is it just me?

[datasuspect]

or does getting worked up about online polls and whether they are being "freeped" really seem like a glorious waste of energy?

or do online polls have some kind of relevance?

[progmom]

1. it's not just you

:hi:

[billyskank]

5. Hi progmom!

I missed you! How was your show yesterday? :hi:

[progmom]

11. hi billyskank!

i enjoyed doing my show yesterday. :D got a lot of calls from local listeners, so it must have struck a chord. :shrug:

[billyskank]

12. Cool!

Sorry I missed the show. I'm at my mum's now for the bank holiday weekend. I'll certainly tune in next week. Between now and then I've got a few ideas for a great request that I've got to decide between. :)

[Akoto]

2. Well ...

They're relevant in that your "ordinary" person may only get their information from one or two sources, some of which may be holding these polls. The further uneducated may take the results of those polls as gospel and a reflection of the nation's majority, rather than the opinion of the relatively small groups from which that information was gathered.

[datasuspect]

7. then what is that "ordinary person's" opinion really worth?

if they think an online poll is accurate or useful in any meaningful way?

most "ordinary people" think intelligent design is a competing scientific theory on a par with evolution.

[auntAgonist]

3. I was just looking

at all the "it's being freeped" posts and wondered the same thing. I don't think it does any good to get worked up over them at all. I don't usually go to the poll they reference. I don't know what population an online poll influences but to me, they're not a genuine cross section of anything.

[datasuspect]

6. especially when the poll is on hannity.com

or some other place i wouldn't want to infect my computer with.

[billyskank]

4. We used to criticise Freepers for manipulating online polls

"freeping," as they termed it. Now we're doing it too. :shrug:

[datasuspect]

8. that's why i can't figure out what any of that activity

actually accomplishes.

[billyskank]

10. Back in the old days

Before we engaged in that sort of thing and we looked down our noses at the Freepers for doing it, we were discussing whether we should do something about it. Some suggested that we should try to fight them, just as we are doing now, trying to fight fire with fire. One wag suggested that, rather than fighting them, we should try to "help" them. For example, if Fox News has an online poll asking whether Clinton was responsible for the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, we should all turn off our cookies and vote "yes" along with the Freepers. The idea being that a result of 99.9% yes might alert the people running the poll that in fact the thing was a ridiculous waste of time.

[caty]

13. It's a form of

brain washing. Give the freeps what they want by showing inaccurate polls. Inaccurate because they are padded by repeat voters and those who would vote freep style no matter what is was about.

[MrScorpio]

9. If a poll has been corrupted by undue influence either way

I can't how relevant it is