Answering Polls? What's Your Take?

[Math Is Hard]

How do you feel about polls? Really.

 

[Evo]

Hey, you got it to work!

I voted. I like polls. I got to vote on roasting a chicken earlier.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm wondering if anyone will choose option 3.

 

[Pengwuino]

*looks at never*

... how am i suppose to voice my opinion?? *screams*

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm wondering if anyone will choose option 3.

And I didn't wonder long!

 

[Moonbear]

And I didn't wonder long!

LOL! As soon as I saw the thread title, I was wondering on that one.

I love answering polls. I even signed up to get some online surveys just so I can entertain myself answering polls. I like the idea that on those things, the probably have someone reading the results just puzzled that someone could be so uninterested in buying everything on their list (I got one asking about what new magazine ideas I thought were good, and they all sounded lame, so I told them so). The funny thing though, is that I get surveys in the mail, and I sit right down and fill them out, because it's fun, and sometimes they send me free samples or coupons after I send them in, but then the vast majority sit on my desk and I forget to put them in the mail, until I eventually decide it's too late and toss them in the trash.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Moonbear, when I worked in database marketing we dreamed about people like you. But don't you get barraged with credit card offers and "sweepstakes notifications" and other kinds of junk mail?

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, when I worked in database marketing we dreamed about people like you. But don't you get barraged with credit card offers and "sweepstakes notifications" and other kinds of junk mail?

Not much, but I don't mind so much. It's much worse having only bills in the mailbox. I do have myself on one of those don't send me junkmail lists (the things that preceded do not call lists), so I get some, but then seem to get taken back off the lists again soon after. I won't do any that I have to give my phone number, and I just give them my spam-catching email address if they insist on one (I never use it, all it does is collect the spam from when I fill out forms online). I'll never answer a poll on the phone.

Oh, but I do get catalogs! Lots of catalogs! I wonder what the mailman must think, since I do get some strange ones. (He seems to fold certain ones inside of the other mail when they arrive, as if he's worried someone else might see what's in my mailbox). The funniest, to me, is that I keep getting a Playboy catalogue. They have an address you can request to get off their mailing list if it offends you, but I just find it too funny to stop. I look at some of the things they sell, turn it around sideways, upside down, and still can't quite figure out what the point is. Does a guy need to see you in a thing that's essentially a rhinestone choker and a rhinestone belt connected by rhinestones down your middle? It just looks like it would have sharp edges, or break or get in the way. Or who would get Playboy rabbit's head logo billiard balls? Obviously the catalog is intended for a male audience.

 

[Danger]

Does a guy need to see you in a thing that's essentially a rhinestone choker and a rhinestone belt connected by rhinestones down your middle?

Yes

 

[Pengwuino]

I love answering polls. I even signed up to get some online surveys just so I can entertain myself answering polls.

Theres a company that pays people to take surveys! You only get a few a year for a couple of bucks each... but its money! The surveys are rather long though and ou have to qualify for them...

 

[Danger]

Statistically, I suspect that some of us who clicked #3 might be lying.

 

[Moonbear]

Yes

Since you dared to answer...what good are the rhinestones? Don't get me wrong, I think a little giftwrapping is a fun thing to do, but the stuff in that Playboy catalog just looks trashy. Besides, I'm sure that rhinestone thing is probably pretty challenging to figure out how to put on once you have it...do you want a woman spending half the night in the bathroom trying to figure out how to put on some contraption like that? Oh, it's also funny how they manage to airbrush all the models so you don't see anything "inappropriate." Now, how is that going to sell anything to the men the catalog is targeted for?

 

[Moonbear]

Theres a company that pays people to take surveys! You only get a few a year for a couple of bucks each... but its money! The surveys are rather long though and ou have to qualify for them...

It would depend how long and how much they paid. I got a survey with a dollar in it once. I just found that funny. As if a dollar was going to convince anyone to fill it out when they already had the dollar! The market researchers at the mall usually pay $5.

 

[Moonbear]

Statistically, I suspect that some of us who clicked #3 might be lying.

I think we know who the wise guys are around here now!

 

[polyb]

I never respond to polls that is why I chose the third option, wait I just responded!

 

[Moonbear]

I never respond to polls that is why I chose the third option, wait I just responded!

Yep, it's a trick question!

 

[polyb]

Yep, it's a trick question!

Ahhhhhhhhhh , you got me!

I'll never answer another poll again!

Hey why don't you start a poll on that!

 

[Danger]

Since you dared to answer...

I assumed that it was a rhetorical question, so I gave you a rhetorical answer.

 

[Danger]

Now, how is that going to sell anything to the men the catalog is targeted for?

Wishful thinking. They won't think of the impracticality until it's too late.

 

[Moonbear]

Wishful thinking. They won't think of the impracticality until it's too late.

LOL! I think that's the difference between men and women buying these things. Men look at them and just have thoughts of seeing their partner wearing them (or having the model as their partner ), women look at them and think, "Do you have any idea how many buttons and hooks and clasps that thing has? It'll take all night to get it on, and you'll be asleep by then."

Or maybe I'm just too practical. Why doesn't anyone send me a survey on lingerie styles? It shouldn't have anything more complicated than Velcro closures.

 

[Danger]

It shouldn't have anything more complicated than Velcro closures.

Be careful with the placement! When the zipper busted on my favourite pair of jeans, I replaced it with Velcro to save time. There were... complications...

 

[Danger]

Hey, you got it to work!

I voted. I like polls. I got to vote on roasting a chicken earlier.

Did the chicken get a vote?

 

[Moonbear]

Be careful with the placement! When the zipper busted on my favourite pair of jeans, I replaced it with Velcro to save time. There were... complications...

But, in this case, the "complications" aren't a downside.

 

[SOS2008]

Theres a company that pays people to take surveys! You only get a few a year for a couple of bucks each... but its money! The surveys are rather long though and ou have to qualify for them...

Yeh, and I voted and started to post in "The PF Singles" poll before leaving for the weekend, but it didn't go through (geez I don't think I'll catch up!)--but what I was going to say is you could charge a fee for match-making too!

I never respond to polls that is why I chose the third option, wait I just responded!

Too funny!

I picked #2 in this one. I don't like to participate in marketing polls. I don't see why I should take time out of my schedule to help companies do a better job of selling their products/services to me. The PF polls are the best!

 

[BobG]

As soon as I saw a new poll posted, I could hardly wait to respond. Of course, truthfully, I never respond truthfully to polls.

 

[russ_watters]

Moonbear, when I worked in database marketing we dreamed about people like you. But don't you get barraged with credit card offers and "sweepstakes notifications" and other kinds of junk mail?

I was your worst nightmare: I frequently fill out surveys as well - only thing is, none of the information is accurate. I just hope there isn't a poor sap with the email address f@u.com, name@company.com, or me@you.com,

 

[Moonbear]

I was your worst nightmare: I frequently fill out surveys as well - only thing is, none of the information is accurate. I just hope there isn't a poor sap with the email address f@u.com, name@company.com, or me@you.com,

LOL! I do that sometimes too. It depends on whether I think the survey is going to result in junk mail that I was (coupons and free samples), or a flood of new catalogs I don't want (although they do amuse me, and they usually stop when you don't buy anything from them). Since I've moved around a lot and junk mail never gets forwarded, I usually just give them addresses from two or three moves ago (some of the online ones know if the address is completely fake, they seem to be able to match at least zip codes to towns). I'm sure the new tenants of my old apartments just love all the junk they get!

 

[Math Is Hard]

I was your worst nightmare: I frequently fill out surveys as well - only thing is, none of the information is accurate. I just hope there isn't a poor sap with the email address f@u.com, name@company.com, or me@you.com,

ha ha ha so that was you?

a big part of my job was to write "cleansing routines" to pull out junk data entered by you wise guys, so I had to think a lot about what kind of junk addresses I would be tempted to enter in a survey.
"123 Fake Street" was always very popular for a bogus street address. Terribly uncreative, I thought.

I also did mailing list suppression and that could get a little unnerving. I would get credit card offers returned with obscenity-laced death threats. This was all during the time that there were a lot of post office anthrax scares in the news, so I became very reluctant to deal with any of the incoming mail.

 

[Danger]

But, in this case, the "complications" aren't a downside.

Maybe your roots don't go as deep, but I found it pretty damned painful.

 

[Moonbear]

Maybe your roots don't go as deep, but I found it pretty damned painful.

Oh, I wasn't thinking about that complication. I was thinking about "clothing malfunctions."

 

[Moonbear]

a big part of my job was to write "cleansing routines" to pull out junk data entered by you wise guys, so I had to think a lot about what kind of junk addresses I would be tempted to enter in a survey.
"123 Fake Street" was always very popular for a bogus street address. Terribly uncreative, I thought.

So what do you do with people like me who give real address, just not my own? Or real sounding addresses? Every town has a Main St. or Maple St., or something like that. Nobody will ever notice if I use one of those.

I also did mailing list suppression and that could get a little unnerving. I would get credit card offers returned with obscenity-laced death threats.

Sorry about that.

 

[Math Is Hard]

So what do you do with people like me who give real address, just not my own? Or real sounding addresses? Every town has a Main St. or Maple St., or something like that. Nobody will ever notice if I use one of those.

There are a few different strategies at varying price levels for database marketers when it comes to finding out people's addresses and other info. There is readymade software that can be purchased which will do basic street address and zip code checking. That will weed out a lot of the bogus addresses. There are also services which will do address corrections and updates - they check lists against the post office records.

At the upper price range there are some very sophistcated services, who when provided minimal data on a person, such as name and address (an SSN helps, but it's not always needed), will report back an amazing amount of information on that person. They'll will be able to tell you things like how many children a person has, how much she paid for her car, what magazines she buys, if she has pets, her credit score, web sites she visits, if she golfs, etc. These services aren't cheap, so a data marketer will want to have his mailing list as clean as possible before sending it out for appending this info. I was more than a little stunned the first time I saw the "menu" for the different types of info these services could find out about a person. It's really kinda creepy.

Sorry about that.

heh. Trust me, I do it, too.

 

[Danger]

Oh, I wasn't thinking about that complication. I was thinking about "clothing malfunctions."

Other than ease of maintenance, that was the other advantage that I found in shaving off the beard: an end to that dratted Velcro Effect.

 

[Moonbear]

Other than ease of maintenance, that was the other advantage that I found in shaving off the beard: an end to that dratted Velcro Effect.

I kind of like beards...not long beards, but neatly trimmed beards (a little more than just a goatee though, those always make a guy look evil)...they tickle, which can be quite fun. But it's not a requirement; most guys look better clean shaven.

 

[Danger]

most guys look better clean shaven.

That's how the aforementioned psychotic blonde talked me into it after 14 beers. Curiously enough, others agreed, so I kept shaving. The main reason that I grew the thing in the first place was to hide my face, and these weirdos around here think that I look better without it. Go figure...