Firstly, thanks for the kind words. It's funny, because when we originally started running regular Reader Polls, back in September, 2007, there was a huge outcry from opponents who resented "losing" the QoDs that would have run in its place, or who pooh-poohed any subject we polled on as trivial or irrelevant to them. It's a long time since we received any such feedback, however, and we're gratified with how popular the polls have become, which we can judge both from the thousands of votes that each new survey tends to generate, and from all the emails that you take the time to compose and send to us.
We launched the polls with two main objectives. One was to relieve some of the pressure from answering QoD on a daily basis -- anyone who reads this column with regularity can appreciate that a lot of effort goes into addressing the daily query, and that often even what might seem like a very straightforward question can end up having an answer that's anything but. Our second reason for running polls was to take advantage of the opportunity to canvas our readership on subjects where we could learn from their feedback to improve our products, or pass on pertinent information to our affiliates, who appreciate receiving unbiased data from a trusted source.
We'll admit it took a little while to find our feet, and over time we've learned that there is a knack to posing a question and thinking up likely answers. You can't please all the people all the time, but we've noticed over the years how participation in our Reader Polls has increased, both in terms of the volume of votes and in the thoughtfulness of the associated email feedback we receive. Your comments don't fall on deaf ears and we frequently refer back to the results to adjust how we do things, or to demonstrate solid facts to our partners, for example by showing hard data regarding how many people are single travelers wanting coupons good for an individual. Your votes won't necessarily change the world, but they do give us powerful ammo with which to argue on your behalf, and we have seen positive results from time to time that were as a direct result of information we were able to collect from a poll.
As to how these polls come about, we'll be honest, and when it comes to our objective of relieving the pressure of Question of the Day, it has been a partial success at best. The current writer is the primary source for the questions and answers (so you can place the blame fairly and squarely with me if you don't like 'em!), and having run so many of them over the years, at times I wonder if there's anything left to poll about.
The way it often goes down is as follows: It's approaching the end of the work day on the eve of a new survey going live, and my mind will be a complete blank. I'll check the Poll Archives to see if there's something obvious that I've missed, and occasionally some inspiration ensues, but often it only serves to confirm that we've run out of questions. Then, out of nowhere, either I'll be randomly inspired by a timely news headline, or I'll trawl the Poll Suggestions "in" box one more time and find a fun or useful reader-submitted idea I'd overlooked, or Anthony or Tanya will have a bright idea... Either way, it's usually at around 4:57 p.m. on the preceding Tuesday evening that a question suddenly materializes.
That's the hard part over, and once the poll subject has been figured out, thinking up the potential answers isn't such a struggle these days -- on the contrary, that's the most fun part of the process, especially when it comes to the more lighthearted surveys, like the one we ran recently about ideas for future casino "themes," which Tanya and I had a blast thinking up. Plus, there's always that "Other" option, just in case we missed something. By that point in the proceedings, more often than not the beer keg in our conference room does indeed come into its own, although it's generally a lone female partaking, as opposed to the group of guys today's questioner was envisaging (if only!)
So, now you know -- and thanks for asking! It's given us a great opportunity to remind our readers to send in ideas for polls (see above link) and, when you do, feel free to submit potential answers, too.
As far as some helpful pointers go, try to avoid questions that are too broad or inclusive -- occasionally we'll tackle something like "Which is the best buffet in town," but that involves listing every single buffet and it's not a very useful comparison when the examples included range so widely in price and quality. Also, very subjective polls can be too labor-intensive and more trouble than they're worth at times: Again, we have tackled survey subjects like "Best Bloody Mary," but that involves coming up with a list of all the possible places we can think of that serve an out-of-the-ordinary Mary, which is a tall order, and also more than a little subjective. Such topics are better covered by the LVA newsletter, where Anthony shares recent new finds, with reminders about old faithfuls.
We don't shy away from hot potatoes like resort fees (in fact, that's something we've almost polled to death, so please refrain from submitting any questions unless you have a truly new spin on it -- check the Archives if you want to know what our readers think about resort fees) but we do steer clear of politics. We look for a mix of the useful, topical, and fun, so almost anything goes, subject to the aforementioned provisos, and we certainly welcome your suggestions, so keep 'em coming.
