Did you know?
Where do you stand?

The options got truncated, so here is a full text:-

• I'm so cautious I never participate in any poll on this forum
  
• I didn't realise the system records which polls I answered, and would not have voted if I knew
  
• I knew the system records my polls, but would not have voted if I knew the mods can easily see who has voted
  
• I am willing to divulge information even though others can see which polls I voted on
  

[ Last edited by  DArtagnan at 29-2-2012 11:01 ]

PLUS I hate ALL these polls as invariably as soon as somebody votes, the stupid poll goes straight back up the top of the "New Posts" page and screws up timelines.  


And the Mods can see how @ person votes??? Oh MY!

Just poll Tsang and Leung .... be done with it

SEAJ

[ Last edited by  SEAJ at 29-2-2012 11:06 ]

Can you explain what you mean exactly ?

For each poll, you can see who has voted. Can the Mods see more ?

Actually, if you have time, you can manually monitor everybody's answer. Oddly enough, my super interesting polls are not that popular, so when I check the results, sometimes I can see only 1 vote more has been casted, and I see in the list of voters who did. Special big up to Wander and D'artagnan who are often the 1st to vote lol !

I don't see anything new here. All info you enter in this forum, all reports you write, all photos and attachments you upload, all that can be leaked on internet one day. When you login to the forum, your IP address is saved. Any file you attach may contain info of your computer, and the worse is pics, they contain info from your camera and softwares.

EDIT : Don't want to give bad ideas to people

[ Last edited by  marcopo at 29-2-2012 12:57 ]

This is a poll to find out people's awareness of the precise degree of publicity ...

... and yes, I wasn't aware it's so easy to see who's polled ... I figured the system tracks who's voted (obviously it has to) but missed that it's displayed for everyone to see ...

The reality is if you watch polls, and someone participates in a lot of polls, you can find out a LOT of information to triangulate who said what. Especially so, if you check a poll more regularly than people vote.  

Again, just wondering how many people are concerned / not concerned and how many are informed about what they're doing.

Don't worry, I just saw that option to see who voted this month only, so 3 months after my registration.

On the other hand, if you state it clearly, that poll section is half dead, a lot of people will vote randomly. Imagine :

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL YOUR VOTES ARE TRACKED BY THE SYSTEM, AND THAT EVERYBODY CAN CHECK WHAT POLL YOU TOOK PART IN

Yup

That's my point

The system does what it's designed to do, no more, no less ...

But if you then claim it is "anonymous", you have to qualify the statement.  
It is not strictly anonymous in the context of the eagle-eyes scrutinising this forum.

Sorry, DA, but I didn't realise people were unaware of the "Show voters" button on each poll.

By anonymous, what I mean is that there is no way for anyone, mods included, to see what a particular voter voted for. The only info available is a log of who has voted, not what he voted.

Having said that, the first voter in a poll may be exposed if the originator of the poll happens to catch the results of his poll before more voters vote. This is one of the reasons why I'd recommend admin get rid of that show voters option.

Not true

Anyone with idle time on his hands can watch the voting, and draw conclusions.  
And there seem to be quite a few active people with idle time here, let alone all the lurkers we don't see or hear from
You know just how much can be learned by noticing what people say and do in multiple posts

My point in this thread is to emphasise that polls are NOT anonymous,
and request that we don't represent them as such

That said, it's a matter of caveat correspondente.

THAT....is truly abhorent!
You mean to say that say that even supposedly anonymous polls are nothing of the kind?

Good God!  Thank you very much, I think I'll stay away from any and all polls on this forum.  I mean this place is supposed to be just for fun and games and sharing - and now I find out hat there MAY be something more underfoot?  That if I had participated, then somebody could figure out how much, I make where I live, frequency of and sexual orientations/experience etc. CHRIST!

And when I think about it - who CARES about polls here - except if there ARE something more sinister afoot. Does results of ANY polls here dictate how I should post and who to target my posts? Is it gonna make anybody a better member etc?  Christ - now I truly am against these damn polls.

Just IMHO

SEAJ

Yes, you're right. Someone who clicks the show voters button constantly could in theory monitor latest changes to the poll results and the updates on who has voted and thus be able to work out people's actual answers. It would need to be done continuously and systematically, because there is no telling when someone is going to vote on something. A software program may be possible to do such a job.

I am not an ace in programming, but I think it can be done very simply :
1/ Refresh the page every 10 min
2/ Click "show voters" option
3/ Copy the field with the list of voters + the list of results
4/ If no change in the number of voters compared to previous time, do not keep the record

Only 4 simple actions, so I think no more than 10 lines of programming behind it... Then, to get the result, to make it very simple, print out the result and make a manual cross check. If you're lazy, write 10 more lines of programming.

And when I say programming, it's not real programming. Just basic treatment of data displayed on a webpage...

I've sent admin a PM asking if that "Show Voters" button can be removed from all polls... It'll be better then, though of course the data might still exist somewhere in the system - just invisible to non-hackers.

DA please clarify this statement as it sounds to me that you are inferring that the mods are up to something sinister ...
if you believe that you have mis-worded this statement then please retract it or correct it

for the record, these polls started by CL have nothing to do with the mods nor are the mods interested iin its outcome
or information generated from it !

CL, I think you should have asked the mods first about removing the show vote button ....

and for the record ... I not believe the information generated from any of the polls in this forum gives anyone sufficient data to use for whatever purposes !

It's of no use and can deter people from voting, so I requested admin remove it. Sorry for the haste, but just felt it was urgent and needed to know if it could be done. I should have just asked you guys first. Admin has not read my PM yet. Would you speak to him when he's next online and explain either way? Thanks!

On this forum, all attempts at maintaing our anonymity are pretty damn important!  What is the use of the "show voters" button to us?  None!  Does it add risk to our participation in a poll?  Yes.

Ummm, easy fucking decision.  Get rid of it!!

PS:  A bro on here just proved it to me.  Said he is pretty sure the answer I gave to one of these polls based because he was online at the same time and saw the changes in the results and the "voter list".  Yes, he was deliberately trying to play the system.., but he did it easily and informed me of the results....  To him I say.  THANK YOU.  A fair warning. To the 141 Mods I say, get rid of this feature!!!!!!

[ Last edited by  wander at 29-2-2012 21:58 ]

I agree that this feature is irrelevant and unnecessary but it took this thread to spotlight it !

wander - for a forum like ours, the anonymity part starts from one's registration ... if you manage to keep that intact anything else is isn't so important !

If we're really going to be paranoid about security, then we would not get reports on sexploits much, because let's face it, when we describe our whereabouts and at what time and date, who we were with, etc., etc., we're already giving out clues for people to piece things together! Also over time, it is possible to form a picture of how a particular member is and how he carries himself in real life.

Hey Twice, I'm not inferring anything - you know me better than that!  I created this thread precisely in order to raise awareness ... which it has

My statement is a statement of my perception, no more, no less:

A mod (correction, CL was a mod but is no longer)
suddenly launches a simultaneous flood of polls
and THEN sends an email which highlights he can see who has voted (which was a surprise to me, not because he did anything wrong)

and from that I draw an incorrect and paranoid conclusion:
  that the mods decided to do a survey after private consultation, the way the mods (quite properly) do most of what the mods do, and
  that mods can see things in the Forum that ordinary mortals cannot (which is of itself a statement of fact)

I was wrong in believing the feature to view voters was ONLY accessible to the mods ... sorry, it's such a small button, and I guess I'm not as paranoid as I should be ... but I was correct in believing others were as unaware of it as I was.  

As stated in my thread, my ONLY objection is to CL presenting the polls as "anonymous" - something I've discussed with him, and a point I continue to stand by -
for the record I'm perfectly happy with him, you, the mods, or anyone posting polls on any topic.  I'm also very happy to support projects that are initiated by any individual or self-organised groups here.  

But let's be honest: information put on this Forum is in the public domain, and can be reviewed by others out of our control, for whatever purposes they may choose.  What you believe is not possible as a result of drawing inferences from data on the Forum is, with the greatest of respect, not enough to protect our data from other people's ingenuity.  

Our anonymity and confidentiality is only assured to the extent we protect the most unique pieces of personal information, and we are not protected by any feature in the software.  That's my point.

[ Last edited by  DArtagnan at 1-3-2012 09:25 ]

no problem, I see your points and I'm glad that you've brought this up !  

my only concern was it gives members the impression that mods wants to know something and we are using the polls to find out - deceptively

anyway, like I said before I personally don't give much value to what the polls shows as I don't believe how truthful people are when vote