POLLS!

[mbroberg]

If you need to prepare a poll for your contest please remember that you can do so in the planning forum. Doing so will allow you to format and tweak it before the membership gets to see it.

Once your poll is prepared let me, Mike R or Jeff know and one of us will move it into the "Contest Votes" forum.

Thanks!

 

[toddlajoie]

Any tips or hints on creating the polls? If I remember right (I don't do polls other than for the Bash...) you have to set the number of hours a poll is open for. Is that right, or is there some way to set the end of a poll to a specific day or time?

Also, if I remember correctly, we can make the thread with the pictures whenever we want, but we can't make the poll until the thread is complete and we know when it is going to start, so we know how long to leave it open before it closes.

 

[mbroberg]

As I racall there is no way to set a specific date and time for the poll to close. It is determined by the number of hours it will remain open.

You may create your poll here in the planning thread. We can edit the poll to change the amount of time it remains open. We just have to ask Jeff to give us that ability.

 

[toddlajoie]

I can probably just figure out the time from when I create the poll post, I haven't had enough entries yet to create a poll, so I'm hoping I get a flurry of last minute entries (I haven't had the time lately to promote them every day...) and Friday night will probably be another marathon night of posting and polling...

Thanks Mike...

 

[mbroberg]

Remember, We do want to limit polls to 72 hours.

 

[Wayne]

Poll creating

I've been updating the creating a poll document that is hidden in the library.

Attached is my version that I am currently updating. It should be accurate.

 

[mbroberg]

Looking Good. I'll give it another read later. Thanks Wayne!

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Last year I had a huge number of entries to deal with. What I found helpful was that I created a format for my entries with the first post I made getting all the html formatting the way I wanted it. I then copied that post to each additional entry post and just changing what applied to the new entry. Saved me from having to redo all the headings, colors, spacing and such for each entry.

This year I only have four entries (unless things heat up in the next 32 hours). If I end up with only the four entries, I would like to keep the poll results hidden and only allow 1 vote per member. If I allow multiple voting I might end up with three entries with hundreds of votes and one entry with a handful (or maybe 1) vote. If I then allow those results to be publicly viewed, I think it might run the risk of hurting somebodies feelings and discouraging future participation in contests.

Hopefully there will be a last minute flurry of entries in my contest. We'll see.


Ed

 

[bobleibo]

Wayne
Thanks for the tutorial.
??.....on page 3 it shows where you can stipulate the timeframe. If our poll is supposed to be open for 3 days, do we put 3 in the box and then the date BEFORE when it starts?
ex: If I want the poll to open on Feb 10 and run for 3 days, would I put in Feb 9 which would have it start at midnight of the 9th and go for 3 days until midnight of the 12th (10th, 11th, 12th) ?
Thanks
Bob

 

[Wayne]

Wayne
Thanks for the tutorial.
??.....on page 3 it shows where you can stipulate the timeframe. If our poll is supposed to be open for 3 days, do we put 3 in the box and then the date BEFORE when it starts?

ex: If I want the poll to open on Feb 10 and run for 3 days, would I put in Feb 9 which would have it start at midnight of the 9th and go for 3 days until midnight of the 12th (10th, 11th, 12th) ?

Thanks
Bob

Bob,

Partial Yes to your question.

The Poll date on which it will begin is the date you are creating the poll.

If you want your poll to open on Feb 9, you would create it on that day.

If you entered 3 in the Close poll box, it will then be open for only 3 days after creating the poll.

The poll will automatically close after those 3 days, on Feb. 12 at the same time you created the poll.

Remember, the time starts and ends based on the time you created the poll.

Therefore, if you wanted the poll to open and end at Midnight, you would need to create the poll at Midnight.

You cannot set the actual time otherwise.

Now, as soon as you create and post the poll, as explained above it is shown on the forum.

From that posting it would stay open for 3 days after and close on Feb. 12.

Questions?

 

[bobleibo]

Wayne
Thanks for the tutorial.
??.....on page 3 it shows where you can stipulate the timeframe. If our poll is supposed to be open for 3 days, do we put 3 in the box and then the date BEFORE when it starts?

ex: If I want the poll to open on Feb 10 and run for 3 days, would I put in Feb 9 which would have it start at midnight of the 9th and go for 3 days until midnight of the 12th (10th, 11th, 12th) ?

Thanks
Bob

Bob,

Partial Yes to your question.

The Poll date on which it will begin is the date you are creating the poll.

If you want your poll to open on Feb 9, you would create it on that day.

If you entered 3 in the Close poll box, it will then be open for only 3 days after creating the poll.

The poll will automatically close after those 3 days, on Feb. 12 at the same time you created the poll.

Remember, the time starts and ends based on the time you created the poll.

Therefore, if you wanted the poll to open and end at Midnight, you would need to create the poll at Midnight.

You cannot set the actual time otherwise.

Now, as soon as you create and post the poll, as explained above it is shown on the forum.

From that posting it would stay open for 3 days after and close on Feb. 12.

Questions?

Clear as mud.......stay close to your computer just in case.

1 question....as Mike mentioned, how do we create the "practice poll" in this BASH thread so no one else can see it until the right time but can be tweaked beforehand? Once we do that, do we then "recreate" it at the appropriate time to accommodate the time frame scenario that you mentioned above?

Thanks

 

[Wayne]

Wayne
Thanks for the tutorial.
??.....on page 3 it shows where you can stipulate the timeframe. If our poll is supposed to be open for 3 days, do we put 3 in the box and then the date BEFORE when it starts?

ex: If I want the poll to open on Feb 10 and run for 3 days, would I put in Feb 9 which would have it start at midnight of the 9th and go for 3 days until midnight of the 12th (10th, 11th, 12th) ?

Thanks
Bob

Bob,

Partial Yes to your question.

The Poll date on which it will begin is the date you are creating the poll.

If you want your poll to open on Feb 9, you would create it on that day.

If you entered 3 in the Close poll box, it will then be open for only 3 days after creating the poll.

The poll will automatically close after those 3 days, on Feb. 12 at the same time you created the poll.

Remember, the time starts and ends based on the time you created the poll.

Therefore, if you wanted the poll to open and end at Midnight, you would need to create the poll at Midnight.

You cannot set the actual time otherwise.

Now, as soon as you create and post the poll, as explained above it is shown on the forum.

From that posting it would stay open for 3 days after and close on Feb. 12.

Questions?

Clear as mud.......stay close to your computer just in case.

1 question....as Mike mentioned, how do we create the "practice poll" in this BASH thread so no one else can see it until the right time but can be tweaked beforehand? Once we do that, do we then "recreate" it at the appropriate time to accommodate the time frame scenario that you mentioned above?

Thanks

Go to the Bash Planning Forum, as shown below.

After you've finished creating the poll in the Planning Forum, which needs to be completely edited in 60 minutes, let Mike or Jeff know and they will move the poll.

If you exceed that timing, you have to contact Jeff to fix it.

They can change the dates, I believe, on the polls.

 

[Cmiles1985]

For those of us hosting the contests: how do you prefer to manage your images? Do you upload them to Photobucket? Or do you upload them directly to the forum?

 

[toddlajoie]

I upload them in the poll thread...

 

[Cmiles1985]

Hi Mike,
I've already created my poll, and it isn't technically supposed to be made public until the 18th. Since everything is ready, I have no issues if it runs an extra day or two. If you'd like to move it to public ahead of schedule, that would be fine by me.

This is the poll I'm referencing.

 

[bobleibo]

2 questions..
I know that I create my poll as a new thread here in the Birthday Bash Planning section and am comfortable with the mechanics of it.

Where I am a bit unsure is
1) As long as I create it here, does it stay unseen by the membership until one of the BASH chairpersons moves it to the Contest Voting section?
2) Does the clock start ticking as soon as I create the poll or when it is moved and goes live for the general membership? How do I account for that?
My contest voting opens on Feb 21 for 3 days so I want to time it correctly.
Thanks
Bob

 

[toddlajoie]

2 questions..
I know that I create my poll as a new thread here in the Birthday Bash Planning section and am comfortable with the mechanics of it.

Where I am a bit unsure is
1) As long as I create it here, does it stay unseen by the membership until one of the BASH chairpersons moves it to the Contest Voting section?
2) Does the clock start ticking as soon as I create the poll or when it is moved and goes live for the general membership? How do I account for that?
My contest voting opens on Feb 21 for 3 days so I want to time it correctly.
Thanks
Bob

1 - Yes, if you create it in the planning forum, it will only be seen by those of us who have access to the planning forum. If others are like me, you will likely get a few votes from us before we realize it is not public yet (I check the new posts before I go hunting in specific forum areas...

The Poll timer starts as soon as you create the poll (not start the thread, but as soon as you finish it and go through the poll creation bit. Easiest option would probably be to time it accordingly (i.e if you start it 2 days early and want it to run for 3 days, set it to run for 5 days....) The mods can change the polling to some degree, but I don't know exactly what, or how easy it is to change things like the duration. I like to think that they are busy with a LOT of things, and with 10 or 12 of us asking them to make detailed changes to our polls can put a lot of time and confusion into their workload, so the less I rely on them for changes the better we all are in the long run...

 

[mbroberg]

Todd nailed it.

We can change the run time on the poll.

 

[bobleibo]

2 questions..
I know that I create my poll as a new thread here in the Birthday Bash Planning section and am comfortable with the mechanics of it.

Where I am a bit unsure is
1) As long as I create it here, does it stay unseen by the membership until one of the BASH chairpersons moves it to the Contest Voting section?
2) Does the clock start ticking as soon as I create the poll or when it is moved and goes live for the general membership? How do I account for that?
My contest voting opens on Feb 21 for 3 days so I want to time it correctly.
Thanks
Bob

1 - Yes, if you create it in the planning forum, it will only be seen by those of us who have access to the planning forum. If others are like me, you will likely get a few votes from us before we realize it is not public yet (I check the new posts before I go hunting in specific forum areas...

The Poll timer starts as soon as you create the poll (not start the thread, but as soon as you finish it and go through the poll creation bit. Easiest option would probably be to time it accordingly (i.e if you start it 2 days early and want it to run for 3 days, set it to run for 5 days....) The mods can change the polling to some degree, but I don't know exactly what, or how easy it is to change things like the duration. I like to think that they are busy with a LOT of things, and with 10 or 12 of us asking them to make detailed changes to our polls can put a lot of time and confusion into their workload, so the less I rely on them for changes the better we all are in the long run...

Thanks Todd....this is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[mmyshrall]

Poll ready to be moved.

Hey Jeff, Mike and Mike,

The poll thread for the Limited Modification Kit Pen contest is created and ready to be moved to the Contest Votes forum.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[bobleibo]

Am I reading to much into this?
If I want my poll to run for 3 days and create it today (Thursday) at noon, does that mean it will run until Sunday at noon or for the actual calendar days such as Thu, Fri, Sat?
If it goes by a 24 hour clock as being the # of days then I will create my poll at 12:01 a.m. tonight thus to run Fri, Sat Sun.
It would be nice if there was an option to say what time/date one would want the poll to start/stop.
Oye, such a learning curve~

 

[mredburn]

Make the poll at the time of day you want it to end. It will run 72 hours or 3 days not 3 calendar days including the starting day.. We can change the amount of days it will run but not the time it starts or ends. Let me know when your ready and I can transfer it or you can just create it in the voting forum and go live with it. Make sure you choose show results at the end of the poll.

 

[bobleibo]

Make the poll at the time of day you want it to end. It will run 72 hours or 3 days not 3 calendar days including the starting day.. We can change the amount of days it will run but not the time it starts or ends. Let me know when your ready and I can transfer it or you can just create it in the voting forum and go live with it. Make sure you choose show results at the end of the poll.

Thanks Mike
I have all the entries written into templates that I can cut-n-paste to avoid the 60 minute challenge, so it will go fast when I create the poll. I'll do that tonight and just add a day like Todd mentioned. The thing that is throwing me off is my original plan was to have it end at midnight on a certain day. Next time ~

I can't wait until next year when I get to sit back and say "Oh, that's easy" and look smart to some rookie who's doing their 1st contest. Ha!

 

[toddlajoie]

The thing that is throwing me off is my original plan was to have it end at midnight on a certain day. Next time ~

Just stay up till midnight...:biggrin:

 

[mmyshrall]

Make the poll at the time of day you want it to end. It will run 72 hours or 3 days not 3 calendar days including the starting day.. We can change the amount of days it will run but not the time it starts or ends. Let me know when your ready and I can transfer it or you can just create it in the voting forum and go live with it. Make sure you choose show results at the end of the poll.

Mike,

Can you check the Limited Modification Kit Pen poll for the ability to show results when the poll is finished and change it if it is not set to do so? I read this post and then started doubting whether I had made that choice or not.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[bobleibo]

The thing that is throwing me off is my original plan was to have it end at midnight on a certain day. Next time ~

Just stay up till midnight...:biggrin:

Already planning on it....thus my pre-written excuse for any screw-ups.
"I was really, really tired which caused me to ____(fill in the blank)____"

Ya' gotta' plan ahead ~

 

[mredburn]

Its taken care of Mike

 

[bobleibo]

What happened?
I was creating my poll under the BASH Planning section and everything seemed to go fine per the instructions. The only screen at the bottom that was available to me at that time was the one asking if this was a poll and the "number of poll options". I entered the information figuring it would prompt me for the rest after that. As soon as I clicked on the submit thread key, it went to a screen with this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/newthread.php on this server.

I know I was well under the 60 minute time frame. I tried 3 times and got the same message.
??
Thanks
Bob

 

[toddlajoie]

What happened?
I was creating my poll under the BASH Planning section and everything seemed to go fine per the instructions. The only screen at the bottom that was available to me at that time was the one asking if this was a poll and the "number of poll options". I entered the information figuring it would prompt me for the rest after that. As soon as I clicked on the submit thread key, it went to a screen with this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/newthread.php on this server.

I know I was well under the 60 minute time frame. I tried 3 times and got the same message.
??
Thanks
Bob

Bob, I hope you got this settled out last night. I wasn't around, but I know (from personal past experience) that the polling can be VERY fussy about special characters and numbers and such... Best option is to look at the successful polls that are already posted and see if you are doing something different, or even consider doing things exactly like they are ( i.e. just labeling the choices "Pen 1" rather than something like "Pen #01" or "Pen 1):" as a lot of the not text characters (quotes, numbers, ampersands, parentheses, dollar signs, etc) will give you those server messages...

 

[bobleibo]

What happened?
I was creating my poll under the BASH Planning section and everything seemed to go fine per the instructions. The only screen at the bottom that was available to me at that time was the one asking if this was a poll and the "number of poll options". I entered the information figuring it would prompt me for the rest after that. As soon as I clicked on the submit thread key, it went to a screen with this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/newthread.php on this server.

I know I was well under the 60 minute time frame. I tried 3 times and got the same message.
??
Thanks
Bob

Bob, I hope you got this settled out last night. I wasn't around, but I know (from personal past experience) that the polling can be VERY fussy about special characters and numbers and such... Best option is to look at the successful polls that are already posted and see if you are doing something different, or even consider doing things exactly like they are ( i.e. just labeling the choices "Pen 1" rather than something like "Pen #01" or "Pen 1):" as a lot of the not text characters (quotes, numbers, ampersands, parentheses, dollar signs, etc) will give you those server messages...

EDIT:
Tried it again this morning and it is working.....errrr!
Thanks for the help!

 

[bobleibo]

Mike and Mike
My poll is done (^$*(^*&$* .
It can be moved any time late tonight or early tomorrow. Sorry, tried to time it last night to coincide with exactly 3 days, but......
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Bob

 

[mredburn]

Ive been watching I will move it. Does it need to be late tonight for any reason?

 

[mredburn]

You only have 22 pens posted and 25 options?

 

[toddlajoie]

Mike and Mike
My poll is done (^$*(^*&$* .
It can be moved any time late tonight or early tomorrow. Sorry, tried to time it last night to coincide with exactly 3 days, but......
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Bob

I voted in it, and my selections are WINNING with one vote each!!!!

(i.e. the poll results are visible..)

Mike, I assume you can change that before you move it???

 

[mredburn]

Yes

 

[mredburn]

Already done

 

[bobleibo]

Ive been watching I will move it. Does it need to be late tonight for any reason?

That was just me trying to time it to coincide with the 3 days we were asked to post the poll for. My plan was to do it last night and time it accordingly.
In the morning is perfectly fine too. That might be a better fit.
Thank you~

 

[bobleibo]

Question...
When I built my poll this morning, I added 5 extra voting slots just in case more entries came in. Well, they did. I'm now full up to 25. Must be my irresistible charm~
Is there way for one of our BASH chairs to increase that number just in case I get any more? (now that I said it, no more will come in)
Thank you~
Bob

 

[mredburn]

Why it seems that yes I can add 2 at a time. I added 2 and then removed them. let me know if you need more spaces.

 

[bobleibo]

Why it seems that yes I can add 2 at a time. I added 2 and then removed them. let me know if you need more spaces.

Thank you~

Mike,
Go ahead and add 2, I just got another entry which exceeds the list.
Thank you