#poll meta

[nyancrimew]

important poll

idk/show answers

other (put in tags)

multiple of the above

Voting ended onMay 8, 2023

[dailypokemoncrochet]

i think you might have hacked something with the tumblr userbase. apparently people will engage with creative posts more if there are polls involved. fascinating. i'm so curious if more people will incorporate this now or if they'll just be depressed about it 💀

I really do think the polls on my art posts were such a genius move on my part!! People definitely will engage more because there's a whole new avenue for them to engage on, and it's one that a lot of people like: click button!

I don't have exact stats about it at the moment, but anecdotally there's like 300ish people that will regularly vote on those polls that I assume are just direct followers. Depending on how many/who reblogs that particular post, the voter count can balloon up really high (Miraidon, blazed to 100k+ people, 12k votes). I'm not sure how the polls affect that other normal tumblr aspects such as likes/reblogs/replies, but I also want to say anecdotally that it's about 3-3.5x as many votes as there are combined notes. So if there's 600 votes, there's around 170-200 notes. Also I think I should note that that's personally a LOT of notes for me already, but I do have 8000 followers as like, a base. Don't know how many of them are active/saw the post/actually like my blog, but there's at least a core 300 of y'all that are really here for my art.

Possible reasons for why people especially like to vote in polls: click button, built in comments you don't have to think about but are guaranteed to be well received, anonymous as in actually untraceable (no list of who voted like there is with the likes), quick response, sense of community in that this many people also had the same thought/choice as you, easy way to keep track of if you'd seen the post before, a little gimmicky and novel, 'eh why not' attitude even has an option being just the name of the pokemon lol

Like I said though, I don't know how the polls affect the other note counts. I want to say that some people are more likely to reblog because of them, but there could certainly be people that would otherwise reblog but don't because of the poll. I don't think there's that much of an overlap of people who reblog and people who would not reblog polls, though. And because this is tumblr and my financial livelihood is not tied to engagement on my art posts, I am pretty happy with people just voting on the polls; that's feedback for me, knowledge that an individual real person saw the post. I think it would be interesting to be able to analyze how they affect the other notes, but I'm not equipped to do that and I'm not particularly pressed about it.

I think it'd be neat if other people did it too for funsies! Idk how much they'll like it if they're more concerned about the engagement = clicks = money perspective, because I think tumblr is not quite built around that idea. It happens, sure, but in a kind of invisible way that's not so readily measurable based solely on notes. I've seen one other person do it for their art post and that was fun!! :D It does take a little bit more energy on my/OP's part because of the whole coming up with options thing. I used to intentionally be more varied with mine, but now I mostly just pick what my favorite of my first 5ish impressions/thoughts are about my art. Which is super nice when it turns out to be the same thought path as many others haha

[thebiballerina]

Suggestions for More Varied Polyamorous Ship Tournaments

For me, half the fun of fandom-focused brackets is to learn about media that people are passionate about, maybe even ones that you are totally unfamiliar with. While I love Leverage (2008) with all my heart, it has gotten a little repetitive to see Hardison/Parker/Eliot win or place in so many OT3 or polyamory poll tournaments (at least five that I know of—see footnote), when I know there are so many interesting polyamorous ships out there. Since I understand the appeal of the H/P/E OT3 and I know Leverage fans will be dedicated no matter what, I propose that it could be helpful (and fun) to see a wider variety in types of polyamory poll tournaments. After all, there are many different ways that fans might consider a ship to be "best".

Thus I have developed a list of suggestions (thank you @doctorbeverlycrusher and @mary-louise4760 for your assistance here). This includes a mix of aspects that a ship can be ranked as "best" in, and specific ship dynamics. Feel free to ask for clarification or examples of any of the list items, add your own suggestions, and use these as inspiration for poll tournaments. (Some of these might need to be combined/altered to get enough potential contestants.)

Aspects/Dynamics to Rank Polycules By

"Do not separate them.": It is difficult to imagine any relationship within the group without the whole set being involved, whether romantically or queerplatonically. e.g. Many fans say this is why they would favor the Leverage OT3 over other polyamorous ships.

"Please do separate them.": Two or more partners should keep other partners firmly in-between them at all times. Keeping the polycule together is essential to continued civil interaction.

Rejection of canon love triangle/infidelity: Fandom took one look at that plotline and said, "No way. They have two hands." Or whatever the equivalent statement is when one runs out of hands for applicable partners.

Shipping Wars: The best resolution. Fixes many things.

Shipping Wars: The best non-resolution. Fixes nothing, but is good anyway.

Shipping Wars: Worst but technically effective resolution. Fixes the war, but creates new issues.

Shipping Wars: The funniest resolution. May overlap with some of the above three.

In-Universe Wars (or Conflict/Politics): The best resolution. Diplomatic!

In-Universe Wars: The best non-resolution. Undiplomatic!

In-Universe Wars: Worst but technically effective resolution. Diplomatic with respect to this issue, but also creates new ones.

Unexpected package deal: Essentially, the opposite of the identity porn trope where someone has feelings for multiple people that turn out to be a single person.

Seduction plans rapid-pivot: e.g. Sometimes your plans require seducing someone that turns out to be happily in a relationship, so clearly the only choice is to seduce both them and their partner.

Jealousy plot rapid-resolution: Sometimes you think someone will be angry or jealous about you having feelings for or ending up in an encounter with someone they also have feelings for, but they are very much not upset. Maybe even the opposite of upset.

Fake relationship rapid-resolution: Life hack! Turn the fake/arranged partner(s) into additional real partner(s). Often a subset of the above bullet point.

Hands-on instruction: So dedicated to helping their friend with romance/sex that they end up demonstrating. Thoroughly.

Couples (or established polycule) bonding exercise: We can fix them. Or make them worse. Or just seduce them.

Couples (or established polycule) unbonding exercise: Have you ever seen a couple mildly argue about how one of them caught up on a TV show alone when they were supposed to be watching it together? This, but with seduction.

Organization/scheduling proficiency: Have you ever tried to handle finding overlaps between multiple schedules? It's difficult. So I think there should be a competition for polycules that handle that best.

Sneak attack potential: "What's this? It's their third, with the steel chair!"

Heist crew

Band: This one can work for many different sizes of polycules, if you are flexible with the type of music group.

Ship^2: The ship crew. Works for ocean ships, starships, airships, and any other varieties.

Witch coven or assorted magical circle

Supernatural leaders: e.g. vampire colony, fairy council, werewolf pack where the alpha wolf only exists as much as it does in real wolves, etc.

Competition champions: The ideal team. Could be sports. Could be trivia night. Could be that they are just killing it at karaoke.

Competition contestants that somehow make everyone lose

Accidental legal polygamy: They weren't trying to all end up legally intertwined, but untangling that seems more effort than it is worth.

Canon co-parents: A canon plot means a kid has 3+ parents or parental figures. The ship writes itself.

"It takes a village," ("and the village takes each other"): One child (or set of children) takes so much wrangling that the polycule is just efficient.

Most awkward stepparent(s) configuration

Most chaotic potential family gatherings: e.g. In-laws who have to awkwardly try to get along when they hate each other, now with even more in-laws!

Best pet owners: Sometimes joint custody of a pet is a lot of work, and consolidation is ideal.

Using These Suggestions

All are welcome to use these ideas, altered or unaltered, in your own poll tournaments/games. No additional permission is required, though I would appreciate it if you linked this post somewhere on the poll blog, so others can find it. Also, if you let me know you have a tournament along these lines (whether directly inspired by this list or not), I will be happy to give you a shout out in the notes.

Footnote

Here are the poll tournaments I'm referencing when I say Leverage's H/P/E has won or placed in five that I know of.

Champions

@powerpolyculeshowdown (2023-03-09): Won in the final against Yoo Jonghyuk/Han Sooyoung/Kim Dokja from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

@polyam-ship-showdown (2023-02-28): Won in the final against Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler/Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.

@throuple-tournament (2024-04-04): Won in the final against Thanatos/Zagreus/Megaera from Hades and Nathan/Vlad/Ursula from Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites.

Placed

@ot3showdown (2023-05-12): Runner-up, lost in the final 49%-51% to Kirk/McCoy/Spock.

Ongoing

@bestpolyshipbracket: Currently in the final round, so H/P/E will either be in second or first place.

[angleofmusings]

use this site https://jetblackcode.com/TumblrNoteCounter/ and then report back

how many of your top ten original posts are POLLS?

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0, but i do make polls

0, and i don’t really make polls

Voting ended onFeb 17, 2024

[smthwentwrong143]

i am the worlds best unreliable narrator when it comes to my life

i accidentally clicked the poll button

how do i

get rid of this

🧍

Voting ended onMar 9, 2023

[insomniamademedothis]

Ok poll meta time: when a poll has a collective aim (eg make a letter/animal/etc out of the lines) should people leave directions in the tags for future voters?

Yes, it’s a collective goal so working together is the whole point

No, the interesting part is having to think about how other people have voted

I really truly don’t care either way

Voting ended onMar 4, 2023

[mossy-covered-bones]

I’ve decided to conduct a survey! Please select one of the following results at random.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Voting ended onFeb 13, 2023

Please reblog this so that I can get a bigger sample size, but DO NOT include anything in the tags about the results, as that could influence other responses

[mossy-covered-bones]

So, we’ve had a little bit of time with the polls now, the meme is still going strong and we’re all mostly familiar with the patterns of votes, right?

I decided to run a little experiment regarding those patterns. If you haven’t responded to the following polls:

A

B

C

Please do that before reading the explanation of this experiment, as that could introduce bias in your responses

People have mentioned noticing the patterns of votes and ive seen at least one poll that was testing how people responded—which i wont link because its still ongoing, and awareness of the intent will skew results

This got me wondering if, given that there’s no meaningful difference between response options, we could actually predict the way people would vote?

I wanted to run a poll—or a few—to see if there was a consistent pattern, if it resembled a bell curve, if we could determine whether or not its likely people were voting completely randomly on a poll or if the options are affecting their votes by obtaining some sort of “standard array”

I’m starting with a poll with ten possible results, to allow for the recording of the widest amount of variation, but I’m considering polls with 5 and 7 possible responses, as well—a poll with half the amount of answers, and a wider amount of answers that is odd rather than even, to see if the number of results has an effect on the distribution. While it would be more enlightening to have a wider array of numbers, those three should cover enough of the possibilities to reveal possible routes of research to take in the future

Since this is somewhat of a scientific endeavor, I’ll attempt to standardize the polls themselves—the same title and subsequent text, leaving the bin labels blank instead of numbering them, asking participants to reblog without any commentary on the results that could affect how others vote.

I’m uncertain if there’s any other possible sources of bias I could be forgetting about. I wouldn’t anticipate whether or not a person likes to respond to polls affecting which answer they would choose, so there shouldnt be too much response bias.

I intend to post the conclusion once these polls conclude, so if you’d like to be notified of my findings or any follow up experiments, please let me know