An ethical question.

[liberal72]

Do you think it is okay to DU a poll. By this I mean posting a link to a poll and asking people to go vote in large numbers. I do not mean voting over and over again, but just asking DUers to vote and hopefully change the outcome.

[truthspeaker]

1. Sure. Those online polls are unscientific anyway

because they don't have a random sample.

[trotsky]

2. Perfectly ethical as you have stated.

Asking people to go and vote.

What many freepers have done (proudly, since they brag about it) is clearing out one's browser cookies to be able to vote multiple times.

Personally I don't think online polls serve any purpose, and they should never be featured anywhere. I'd be OK if they all just went away. (Except for the fun ones here on DU, of course.)

[Viking12]

3. No

The media adoption of polling as news generator is the unethical practice. Polls don't just reflect opinion, they subsequently influence opinion. Given what we have to work with, it is ethical to vote for progressive positions and try to influence public opinion.

[theorist]

8. Exactly.

It is our obligation to counter any right wing offensive. If "freeped" polls are publicized, it may convince an otherwise pseudoprogressive to believe the majority is conservative, and people like this vote for "winners". We must break the illusion that the conservatives are the winners, and promote the fact that the progressive agenda is what the American people really want.

[MsUnderstood]

9. Correct!

The media have scientific methods of getting polling samples but choose do go online cause it is cheaper and more reactionary (instant gratification for the person taking the poll).

[distortionmarshall]

4. lol - wonder if they used that reasoning in the south?

rofl - the very notion - encouraging people to vote is unethical!

couldn't make that kinda humor if i tried..... lol

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. Wonder??

Hell, it's the Bush Regime's #1 campaign strategy!

[Goldom]

5. Yeah

Especially considering that Freeped polls have mostly been voted on multiple times by people, -that- is unethical. Telling people to vote on an issue you care about is not.

[Shoedogg]

7. I don't think so.

Again, you specified that this is not voting multiple times, but encouraging like-minded individuals to join in the poll. Nothing wrong with that.

[donco6]

10. Yes - those polls are pointless . . .

. . . and it's good for us to demonstrate that over and over. Perhaps someday they'll get the message and stop creating them.

[sangh0]

11. Are you asking because of yesterday's poster?

Yesterday, a now-banned (for the obvious reason) poster was in the "DU this poll" thread impying that DUers were doing the same thing the Freepers do. If that is why you are asking, don't worry yourself. Freeping polls is not the same a DUing them.

Only a Freeper would think differently

[liberal72]

12. No . . .

because I sometimes post links to an online poll and ask people to DU them. Just wanted some input on whether members here are generally ok with me doing this.