"What's the Point of 'No Opinion'?" Topic

One of the most frequent options on TMP polls is 'No opinion'?

Why? Why do we need to tally the votes of people who have, erm, no opinion on the matter?

And who needs to express that lack of opinion?

I understand that if I am walking along, minding my own business and someone with a clipboard accosts me to demand whether I think the Seattle Seahawks will beat the Atlanta Braves in straight sets or a first round knockout to win the Stanley Cup, I can honestly express my dearth of thought on the matter.

But, on a TMP poll, I actually have to go to some effort to reach the page where I then fail to have any views at all.

Why????

We could have a poll about it.

Yes.

No.

No Opinion.

You can only see the votes on a TMP poll after voting yourself, so "no opinion" is simply "I don't have a dog in this race, but am interested enough to want to see how others are voting"….

Senor Squint
Among the things you are notorious for on TP is being a Poll Haytah.

As Dom points out, the only way to view the results is to vote.
This begs the question (using "begs the question" incorrectly) "why would you vote at all if you don't care?"

I think the strangest poll options are the bewildering variety of NO OPINION options.
No opinion
Not a gamer
Not a fan of origami
Not related to Clint Eastwood

There is generally no relationship between a question asked on TMP, and the answers that are provided for it. I don't see why the Polls shouldn't emulate that behavior. You can have a poll that asks: "What's your favorite city in France," and the options are:

A. Paris
B. Calais
C. Moscow
D. Berlin
E. Rome
F. I don't like eggplant
G. No opinion
H. Donald Featherstone

…and "H" would win, because everybody loves Donald Featherstone, followed by "No Opinion." Meanwhile half of the guys who posted would demand the addition of Seattle, Lasagna, and the Tuffy Bicycle Company.

"And who needs to express that lack of opinion?"

Again, this is the standard MO for people's responses to just about everything from new games to new models, terrain, films, whatever. Try posting something like: "I'm thinking of painting an army of giant spiders for the Adventures of BooBoo Game. Does anybody have any advice on paints?" Half of the answers will be guys who have taken the time to inform you that they:

A. Don't care
B. Have never heard of it
C. Don't like spiders
D. Don't like paint….

It is not enough simply to not have an opinion. Your lack of an opinion needs to be broadcast.

I have recently seen a guy have a hissy fit because the poll as set up included options that he did not state in his opening post.
Aw, too bad Princess.
the other extreme is that our Beloved Dear Editor in Chief does not include valid options in his poll that were included in the thread, and were not included.
You can't win.
Yes you can, but only at 0K.
You can't reach 0K.

And don't get me started on "consensus"…

So, really it's not so much, "No opinion" as "Just stuck my head in to see what's going on"?

Because some people simply have to offer up their opinion, even if they don't have one.

They're the same kind of people who will jump on a thread discussing a particular set of game rules only to announce that they have never played the rules in question and have no intention of ever doing so.

My question was prompted by the unusually clueless choice of answers available concerning the efficiency of the Roman army, and last week's poll where people who had never heard of PG Wodehouse significantly outnumbered those who had anything to contribute.

If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice…

All of the above, plus, it used to be a way of being entered into the Poll Prize draw (when we used to have those).

Was going to jump in, but saw my opinion written by Keith, lol

"why would you vote at all if you don't care?"

just because I don'y care doesn't mean I don't want to vote!

I have no opinion about this.

Dr X, finally a rational, reasonable, well-thought out response…why, oh why, did we have to suffer so long. :^ )

Other than that, the poll requires a response to follow along later as noted above.

Yep, just to show that you don't care enough to bother choosing sides on the poll issue, and didn't just miss the poll, altogether.

Wish we had something like this for elections.

It would certainly make that a bit more interesting, e.g. having a choice for "None of the Above".

As Dom said, you vote 'no opinion' if you are just curious about the result of a poll. 'Cos you have to vote to see the results….

'Other'

I'm sitting here staring at primary polling. the poll had 246 people respond who met the criteria. 42% of those people liked a certain candidate. 5500 people were called… most of them probably didn't pick up, or hung up, or weren't reistered voters… if they had been given a chance to respond with apathy as a choice, it might make these polls useful.

As Dr Girlfriend said to Phantom Limb when he was discussing cheese knives and pickle forks, "I'm having a hard time caring about this."

I occasionally use it to indicate that I have indeed noted and participated in the poll, but don't actually have an opinion on it that I wish to share.

It seems impolite to open up a poll and not vote.

Ikea!

Do "No Opinion" votes get counted in the overall total for determining whether there are enough "Yes" votes for a new board to pass?

If they do, they make it harder for that to happen.

No Opinion.

I can understand a no opinion vote to see the results but what I don't understand are these people who respond to a request for rules recommendations by posting that the period doesn't interest them or they've never played the said rules -or similar.
These people are clearly idiots…
..or am I missing something?

You are missing that every opinion those people have, no matter if it is relevant, MUST be expressed in order for them to validate their sense of self-worth.

The real crime occurs when someone disagrees with them, because their opinion is by default the correct and more important because it is THEIRS.

Voting is bourgeois decadence.

And don't get me started on "consensus"…

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one.