Polls

Ask the community a quick question. Polls show opinion; they change nothing by themselves.

Poll or Decision?

A Poll asks what people think: "Market on Sunday or Saturday?". It changes nothing by itself. For something binding, propose a Decision.

On the global community each poll says An informal poll; it decides nothing. Anyone can join it, with 12 words or a sign-in, so one person with several accounts could tip the count, and there are no Decisions there. Under it, "🏘️ In a local community a Decision binds ›" says why a vote binds only in a local community.

When an anonymous poll there has closed, it also says how many of its votes came from new or 12-word accounts, for example "5 of 12 votes came from new or 12-word accounts". Each vote counts as the account was when it voted: a new account is one that still had the new-account limits, and a 12-word account is one made with 12 words that had not added a sign-in. When at least 3 votes came from new or 12-word accounts, and the other votes are either none or at least 3, each answer also says how many of its own did. Every vote still counts, and nothing shows who voted.

A poll there stays on the board, closed, for a week after it closes, so its result, and what it says about where its votes came from, can be read for that week. Then it comes off the board. The person who started it can still open it after that, with its result and its typed answers. See "The global community's limits".

While a poll is open it says nothing about this. If it did, someone checking the poll after each vote could tell what kind of account each vote came from, and how it chose. An open vote never says it, open or closed: it shows who voted, so the count would say which kind of account each voter has. A group's poll doesn't say it either, and nor does a poll on a local community.

Starting a poll

On Commons, tap Start something (on the phone, the round + button) and pick Poll. Or tap + ADD POST on the Market tab or the Map, and choose Community Poll.
Write the Question.
Add Context / Notes if it helps. This is optional.
Write 2 to 4 Options. Tap + Add Option for more.
Choose how long it runs: 3 Days, 7 Days or 14 Days.
If you want to hear what you didn't think of, tick Offer "Other" with a typed answer. It adds Other after your options, where a member types their own line. It is off unless you tick it, and your community's server must be new enough to offer it.
Choose whether it is an Open vote before you tap Create. Leave it off and the poll is anonymous. Tick it and members can see who chose what. You can't change it in the app after the poll is posted. An owner's AI assistant can change it on a poll it made, only until the first vote.
Tap Create.

In the web app the type is 🗳️ Poll, the notes are Background / Context, the option button is + Add option and the last button is 🗳️ Create Poll. On the web Map, tap the round +.

You can have one poll open at a time, and you can start one poll for the whole community a week. The week runs from when you started your last community poll, whether it is still open, closed or taken down, so taking a poll down does not let you start another sooner. If you can't start one yet, the poll form tells you the day your next one can start. A poll for one of your groups is not held to the week, so you can still start one while you wait: in the web app, pick Group above the form. Votes on removing someone and Decisions are not polls, so the week does not hold them. A community can have 5 open at once. You need credit that is not frozen to start a poll, but a freeze does not stop you answering one. An owner or admin can have as many open as the owners' Owner and admin limit allows (100 unless an owner changes it), within the community's 5, and they are not held to the week.

Finding and answering polls

Polls are in the Market. Tap Polls in the top row to see only polls. A poll is listed again once, under Today, the day before it closes.

Tap an answer to choose it. Tap another to change your mind, until the poll closes: the app asks first. Tap Change, or Keep my vote to leave it (OK or Cancel in the web app).
The card shows how many chose each answer.
If a poll offers Other, tap it, type a short line (at most 140 characters) and tap Send my answer. Don't put your name.

On an anonymous poll that offers Other, your answer is final, whichever you choose. Nothing links it to you, so nothing can find it to change it. The phone you answered on remembers which you chose. The web app and any other device can say only that you have answered.

Who can see how you voted

Each poll says which kind it is, above the turnout:

Anonymous (the usual kind): everyone sees only how many chose each answer. Nobody sees who chose what, the person who started it included.
Open vote: the person who started it chose to show the voters. Members can tap View voters (Show Voters in the web app) to see who chose what. A member who is suspended sees only the totals, until the suspension ends.

The owners and admins who run your community's server can still see every vote stored there, except on an anonymous poll that offers Other, where the server keeps no link between a person and an answer.

Who reads a typed answer

Everyone who can see the poll sees how many chose Other. Only the person who started the poll and the community's owners can read the words. Admins, moderators and other members can't.

On an anonymous poll the words stay hidden until the poll closes, then show with no name, no time and in no order, so nobody can match a line to who was around when it came in. The server keeps them apart from who answered: it holds that you answered, and separately what was answered, with nothing that leads from one to the other. If only one person answers, that one answer is still theirs, so keep names and details out of it. If you delete your account, a typed answer stays, because nothing says it was yours. An owner can remove it.

On an open vote the words can be read at once. Changing your vote takes them away, and so does deleting your account.

If you started the poll and a line is abusive, tap Report beside it. The report goes to the owners and names nobody. An owner can tap Remove: the words go for good, and the vote still counts. If the poll itself is removed, or the person who started it leaves while it's still open, its typed answers go with it, and even an owner can't read them after that. A poll that has closed keeps them if the person who started it leaves, and so does one that comes off the board a week after it closes on the global community.

Closing a poll early

If you started it, tap Close Poll, then Close Poll again to confirm (OK in the web app).

The same guide is in the BeanPool app, and works there without a connection: open Settings, then "Help & how it works" under BeanPool. Every other rule, guide and manual is in the Help Centre. Guide version 165.