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DonLibes

join:2003-01-19

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Re: Ability to edit polls

Reality: All the solutions proposed are bandaids on a wart.

The correct solution is allow people to preview a poll without having to: 1) go to a 2nd forum, 2) submit, 3) resubmit (several times), and then 4) copy/paste.

Everything else in the forums works that way; the principle of least surprise suggests that polls work that way too.

justin
..needs sleep
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join:1999-05-28
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justin

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said by DonLibes:

Reality: All the solutions proposed are bandaids on a wart.

The correct solution is allow people to preview a poll without having to: 1) go to a 2nd forum, 2) submit, 3) resubmit (several times), and then 4) copy/paste.
If you make a poll and hit preview, you get a preview of the poll. The preview is correct and mistakes are easy to spot. It has been that way for maybe a year. Of course if you ignore the preview, the poll will be junk. I don't know where this idea of going to another forum to try polls came from.

Either way, I've adjusted a few things in polls and you can also now edit and add questions. if someone edits in order to manipulate results then vengeance will be dire but I think good polls are run by upstanding regs and bad polls are not important anyway.

Pacrat
Old and Cranky
MVM
join:2001-03-10
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3 edits

1 recommendation

Pacrat

MVM

said by justin:

If you make a poll and hit preview, you get a preview of the poll. The preview is correct and mistakes are easy to spot. It has been that way for maybe a year. Of course if you ignore the preview, the poll will be junk. I don't know where this idea of going to another forum to try polls came from.
Maybe it's because folks didn't realize that you could preview a poll. "dev/null" has been used to serve that purpose for as long as I can remember. Don't know if it was ever announced that preview was available for polls, or if most of us are just creatures of habit. That's where the idea of using another forum came from. That and FAQ #4726: If a poll is accepted, during the preview stage it should display:

[Your poll will appear here after topic is created]... the extent of the preview of a posted poll!

And from FAQ #1140:

Q: How do I make a poll? (#1140)
A: To make a Poll:

The poll must be the first post in a thread.
You cannot edit a poll once you submit it.
Use lower case for the poll command.

Jehu
Premium Member
join:2002-09-13
MA

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*object* because you are getting angry that people are objecting and I find that amusing.

justin
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Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

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the FAQ was correct up until a few hours ago (about the lack of edit), and I'd already IM'd the appropriate people to adjust it before posting here.

And as for preview, well, most everyone hits preview as a matter of habit .. many more than would carefully read the old FAQ Q&A #4762 first.
Can't help much if old habits have set in stone. But it is always best to retry something recently, before chiming in about it being screwy. (I am just referring to poll preview here).

Pacrat
Old and Cranky
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1 edit

Pacrat

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Okay... so the ability to edit a poll is brand spankin' new... right? That does explain why no one (in the general population) really knew it existed.

I think in the 5+ years I've been on the site, I've only posted one or two polls... and one of them was just to see if I could do it correctly, so the ability to edit polls really isn't that high on my concern list.

I didn't realize I was "chiming in about it being screwy". My concern was that there was a lot of room for abuse, but I offered the one workaround that I knew about that was fairly common practice.

justin
..needs sleep
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2031

justin

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No you didn't chime in about poll creation not offering any preview function.

Pacrat
Old and Cranky
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join:2001-03-10
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Pacrat

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So... just as a clarification:

We now have full preview and edit capabilities on poll postings? Right? And fatness See Profile can add this new feature to his thread?

fatness
subtle

join:2000-11-17
fishing

fatness

The ability to preview polls has been there for some time, as described several posts above. The ability to edit them is new, and added: »[request] New Features Implemented [updated 10/23/2010]
DonLibes

join:2003-01-19

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I just used this feature - edited a poll that I didn't think through . The support works pretty well but a few simple fixes are needed. Specifically, when you edit an existing poll, the preview shows the old poll, not the revised poll.

Also, the preview of the original poll contains the added verbiage "Your poll will look like this" and "Note: multiple choice..." while previews of an existing poll don't have it. I'd prefer instructions appear consistently (one way or the other) - maybe that's just an oversight. I'd also prefer instructions not appear in the preview window itself but alongside it, where all other formatting advice normally appears. If you leave the messages, at least get rid of the "Note:" because, after all, they're both "notes"!! (Or mark them both notes.)

Bottom line: thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the ability in the first place. It is really helpful.
DonLibes

DonLibes

said by DonLibes:

I just used this feature - edited a poll that I didn't think through . The support works pretty well but a few simple fixes are needed. Specifically, when you edit an existing poll, the preview shows the old poll, not the revised poll.

Also, the preview of the original poll contains the added verbiage "Your poll will look like this" and "Note: multiple choice..." while previews of an existing poll don't have it. I'd prefer instructions appear consistently (one way or the other) - maybe that's just an oversight. I'd also prefer instructions not appear in the preview window itself but alongside it, where all other formatting advice normally appears. If you leave the messages, at least get rid of the "Note:" because, after all, they're both "notes"!! (Or mark them both notes.)

Bottom line: thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the ability in the first place. It is really helpful.
When you do get around to making those fixes to the polls, here are two more simple fixes that can be done at the same time.

1) Change the answer-separator from a comma to something less frequently used, how about a semicolon - or something other than a comma anyway. Commas are used frequently in poll questions and answers. And since there's nothing from the preview page telling you the secret character sequence to achieve a true comma, it means you have to go hunt down another page to find out.

2) Poll previews show different formatting than the the posted versions. Specifically, the preview shows every line centered individually with no width bounds. The final version shows each line left-flush within individual questions/answers which are themselves centered in a small width table. It's not a big deal but if you've never done a poll before, you may be sitting there fruitlessly trying to figure out how to line things up the way everyone elses polls are.
35375105 (banned)
join:2002-11-20
127.0.0.1

35375105 (banned)

Member

said by DonLibes:

1) Change the answer-separator from a comma to something less frequently used, how about a semicolon - or something other than a comma anyway. Commas are used frequently in poll questions and answers. And since there's nothing from the preview page telling you the secret character sequence to achieve a true comma, it means you have to go hunt down another page to find out.

2) Poll previews show different formatting than the the posted versions. Specifically, the preview shows every line centered individually with no width bounds. The final version shows each line left-flush within individual questions/answers which are themselves centered in a small width table. It's not a big deal but if you've never done a poll before, you may be sitting there fruitlessly trying to figure out how to line things up the way everyone elses polls are.
*sign*

ghostpainter
I Write for the Apocalypse
MVM
join:2002-05-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

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Thanks fatness, that must have been what was wrong with the poll function when I tried to post one on the 6th, you waz upgrading it. Thanks again, cause as often as I do polls, every once in a while, I will catch myself making a goofy mistake like leaving a coma in and that makes an additional answer.

Thanks again.

Yoda2009
join:2003-10-07
Toronto, ON

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*object*