A poll I'd really like to see on here...

What factors work in what Search Engines?

[Michael Anthony]

Unlike many other forums, I can't see a "start poll" feature on here which is a shame. Anyone know why?

For example... we could get results like

Google:

Links (inbound) 34%
Links (outbound) 8%
Kw content 20%
Page titles 5%

etc.

Same for Yahoo, MSN, etc. As a poll of professional webmasters this might become a good reference document, which would be continually updated (as are the algos) by further member voting. Each member would be able to vote once every say 6 months, with 100% to be divided up as they see fit.

Just an idea I had...

[Hawkgirl]

I think the polling feature has never been added for a few reasons:

1. Polls generally shut down discussions.
2. You'd get more "do my homework" threads than we have now.
3. You'd have people dropping by who aren't members, don't contribute to the community, but want to do a "quick poll" of our members, taking our knowledge and leaving without contributing.

I'm sure there are other reasons that we don't do polls here ... but those are the big 3 I can think of. That's not to say that polls are never useful - I think they are. But in general, on a discussion forum like this, they tend to slow things down/shut things down.