Poll: Funny answers in polls

[The Cheezy One]

[search bar approved(ish), apologies if this exists]
I have noticed that many polls have yes/no/neutral/funny answers.. while, yes, they do make the poll more interesting, i feel personally there is no point discovering whether people prefer e.g. god of war or darksiders, when 90% of votes are for cake.
i.e.
X?
X 7
X 7
X :| 7
Y 79
personally i believe they distract people from answering the actual poll, which makes me cynically believe that the reason for the poll was not scientific interest, but getting attention.
now (ironically), what is your opinion?
EDIT: Thanks to Grimsprice- if it is a specialist topic, then it can attract answers away from people that feel the need to vote on any poll that comes up. sort of a troll filter
but then again, if the topic is for everyone, then its dragging answers away from a scientific result

 

[Dark Knifer]

I don't mind funny poll options, depends what the topic is.

 

[grimsprice]

You missed an option in your poll.

4: They keep people with no real opinion from screwing with the results.

Anyone who cares about the poll enough will answer. Anyone who doesn't will pick the funny answer. Keeping the poll cleaner than it would be if it didn't have the extra option. Its all psychology see.

 

[Omikron009]

I'm always compelled to pick the funny answer. I can't not.

Is that a firefly reference? I'm deciding that it is.

 

[Kollega]

Yes, they surely distract. But sometimes, they're funny as hell.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

If the poll is not for something important, then they can be alright, and on rare occasions, even genuinely witty.

If the topic is of some actual merit, then the options should remain serious, and all you ever need is an 'other' option for people who genuinely hold another opinion.

Also, a neutral option is not the same as a silly option. Some people hold a neutral opinion, but that can be just as informative, and given a chance to explain why they hold a neutral opinion can reveal things the poll giver wouldn't have realised about his topic (often they may have thought the subject much more important than it really is.)

 

[The Cheezy One]

You missed an option in your poll.

4: They keep people with no real opinion from screwing with the results.

Anyone who cares about the poll enough will answer. Anyone who doesn't will pick the funny answer. Keeping the poll cleaner than it would be if it didn't have the extra option. Its all psychology see.

as much as i hate to admit it, you may be right when it comes to specialist topics
however, if it is a topic that applies to everyone, then it is again just drawing away proper answers
overall, i believe your point needs mentioning, as i have in the edit above, but still falls under the positive category for the poll

 

[comadorcrack]

perhaps a knock knock joke will warm your cold heart.

Knock Knock!

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[MurderousToaster]

They may as well be mandatory nowadays. Everyone puts one in. In my poll about camping in games the most voted for answer was about catfish.

 

[The Cheezy One]

perhaps a knock knock joke will warm your cold heart.

Knock Knock!

sigh
whos there?

im going to go now so i cannot read your answer for about 4 hours
bye

 

[Timotei]

I don't really care what the poll is about, I just like screwing around with them.

 

[comadorcrack]

perhaps a knock knock joke will warm your cold heart.

Knock Knock!

sigh
whos there?

Boo *Giggles*

As do I
College time.
Comadorcrack AWAY!

 

[grimsprice]

You missed an option in your poll.

4: They keep people with no real opinion from screwing with the results.

Anyone who cares about the poll enough will answer. Anyone who doesn't will pick the funny answer. Keeping the poll cleaner than it would be if it didn't have the extra option. Its all psychology see.

as much as i hate to admit it, you may be right when it comes to specialist topics
however, if it is a topic that applies to everyone, then it is again just drawing away proper answers
overall, i believe your point needs mentioning, as i have in the edit above, but still falls under the positive category for the poll

True true. To which i point to my favorite t-shirt. It says: "Everything i say is always a semi-applicable generalization."

lol. I love that shirt.

 

[Mad World]

I think that they're distracting.

 

[x0ny]

95% of the time, not funny.

 

[LeonLethality]

I think polls themselves are completely unnecessary but I cannot stop people from making them. I just refuse to use the polls.

 

[000Ronald]

While I can't speak for everyone, I do have several legitimate reasons for the, "joke answer".

1) It distracts people who don't give a crap. If you don't want magpies to crap all over your jade statuette, throw some pennies or glitter on the ground away from it (there's a stratigem that amounts to that, but I can't recall what it is). Long story short, it dampens the idiot/asshole factor.

2) It tells me what people think of the thread itself, sometimes better than the responses. If there's a high "Fuck you, that's why" count, I've obviously done something wrong, or made an uninteresting thread. This helps me make better threads in the future.

3) The first time was a dick count; part of the reason I stayed here is because it was so low. I plan on making a thread about it eventually (obviously entitled, "Fuck you, that's why")

Of course, everything I do has some sort of reasoning behind it, no matter how convoluted. I spent half my life getting jerked around because of various people's egos, and I try hard not to jerk other people around.

Apologies if it seems tasteless.

 

[Allstar309]

I don't mind to much, unless its really funny I usually just ignore them.