How is a game question/thread promoting more interaction or promoting good discourse over a question that has a polling aspect to it?

Opinions start arguments.

I’m not even sure why game questions are allowed on Fluther.

I disagree with the premise.
4 of my last 10 questions were not polling related, but straightforward questions asking for resolution. Certainly not “nearly all” of the social questions are polls.

Soliciting opinions isn’t polling. Polling is when you ask people to select from a given set of choices. You can ask about opinions in a way that is open ended and invites individual expression; polling is more like checking a box.

The game threads vary a great deal in quality, but they at least get users interacting with each other, which has the potential for building some social cohesion. A polling question doesn’t require any interaction at all.

^ Ahhh……so it is “social cohesion.” that rule the day? How does Fluther interpret ”social cohesion”? I believe other question to have done that in General as well as Social and were not game questions but nevertheless did not pass muster.

“Social cohesion” isn’t some official Fluther criterion. There are plenty of questions that crop up that have the opposite effect: they tend to divide the community along certain ideological fault lines, and that in itself isn’t against the rules (though it can easily lead to rule-breaking). Because we allow these fractious questions, we need to allow questions that provide a venue where those differences can be set aside and connections can be solidified in a playful environment. The game threads do that. The party threads do that. Polling threads typically don’t. The General section isn’t the place for it.

It has been attempted in the past to clarify what polling is. There are not very many polling questions on Fluther at all.

When someone asks ” Do you want A or B?” they are polling, not asking for a discussion, especially when the OP then argues and complains about other options people add since they don’t like the two options presented in the question. That does not encourage any discussion and is better suited for a community that had polls. That is what we mean by polling questions and why we don’t allow them.

This certainly looks more fun than TJBM.~

@thorninmud “Social cohesion” isn’t some official Fluther criterion.
It certainly seems like a de facto criterion.

Because we allow these fractious questions, we need to allow questions that provide a venue where those differences can be set aside and connections can be solidified in a playful environment.
Because the though provoking questions can cause those who can’t chew the meat to digress into name-calling, insults and the like, useless fluff gets almost a free pass because everyone is sitting around _kumbayaing My blame the question because some Jellies can’t take the heat but are not smart enough to get out of the kitchen; much less go in there in the 1st place?

Polling threads typically don’t.
And game questions do? For lack of a better example I can think of right now, TJBM threads where does the discourse come from in those; you are locked into a stringent profile to keep the thread going. It isn’t like you are going to comment or ask question about the vehicle, vacation, etc. that was mentioned before because it breaks the method of the thread. How is that more open than a question that has ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’? If one is creative enough, they can say quite a bit in that question contract.

@GloPro There are not very many polling questions on Fluther at all.
Nearly every question in Social is a de facto polling question; there is no way around it. If someone ask what is the best car to buy for $35,000 it has a polling aspect to it. The only thing it is not doing is limiting the amount of participants, or limiting the number of vehicles that can be selected. It is still asking a pool of people which vehicle they think is best to buy for $35,000. At some point you can extrapolate data from that thread; X amount say Audi Quattro, X amount say BMW whatever, X amount say Infinity something, it may not be a tight poll, but it is still a poll.

@Seaofclouds When someone asks ” Do you want A or B?” they are polling, not asking for a discussion, especially when the OP then argues and complains about other options people add since they don’t like the two options presented in the question.
Certainly we never had questions like that here even if they did not point out the options or held to it stringently. In the aforementioned question, no one is obstructed from commenting on why they chose which option they chose or why it is better. If they did not like any of the options why even bother answering the question? Would anyone waste time doing that in the real word? If they went to a function and the menu had three meals to choose from and that was it; pasta, steak, or an eggplant dish. If you did not like any of them and asked why they did not have fish, and were told why, would you sit around telling them they were stupid for not giving fish lovers a choice or that they had something against fish and that is why they did not put it on the menu? They would either choose what was on the menu, or wait until later to eat. It is not complicated.

That is what we mean by polling questions and why we don’t allow them.
So any polling questions, of which there are many, that doesn’t stick to the hard context of a polling question is a polling question that is allowed to fly?

@turtlesandbox And ”either or” questions is not the same as an ‘A’ or ‘B’ question? Still seems like a polling question to me, just some frivolous one (for lack of a better word), people like.

If you refuse to listen to and comprehend what a polling question is, according to a mod and by definition of a poll vs. an open-ended opinion question, then no one can discuss this with you any further.

^ They made it clear what is a polling question and what isn’t is how they see it. You can have two questions, one being a hard set polling question by way of ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’, and another by way of ”do you like or would you rather have” which is a de facto poll, but since the gatekeepers like it, it flies and the other dies. At least I know how things are chosen. FYI I don’t need any more discussion on it because I learned a lot.

I don’t get why we have game threads either. It doesn’t seem to match fluther’s purpose. They always seem a bit childish to me in any case.

@hug_of_war I don’t get why we have game threads either. It doesn’t seem to match fluther’s purpose.
Given what has been said before, the only thing I can take away from it is that those questions are supposed to counter the tough questions with meat behind them, and it is a question no one really has to think about but van just ”smile” on.