Describe a solution for posing polls in comments

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*** NOTE: This is a design only ticket and a placeholder - do not code 
anything! This exists to invite ideas and allow me to organise my thoughts. ***

Implement a solution for posting polls in LW comments (that only registered 
users with 50+ karma can vote in).

> I need a little more help with this one. Some of our best and brightest users 
currently use the existing karma system for polling (example here: 
http://lesswrong.com/lw/452/suggest_and_vote_posts_we_want_to_read_on_less/). 
What are the disadvantages of this system?  
> That the poll host gains karma? That upvotes and downvotes are allowed?  
> If polls just changed child comments so that they:
>
> # looked different
> # had only upvote controls
> # didn't pass karma to commenters
>
> … we would address these issues.
>
> The current implementation often breaks out into discussion nested into the 
poll, and one can't automatically distinguish between comments and new poll 
item suggestions. Perhaps also:
> # allow others to add "poll items" only from the poll root node (and thus 
only one level deep); OR
> # [this is getting complicated] make comments made on poll items selectable 
as either nested poll items or comments
> # [this is still complicated] voting on a nested poll item passes the vote up 
to its parent - use case: should we fight (with swords or staves?) or run? 
(voting for staves is voting for a fight)

Disadvantages of the current system:  

* Sometimes karma gets "unbalanced" because people forget to downvote the 
"karma sink" comment. Also, this causes users to have heavily downvoted 
comments that aren't actually downvoted because they are disliked.
* Users can see the current results of the poll before casting their own vote, 
which may bias the results.
* Less active users may want to post a poll but not be familiar with the 
standard workaround.

The "slight modifications to child comments" solution doesn't fit problem #2, 
and I can also think of some other concerns about it. So I'd prefer to go with 
an "integrated" solution more like a typical poll that allow you to insert a 
poll within a comment, or create a "special" comment that is just a poll (e.g. 
poll title/question, single-select or multi-select, and the options to choose 
from). There could then be a "Show results" link below the poll that would clip 
from the poll form to the results view, and "Hide results" would flip back to 
showing the poll. Votes on polls would always be tied to each user account, so 
users could go back later and change their vote if they desired. Moreover, 
you'd need to have 20 karma in order to vote on polls. No karma goes to the 
creator of the poll from votes. That's what comes to mind when I think about 
it, anyway.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by Matthew.Fallshaw on 2 Jul 2012 at 11:21

• Merged into: #321

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Issue 201 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by Matthew.Fallshaw on 2 Jul 2012 at 11:22

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See https://github.com/jimrandomh/lesswrong/commits/master/ for jimrandomh's 2 
year old (very unfortunately ignored) contribution.

Original comment by Matthew.Fallshaw on 2 Jul 2012 at 11:24

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Jim, thanks for your contributions at 
https://github.com/jimrandomh/lesswrong/commits/master/. We've finally reviewed 
them, and they're a good start. There's work to be done both is styling them 
and in making them more robust. We'll estimate that work and likely get to it 
soon.

Original comment by Matthew.Fallshaw on 3 Jul 2012 at 9:53

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Original comment by Matthew.Fallshaw on 10 Jul 2012 at 1:51

• Changed state: Duplicate