Response: TECHWR-L Poll

[Deborah Ray <debray -at- raycomm -dot- com>]

Hi, all,

Good grief, I leave the computer for a few hours....

Tom Murrell wrote:
>FWIW, I like the poll questions, not because it gives
>me another avenue for expressing myself. No one would
accuse me of holding things in. <g>  

You know...that's one of the reasons we added the poll 
feature. We'd had a lot of email from people who wanted 
a forum to express themselves, but, for whatever reason, 
didn't want to/choose to/have time to participate
in list discussions. From the feedback we've received,
some people like to participate, yet want to do so anonymously. 
The poll provides an interactive component to help meet
this need.

Barry Kieffer wrote:
>There is one problem with polls - who answers them.

And Jeff Hanvey wrote:
>The basic problem with any poll is that usually only
>those with a vested interest respond to them (and then
>only when they're dissatified). ...
>Online polls have an even larger problem since you
>can't control who votes or how many times. 

Certainly, there are many problems associated with 
such online polls. We never intended the TECHWR-L 
poll to be scientific. In fact, as Tom Murrell rightly 
suggested, we intended it to be an informal resource 
that can help the community see how others in the 
profession respond to relevant issues.

Barb Zeller wrote:
>And is this the reason for the poll question - for 
>product marketing?

Okay, whoa. Barb, I see that you've meant no harm
in this comment; however, for the record, none of the
poll questions are based on any product marketing
or influence of anyone. In fact, we usually come up
with poll questions while sitting in the car driving
somewhere. This question was no different.

Lisa Wright forwarded a Framers message:
>Seriously, there's a discussion on techwr-l about how these polls can be
>skewed by participation, and I think it would be rather fun to blow away
>all other tools. So go for it! (Good PR for FrameMaker, too...)

I'm really disappointed to see the poll used this way. 
We've spent a lot (and I mean a LOT) of time trying to
provide resources on the site that the tech writing
community (and related communities) can use, enjoy, 
and benefit from. I see from the poll results that 
perhaps Framers have stampeded the poll...unfortunate,
don'tcha think, to have the poll intentionally skewed,
thereby making the results not valuable even as a point
of interest?

Now, going back to Tom Murrell's post:
>I think it will be interesting to see what people are
>using, especially as contrasted with what we might
>choose to use if we had the choice.

Oooo, yes! And wouldn't it have been cool to have the
chance to compare what people are using vs. what they
would like to use....

*shakes head*
Deborah