Buffin’ the poll

Hahaha! I couldn't resist. I'm in a foin foin mood after seeing what happened with the poll results from yesterday.

 What's even better is the disclaimer they put up after the poll was closed and the results were final:

Editor's Note: This poll question generated approximately eight times the normal number of responses, resulting in percentages that we believe do not reflect the opinions of our typical poll participants. This particular poll question was targeted by a blog site operated by a self-professed "godless liberal" who teaches biology at the University of Minnesota and seems to enjoy targeting our polls (this is not the first time). Blog entries offer a running account of efforts by that group to skew the final results of this poll -- which they were successful in doing.

So I guess I can't take full credit for skewing the poll results, although my cohorts (you know who you are!) and I certainly helped. Apparently a godless liberal biology professor--and a Golden Gopher to boot!--and his legion of minions were the real culprits. I even found the godless liberal's blog, Pharyngula, although I didn't see anything in his profile where he calls himself a godless liberal. Maybe he's mentioned it in an entry. Or maybe it's unspoken, and everyone who teaches at U of Minn is required to be a godless liberal. Hard to tell.

Seems like I've heard of Pharyngula, or seen an entry somewhere along the way. Looks like an interesting blog.

Anyhoo, the poll takers seem to have committed what I would think is a cardinal sin when it comes to poll-taking: assuming that you know how the results will turn out, especially because you've posed the choices in such a manner as to lead the participants in a certain direction. I've done that when I've put a poll up here, but I've never pretended that it was a serious one! The website in question didn't take into account that "others" might find their hateful little poll and take it upon themselves to show them that not everyone is as narrow-minded, discriminatory, and divisive as they are. Maybe, just maybe, the majority in the country think that all people should be treated equally and not discriminated against. But noooo, they believe that their foregone conclusions must be correct, and that their poll has been hijacked (by godless liberal Golden Gophers, no less), and that those who don't believe the way they do are dangerous and deluded. [cackling wildly] Hey, who said that only certain people could take that poll, anyway? I had every right to go in there and cast my vote, and I had every right to tell my friends about it, too.

That's what I find so laughable about such sites. Put up a poll, and then get all pissy when the results don't turn out the way you thought they would, or should. What, the poll results are valid only when they reflect the opinions of your "typical poll participants?" That's not how it works, people. Consider yourself schooled.