BRAND NEW! It's the Tuesday Mini-Poll

[muckefuck]

Another Monday has come and gone and, once again, I find that my opinion on some matter of burning interest to rollick has not been solicited. Woe be me! Fortunately, I know she is susceptible to shame, so I hearby declare my intention to start the Tuesday Mini-Poll, which will only appear on those Tuesdays when no Monday Mini-Poll has been forthcoming. That'll light a fire under her!

This week's topic: Surveys

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a new LJer who I consider Friending. I'm cautious about doing this too soon, since some people get freaky when you unFriend them. This caution generally lead me to audit their journals for a time. (As welcomerain warns, don't assume I don't read your journal just because you're not on my Friends list.)

There are various reasons why I choose not to add these journals to the select pool I read daily, but nothing kills my interest quicker than seeing a bunch of entries which are merely surveys or quiz results. Quizzes can be cute, but they ultimately tell me more about the quiz than about the quiz-taker. Plus, the more outré they become, the more arbitrary they seem. Now I'm simply waiting for the Which LJ Quiz Are You Quiz, a reductio ad absurdum that will suck all the joy out of designing quizzes like a fun singularity and leave us all gasping for something else to fill the hollowing void of our journals with.

Like surveys.

I've never gotten into these. I think I can understand the appeal: They're a way to talk about yourself without seeming too narcissistic. After all, someone asked, right? And if everyone is filling out the same survey, it becomes like a party game; not participating comes to be seen as the antisocial act. The interview meme takes this a step further by, in essence, demanding surveys tailored specifically for you. What could be more validating?

But that's all just my cynical penny-ante psychologising. Rather than listening to my own ass, I'd rather listen to y'all's...er...opinions. Why do you take surveys? What do you get out of completing them? Out of reading them? Why do/don't you post the results and who do you think reads them--and why?

That oughta get things started.

Comments

Re: Why does Bunj take surveys?

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Is this a radio-button poll or a check-box poll? Can we select more than one answer, or just the one?

Re: Why does Bunj take surveys?

[bunj.livejournal.com]

Which would people prefer?

1. A radio-button poll.

2. A check-box poll.

3. A check-box poll which supports more than one answer.

4. All of the above.

5. None of the above.

6. 2 and 5.

7. 1 and 5.

Re: Why does Bunj take surveys?

[rollick.livejournal.com]

5) None of the above. I want a text-entry poll that encourages 10,000-word essay answers.