47:58AM 1 point [-]

Now that Trike has time to implement code written by engineers like Lucas, we could certainly implement this if we think it's important. I'm pretty ambivalent about it, though, because the proposed change would allow people to contaminate themselves before voting.

Comment author: wedrifid 28 June 2013 06:10:47AM 5 points [-]

I'm pretty ambivalent about it, though, because the proposed change would allow people to contaminate themselves before voting.

The final line of said proposal seems relevant:

Response to obvious argument against: You can restrict people from (voting after they have seen the results).

Comment author: lukeprog 28 June 2013 06:17:07AM 0 points [-]

Oops, yeah, I misread that sentence initially.

Comment author: LucasSloan 28 June 2013 05:32:00AM 1 point [-]

We could impose a penalty to look.