Directing to a poll is annoying

[Scott]

I still regard the unwished for unwanted for redirect as a nuisance.

I suppose that my initial reaction to finding myself redirected to a poll in which I have ZERO interest in and do not want to participate in would likely be to rate the book the lowest possible marking, just to indicate my annoyance at the interruption. It's like the "God Squad" showing up at your front door uninvited, and provokes a negative reaction.

If I CHOOSE to participate in a poll or rating of a book, keen. Otherwise, I can only react with frustration and a reaction accordingly.

As best I can recall, there has never been a poll redirect to a poll to rate a book.

[gali]

I still regard the unwished for unwanted for redirect as a nuisance.

I suppose that my initial reaction to finding myself redirected to a poll in which I have ZERO interest in and do not want to participate in would likely be to rate the book the lowest possible marking, just to indicate my annoyance at the interruption. It's like the "God Squad" showing up at your front door uninvited, and provokes a negative reaction.

If I CHOOSE to participate in a poll or rating of a book, keen. Otherwise, I can only react with frustration and a reaction accordingly.

As best I can recall, there has never been a poll redirect to a poll to rate a book.

You are right and there has never been such a poll.

[moderntimes]

I'd say the benefits of having this site far outweigh the slight inconvenience of an occasional poll redirect.

But I cannot glean why the redirect at all. If I've read a certain book, I can look for that book's listing in the reviews section or other sections and comment on it. Right?

If anyone can tell me the value of getting redirected to a poll in which I have zero interest, please tell me. Otherwise I must consider it spam, and react as with any spam.

How can I sensibly rate a book that I've not read nor have any desire to read? Anyone know the answer to that?

Forcible redirect is beneath the normal fine standards of this forum. It's like those annoying popup ads you can get unless you've got a good popup filter and anti-spam AV software. Being redirected to a poll in which I have zero concern is unwanted. I suppose the only way to show my frustration will be to consistently rate the material in question with a negative reaction.

If we were given the choice of being redirected or not, fine. I don't know how to select that option in my setup here. Anyone know how?

[zeldas_lullaby]

OK, listen up everyone. I'm a psych major, so I'm here to make everything worse.

Modern Times, Scott clearly regrets having that poll up in the first place, but he doesn't want to eat crow and fully admit that. I know this from reading between the lines--he's told us that the short-story poll is gone.

Scott and everyone else, Modern Times has been feeling unwell and I think he's exhausted and demoralized by poor health. We should send him well-wishes.

Fran, off-topic comments don't hurt anyone.

Now, let's please all be friends again and just move forward from this!! OMG.

[bookowlie]

Maybe I am missing something here. The only poll redirect I have ever seen here is in the BOTM section. This section is intended for people who have read the BOTM selection and discuss it as a group. In this case, a poll redirect is entirely appropriate and is a nice reminder to rate the book. For people who haven't read the BOTM and are just browsing the section's discussion, then I don't see how the poll redirect is spam; it's assumed that the BOTM discussion is for people who have read the book. That's not to say that other members aren't welcome to read the BOTM comments; however, it seems strange to be annoyed about a poll that's clearly meant for a section of the board for people who have read the BOTM for group discussion.

OK, long ramble over. Friend to all.....anyone who likes to read is a friend of mine.

[Scott]

How can I sensibly rate a book that I've not read nor have any desire to read? Anyone know the answer to that?

There has never been a redirect to rate a book as best as I can remember.

I suppose the only way to show my frustration will be to consistently rate the material in question with a negative reaction.

Luckily, such a frustration won't need to be shown in such a way since there has not been a redirect to rate a book.

***

@moderntimes

As for the redirects that there were, which were not for giving a book a rating, I am sorry that it frustrated you and that's why I removed it. I understand it can be a little annoying as many times when I log into Google I get redirected to a form to add a phone number to my account, or when I log into my online banking sites or other specific Google program sites I have been redirected to the new TOS of that site to approve it. As silly as it may sound, yes the one click it gets to get back to what I was doing is annoying. These experiences which are out of the ordinary process of these sites can be frustrating. I see that point, and I appreciate you speaking up about feeling it. It's always a balance in communicating with tens of thousands of members (or more). There is never going to be a way to do it that isn't annoying to some of those members who happen to not be interested in what happens to be communicated that time or what is the subject of a reminder. Nobody complained about it, but I'm sure the email sent out to all the members announcing the contest for the free tablet annoyed some people as much as a poll redirect. A phone call, an email, a popup message, a huge banner at the top of the site, a couple kids in suits knocking on your door... all special communication and special reminders are going to interrupt the normal flow of things and bother some people who did not want that interruption at that time about that thing.

Regarding the recent redirect to the post about Holding Fire, which contained a poll to vote on the favorite story and a non-mandatory request that those who haven't gotten the book do, I am indeed sorry that in our excitement I may have been too eager to implement a redirect that those who are not interested in the book or who just haven't quite finished it would find annoying. I hope you can understand the enthusiasm that lead to this. The Holding Fire project was an exciting project that many have been following for many months from when it was just an idea. The short story contest was of incredible interest to the many people who entered as well many of the thousands of other members using the site who didn't enter but eagerly followed the unfolding of the project. The 10 writers published in the book are all members of the site, many are even just very talented students, and they as well as a large group of the rest of us have become electrified in continuing to follow the project and in sharing and discussing the product of those writers' talent and hard work.

I'm not looking to make an excuse for something that upset you. I am sorry to have done something that upsets you. I am just hoping to explain the excitement which was the motivation behind it; the motivation was not to upset you or anyone or disregard your enjoyment of the site.

Thank you,
Scott

[zeldas_lullaby]

I'm sorry, you guys. I went off because I love all of you like crazy, and I want everyone (myself included) to get along. I don't know how much of this was in my head, but it felt like we were turning against each other. This is a wonderful web site, but it's not perfect, because nothing is. We can all agree on that, right?

[moderntimes]

Thanks Scott for the info and the reasoning.

I cannot speak for bookowlie's experiences but I have often been redirected to a poll about the book of the month. This Holding Fire was just the latest. I get a redirect for EACH book of the month, and I have NEVER participated in the actions about this section. So the redirect to a poll or commentary about the book was totally unwished for.

As I said previously, I write book reviews for another site and review maybe 30-40 books a year, and find it just fine to commend on a book that I have READ. But for EACH book of the month, I get redirected to a poll, not just the Holding Fire thread. I simply went off the rails finally and maybe my comments were harsh, but I don't like popups nor unwanted polls or unwanted redirects. I'm HAPPY to write reviews and comment on books that I've read, and other matters which are pertinent. As anyone can see, I'm a very active forum member, a novelist and short story writer, review writer, and so on.

I just don't like the redirects that I seem to be getting for the book of the month thing, especially when it's simply not something that I am reading right now. It's intrusive. If there's maybe a little message at the start of a thread entry "Don't forget to comment on the book of the month!" or some similar reminder, keen. But if I get an email telling me that a certain thread has a new entry, I click on the link, and I'm sent willy-nilly to a poll for a book that I've never read? Annoying.

Thanks again, Scott, for removing the link to the Holding Fire thread. I was not commenting only on this but the routine re-direct that I get for EACH book of the month.

[bookowlie]

Interesting. On the Control Panel, there is a Manage Subscriptions link. Is it possible you have a subscription (unknowingly) to the Book of the Month forum? That might explain why you get poll redirects for all of the Book of the Month selections. Maybe there is a way through the Control Panel to stop getting the polls, if they bother you.

-- 30 May 2015, 17:20 --

I'm sorry, you guys. I went off because I love all of you like crazy, and I want everyone (myself included) to get along. I don't know how much of this was in my head, but it felt like we were turning against each other. This is a wonderful web site, but it's not perfect, because nothing is. We can all agree on that, right?

We will have to make a poll redirect to see if we all want to turn against you - ha ha ha. Just kidding.

Some people like polls, some don't like polls, some don't like reminders to vote, some like reminders to vote.....different strokes for different folks.

[moderntimes]

Polls that I accept and knowingly assert to? Fine. Polls to which I am inadvertently sent? Nope.

I don't understand the dancing bananas. Sorry. I'm a writer, and deal with words, words, words (as Hamlet said) and not with artwork.

-- 30 May 2015, 16:51 --

Went to the Manage Subscriptions link, and found that I am NOT subscribed to any particular link. Thanks for the info however.

For some reason, bookowlie, you don't get a redirect for the book of the month poll or section and I do. If ANYONE can show me how I can defer this redirect, please do so. I simply do NOT want another monthly redirect to a poll about a book that I've not read. Books that I've read? Fine.

Thanks in advance.

[Scott]

I simply do NOT want another monthly redirect to a poll about a book that I've not read. Books that I've read? Fine.

The book of the month poll redirects are not for single books. They are for votes between nominations regarding which book will be book of the month for the Online Book Club, and it is not expected that voters have read the books between which they are voting. As stated before, as far as I can recall there has never been a redirect to a poll to rate a book.

[moderntimes]

Okay and therefore I was apparently hallucinating when I kept being directed to a poll each month. I do remember this and I suppose I was wrong, as apparently nobody else had this happen.

Okay, and keen, subject closed.

If however I get another redirect, I will complain forthwith.

Thanks.

[Scott]

I am sorry if I have not been clear.

There has not been a redirect to a poll for you to rate a book.

There has been, more than once, a redirect to a poll for you to vote for which book, out of a list of books, you want to be book of the month. It is not expected that one would have read the books being voted on.

[moderntimes]

Thanks for the clarification, Scott.

If I've read any of the books about which I may receive a redirect, I'm happy to rate them or recommend them.

Unfortunately most of the books seem to be YA oriented, and to a large degree fantasy. Being a grownup I don't read YA nor fantasy. My reading is principally mysteries (which I both write and review), and history, particularly Imperial Roman or ancient Greek, military history of several eras, biographies, and fairly advanced science books on cosmology and quantum physics.

Is there some setting in my profile that will deter future redirections? If so, please let me know how to set this.

Thanks again for the clarification. I didn't mean to stir up muddy water but this excellent forum is terrific for all sorts of writing info and discussion, and I'm pleased to be a participant in sections and threads of my choosing. But not being kicked into a thread for which I have no real feedback to offer.

[DATo]

Let's just cut to the chase shall we?

I find the redirect a bit annoying at times myself but I remind myself that we are guests at this website. It is owned by "Scott". He incurs the responsibilities of ownership which include the time and monetary costs of management and maintenance and in return has the right to construct and administer the website in any manner he so chooses. He owes no apologies or explanations.