Pollster.com

Thank you, Sir.

Thank you, again, Mark.

Thatcher

Mark,

Thanks for shutting down the comments to give folks a cooling down period.

This site is 10,000 times better when people are talking about polls instead of attacking each other!

Thank you, Mark.

Thank you for not abolishing the comments altogether. There are a number of users here who post interesting, intelligent feedback on the polling data, and I'd be sorry to lose that.

I come to this site several times a day to read, for the most part, the comments.
It was a matter of time, however, until people started insulting each other. I believe that some people just come here to provoke, to create false arguments that would get the attention of the people who are interested on polls. Sadly enough, some seem to bite and start answering the provocation. Furthermore, they start asking for the other person as soon as the polls show up.

I am glad the comments are back.

Hahaha, and today was my first day posting here too, so it was a bit disheartening when I saw there were no more comments all of a sudden. But I'm glad we can have more intelligent and civil conversations now.

You did the right thing Mark. Now we can have a more rational and adult forum.

Phew, I was beginning to get panic attacks at being cut off from up-to-the-minute polling discussions.

That's not a good thing, is it?

So please play nice, guys, or I'll end up in some kind of rehab.

;-)

Thank you, Mark. For what it's worth, coming from a regular (verging on obsessive) reader but infrequent poster, I think you did exactly the right thing to rein-in some of the, um, exuberance on display lately.

I'm a frequent visitor to this awesome site but have never posted a comment. After reading your "Comments Disabled" post, let me just reinforce - THANK YOU for providing a great source of data, analysis and thought.

Maybe we can do some research to understand why the Republican "base" seems to behave with aggressive contempt towards anyone that disagrees with them. I would be interested to know if this viewpoint is growing or trending towards extinction and if there is causality between the number of narrow minded bigots out there and the speed at which our country is heading towards ruin.

The suspended comments allowed me to actually do work, when I'm supposed to be working. :)

I did notice that the threads lower than this on the scroll do not seem to accept comments. I tried to comment on Obama's surprising lead in several new polls out of North Carolina, but all it said was Permalink, and no ability to comment.

Anyway, I try to stay out of the heated exchanges. Lately I comment then move to another thread or site. It's always the case that elongated exchanges lead to hostility, an unresolved conflict that gets personal. I had a situation on a different site in which a person I argued with got banned. He apparently blamed me and started stalking my user name from site to site, sending vile and threatening PMs, and abusive comments on my YouTube uploads. At that point I decided to generally stay away from back and forth exchanges, other than friendly topics like Lounge or sports, and it's been wonderfully peaceful plus freeing more time.

I had no idea there had been comments like the ones Mark linked in the explanatory thread earlier today. Disgusting.

I agree that the insult throwing was getting to be a bit much, but the thing I like most about this site is the individual comment threads for each poll. It is what brings me to this site rather than just sticking with other aggregate sites. Hope to see that continue.

D suggestion,
A good way to keep the comments open would be to stop the insults, like "narrow minded bigots".

Thanks, Mark, the comments were getting a bit crazy and I'm glad you are enforcing the rules.

Thank you, I enjoyed this site when there was intelligent discussion going on...thanks for giving us a wake-up call!

"abusive and profane commentary"

While I just posted abusive and profane commentary, I just want to say I applaud both the crackdown and the option for discussion. I wish we had a way to give everyone a time out in real life. It's gotten ugly out there.

Thank you Mark! I agree with many of the comments about harsh attacks. There are plenty of places on the internet to trade insults but very few where people share the kind insights I can read here.
So, thank you to everyone who posted positive comments and insightful questions.

I knew something good had to come out of boom's posts. Thanks Mark.

I'm so grateful that they finally got rid of the trolls who were spewing hate.

Gracias.

Gee.. I'm sure gonna miss him..

Thanks for giving us a second chance.

However, I would like to point out the button says 'intelligent and civil.' If you ban people who break the first rule, you will have less people breaking the second rule.

I'm a frequent visitor to this awesome site but have never posted a comment. After reading your "Comments Disabled" post, let me just reinforce - THANK YOU for providing a great source of data, analysis and thought.

Maybe we can do some research to understand why the Republican "base" seems to behave with aggressive contempt towards anyone that disagrees with them. I would be interested to know if this viewpoint is growing or trending towards extinction and if there is causality between the number of narrow minded bigots out there and the speed at which our country is heading towards ruin.

Posted on October 30, 2008 7:22 PM

a clear example of what is wrong

this would be a good place to display the new policy and delete the comment while warning the poster

I really appreciate that - as a new poster on here I was quite saddened to see it go, but that's cool that they are back, thanks again.

Thanks, Mark.

Whew! How else would we be able to make fun of the typos?

I kid, Pollster! I kid!

Many posts have been informative, with analysis, insight from home states, breaking news regarding campaign schedules, new polls and the like. Regardless of whether the poster supports Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama, we certainly can be civil. I would plead with posters to honor the rules so we keep the board up and running through the election and beyond.

For those of you who read this, I am posting the Zogby internals now under the Zogby poll thread for today.

I think this is a good thread to:

1. Apologize to Mark for whatever we may or may not have done. So..
Sorry Mark, we'll all work at it and we appreciate what you do so much!

2. Apologize to anyone that I may have been uncivil to. So..
Sorry to anyone who would want an apology! We all know how these elections can get in the last week.

3. Make a pact between the normal viewers/posters of this site to try to police it as we can in a non ideological way.

I have been visiting this site for about a month now, just lurking. But reading about the problems you had with out of control comments, forced me to sign up just to thank you for providing this information in such a useful and intelligent form and for providing such clear and understandable analysis of the polling process and current results. As a Canadian currently living in Texas this election fascinates me and the more "unspun" data I can see the better I an understand the dynamics of this historic event. Thanks again.

I would like to add respectful to "intelligent and civil comment. Mark thanks again for this forum!

Mark - Thanks for taking the bull by the horns and cleaning things up. You did what was necessary by driving the message home, not only to Boomshak, but to all of us. The profanity and vitriol was getting out of hand. Still, I'm sorry that it had to result in Boomshak's banishment. As whacked out as he was, he was still a colorful and integral part of the community. I suspect more people will miss his presence than will admit to it. I hope it doesn't get dull. But, so it goes.
Thanks also for making Pollster.com available to us. It's great stuff.

@D
"Maybe we can do some research to understand why the Republican "base" seems to behave with aggressive contempt towards anyone that disagrees with them...narrow minded bigots."

Alright man, I agree with you for the most part, even though your post was one fantastic generalization but I dont believe thats the most appropriate comment for this moment in time.

Also, I'm a liberal progressive, and I have seen fellow aggressive progressives get just as nasty as Boom did, so it's not acceptable from either side. There are also Republicans that come here that can have a civil conversation, in my opinion they are few, but thats just my opinion.

P.S. - Mark, I have to say that I was suprised that when you made an example of Boom in your "comments disabled" post I half expected that the example was going to be Boskops post, from the same day, saying (i'm paraphrasing) "Kennedy is like Obama and Kennedy was killed, and he deserved it." That had to be in the top 2 for absurd, unintelligent, inflamatory hatespeech that i've read here. Only reason I bring it up again is that I was suprised that the above quote wasn't the quote to be made an example...maybe it was TOO inflamatory to repeat.

Although I have often visited your site, until you turned the comment feature off, I hadn't really thought about commenting. Now I will, and I will certainly follow your rules.

Thank you for giving us such an informative site.

Thanks Mark. Banning users like southern angler who use the N word would help as well in keeping the room talking about POLLS.

@Mark

Thanks for being here, thanks for acting, thanks for staying.

Thank you so much for this site. When I wake up in a cold sweat in the night I check this site out and feel sufficiently reassured to go soundly back to sleep. I have also tried to get the same feedback from the fivethirtyeight site, but I can't make head or tail out of it. Thank you for a cogent and well designed site. I'll miss you when this is over.

N.

maybe you can use slashdot.org / dailykos style user moderation... Each user can + or - any message. Users can earn global +/- scores. As they earn more points their ratings of other users have more weight.

Yay...thanks for turning it back on!

YAY...Virginia is light blue...YAY

Mark,
I echo the sentiments of those above this post in thanking you once again for a great site and admirable restraint.

(Long post follows. I apologize for being verbose, as apparently I cannot be terse even when trying my best)

I would like to add, however, that the ugliness witnessed on this site is a fairly fair reflection of the tone of the current election. I will refrain from pointing fingers at specific posters, parties and candidates.

No doubt you've seen the field reports from canvassers posted on 538.com like many of us have have. Many folks who post here, including yours truly, have themselves been out there "in the grass roots", door knocking on some of the very same doors. So, what we've seen here is a reflection of the "real world".

That does not excuse the behavior, nor does it condone it. At the same time, as someone who hasn't agreed with the banned user in question on any issue, I would like to make one last appeal for his reinstatement.

I do believe the lesson has been learned by all here. I do believe decorum will have returned as of this evening (though I have not read any comments, save for this thread). IMHO, the banned user has too learned his lesson, though for whatever reason he will probably not admit it, nor apologize.

I appreciate how your recent loss might have heightened certain sensitivities - as an Eastern European Jew I have many relatives who perished at the hands of the Nazis. I understand that it only reinforces the urge for swift and appropriate punishment. I, however, would like to once again (as I have already done in the GWU poll thread) beg you for clemency on that banned user's behalf. I will not defend him, nor will I list any or all of his positive qualities and contributions to the discussion.

Please simply consider that
a) many posters with views similar to mine, views that are diametrically opposite of the user in question have echoed this sentiment.
b what harm would come from granting him a probationary status until his next slip up?

It is my hope and sincere belief that the lesson has been learned by all, including the persona non grata, and we shall all step more humbly from now on. I plead for one more chance for the policy violator.

Shana tova and toda raba.
~Latte

I value the comment option here, but also appreciate a civil conversation, so thank you all around. And hopefully only light moderation will be necessary.

It's about time you jerk...just kidding :0

Thanks for the great site!!

Sorry about your father in law. Alavah shalom

This was my first day in the site and am glad we were able to take some time off. It was getting a bit angry out here. I'm glad we are back on...

Thank you Mark

@MNLatte:

You've very eloquently made the case that I clumsily alluded to in an earlier post. I'm with you, and add my voice to yours in asking Mark for a probationary reinstatement. Probably not the best of ideas, but we arugula munching, latte sipping, Jewish bleeding heart liberals will always will hold our hands out to those who would cut them off. It's what and who we are.

Mark - This is your castle and I respect that 100%. But, please, at least consider.

Thanks.

@ all the dems:
to be fair to southern angler, he has a point. i notice that we dems alos have used lots of insults, like 'narrow minded bogot" to name one.
lets all just agree to disagree. while i do not agree with southern angler's views, i respect his views, and i think we need diversity of views, which is, after all, the American way.
so lets not pick on people guys

oops i meant "bigot" sorry
type lol

@mr zookie, thanks.

@falcon79, SA was not called that out of the blue. The content of his posts, including the repeated use of the "n" word earned him that title. And I say that as someone who has NOT called him any name or called for him to be banned. Please tell me, if you go back and read all of SA posts yesterday, objectively what other name would you prefer to call him?

Today's Fox News Poll that shows McCain only 3 points behind is mathematically invalid. They had an almost equal number of Democrats and Republicans in their sample. Competent, unbiased pollsters make an effort to insure that the party affiliation in the sample matches that of the country overall (about 4:3 Democrat).

I'm glad Mr. Blumenthal tried to clean up the site a bit. I have been reading and occasionally posting on this site since the primaries. I am particularly impressed with the scientific/mathematical approach this site takes toward the analysis of polls. But the last few weeks the comments got nastier and the screen names got partisan to the point where I stop reading the comments. Hopefully now that we are all put on notice, things will go back to the way there were during the primaries. Speaking of being put on notice... have you, Mr. Blumenthal, ever considered being a guess on the Daily Show or the Colbert Report?

Are there bigots who are not narrow-minded?

Anyhow, I come here for the polls and quickie analyses, but stay for the comments. Thanks for allowing them.

I'm OK with the comments being turned off. If there is something you (Mark) needs to be aware of, I'm sure you will get plenty of emails. My vote is to keep them turned off. Of course, my vote didn't count in 2000...

I'm with Mark, 100%.

This is a fantastic site about polling. It's not about politics, per se, or what we think of the candidates. There are plenty of of other fora on the web for casting aspirations at the candidate you don't want and at that candidate's supporters. I know -- I participate in one. Here, I've made two comments -- both relating to the polling, not the candidates.

I'm not a fan of "probation" -- even on venues where the sole purpose is "discourse." It requires full time moderators and Mark and Eric aren't here to moderate; they're here to keep us informed about the polls in a timely manner. That's enough of a job.

(As my grandmother use to say, repeatedly, "If you can't be a mensch, find somewhere else to kvetch." Given the number of times I heard her say that to me, I guess I complained a lot as a kid.... :)

Now that I've added my two cents, I'm going back to studying the subject at hand: polls.....

Mark,

Thanks,
I visit your website for 2 reasons:
1. Up-to-the-minute polling results.
2. Great comments (by most people)

,dave

@MNLatteLiberal:

"I would like to add, however, that the ugliness witnessed on this site is a fairly fair reflection of the tone of the current election."

I would go further and say that it is a reflection of the closeness of the General Election. When both Pollster and 538 have to suspend commenting on the same day, you know we're getting down to the wire.

The GOP needs to focus on rebuilding its brand. The old way of dividing and conquer may not work anymore.

To MN and mrzookie ...

I'm afraid I do not concur with your plea for reinstatement of the banned individual.

Not only was the individual abusive but also overbearing and selfish. Further, other individuals made his prima-donna behavior possible by continually responding to his childishness. The threads thus devolved into a kind of sand lot game. In effect, this abusive, overbearing, and selfish person was allowed to control all the threads.

That this situation went on for so long is unfortunate. In that span of time, the individual got what he wanted: threads that talked not about polling but about ... him.

I'm glad the individual was banned. I hope he is not allowed to return.

Lech

10-4 Mark. And a Minnesota Nice hello to the pollster posters this evening.

With so many polls to compare it becomes human nature for individuals to be attracted to one over another based on their own biases and interests. I would venture to say that even the most fair minded individuals who are involved in polling have to fight their own demons to stay as unbiased as possible.

Poor Boom getting banned right before that FOX NEWS poll showing a 3% race. The little guy would have loved that poll.

While his hackery was entertaining, I can see how some of the crazy stuff just crossed the line. If I were moderating I'd probably try to make an example out of the worst conservative and liberal poster (there were plenty of nasty Obama supporters to chose from).

hey mark, thanks for opening the comment section back up and thanks for the great site! im excited that maybe now we can raise the discourse on these boards!

ya hear that boom? no more funny business young man... you better be on your best behavior...

Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you very much.

since I missed the original offending thread in question, who was the now-banned commenter who displayed the ugly behavior and language Mark mentioned in the disabling thread?

To Mark and all visitors:

I'd like to apologize for my role in over baiting boomshak, I am a Jew and I personally wasn't offended by his characterization in response to me.

I may not have used bad language, but goading isn't a very nice thing to do and unfortunately it did become something of a local sport.

We no longer have enough right wing flavors on site so I feel that the site will lose a bit, however bad language really is a NO NO at all times. Not just because enlightened school teachers get the kids interested in the political process at an early age.

I was far more offended, in fact left disgusted, by boskop's unprovoked comments so things got any of hand generally, here and at 538, over the last 2 days.

I hope that those of us who got close to and indeed crossed the line have learnt are lessen. I have.

My sincere apology everyone, thank you Mark for providing such an awesome site for fantastic polling analysis, information and frank but and always Respectful polling discourse.

Bring back Boomshak!

Checking in every day to read boom's desperate arguments has been one of life's small pleasures. I don't know if he's a racist or not. I choose to believe he isn't. And I don't think the statement that got him banned was nearly as offensive as some of the responses to it. In fact, I think that's true for a lot of the crap he wrote. But that's beside the point altogether. The interesting thing to me is that this guy was a excellent case study of a man crumbling under the weight of his frustration - All before our eyes. Yet beneath the frustration and desperation is a man who is wildly optimistic. And he's the main reason I keep coming back. To read boomshak's posts is to spy a rumor monger as he brainstorms new dirt, yet believes he's doing the right thing. I miss him. He is emblematic of wing-nut politics. Like a gigantic pimple pushing its way to the surface - ugly and irritating, but not quite ready to be popped. On Nov. 5th, it would have been ready. And it's unfortunate that we have all been denied that pleasure.

Thank you Mr. Blumenthal, both for suspending the comments and for restoring them.
I teach high school students in an International Baccalaureate Magnet School in Florida. Since my seniors are in their third year of college level history, and many have taken coursework in statistics, I've guided them to your wonderful site.

The comments Boomshak wrote and the responses to them made me, and a number of my students, very uncomfortable. Thank goodness teenagers rarely tell their parents what they're doing on the Internet. Your actions have, hopefully, made the site young nerd friendly again. :-)

I have come to a serious conclusion when evaluating these polls: Never trust Gallup, Zogby, Fox News, Survey USA and Rasmussen. I call them the Republican pollsters' group from hell. No doubt, they will view New York Times/CBS's poll a outcast.

At present, there are enough conservative polls to lend an impression the polls are going in any given direction. So, when Rasmussen sees Zogby have release small numbers for Barack Obama, they contribute to the same impression by releasing similar numbers. Lately, they have become a little more discrete about it and release their deceptions over time.

The Republicans say they care for this country, yet they would conspire to see Sarah Palin become very close to being the worse President we have ever had -- post George Bush. These phony made to order polls like Fox's latest national poll have the scary potential of putting this country in a bad place. I will be glad to see this election over and Obama seated as president.

Joseph

Thank you for banning boomshak. He needed to be held responsible for his actions, and maybe this will cause some introspection on his part – although I doubt it.

He provided a great service only in the sense that he did more to support the Obama campaign than anyone else on this board. His cherry picking of information and intellectual dishonesty were a daily reminder of how his party got us into the mess we're in now.

Thanks for keeping the site open. It's a great "fix" for political junkies like me.

Three cheers for civility!

I don't blame you.

"Maybe we can do some research to understand why the Republican "base" seems to behave with aggressive contempt towards anyone that disagrees with them...narrow minded bigots."

Actually, as a staunch liberal and Obama supporter, the single most disheartening thing about the comments on here of late have been some of the stuff that my side of the aisle has been posting. It's like we completely lost sight of whom it is we've nominated and support for the highest office of the land. Obama created such a huge grass-roots following by trying to get each of us involved in the process and by elevating the dialogue to a higher, more meaningful level.

Or as Obama himself put it in a speech in Florida yesterday, "Don't boo. Vote." Be above the old style politics that's turned both sides of the aisle off for so long. Because when we start learning to talk to each other, we start learning to solve problems together.

Okay. I'm off the soapbox. But I think I just inspired the WWOD bracelet. :)

thanks and am glad you have evetone straight now.

Kudos to Mark. To the rest of us: let's keep each other civil.

Mark,

It is a reflection of the passion that some people have about this election. I strongly support my candidate as others strongly support theirs. But we live in a civilized society, one in which we are all Americans, we should never lose sight of that. I think that elections bring out the best and the worst of the American people. Even the candidates themselves have gone over the top at times. Thank you for giving people a forum in which to discuss their hopes, dreams, knowledge and ideas. It should help to bring us closer to understanding each other, not tear each other apart.

Mark:

First of all, thank you for this site. It has become my personal addiction, but this is a good thing. : ) I've also enjoyed some of the banter back-and-forth on the comments, though some of the extreme trolls have made me very uneasy.

I agree with other posters that a lot of the ugliness is the result of the far-right's frustration at the way this election is shaping up. They have accused Obama of everything except helping to plan the JFK assassination, yet voters continue to reject those tactics.

If you're a Republican, you know you're in deep doo-doo when you STILL haven't nailed down Indiana with three capaign days to go!!

Mark,

I'll echo the other comments. As someone who has been visiting this site and its predecessor for a long time, I valued it for the excellent commentary on public opinion research methodologies and the aggregation of results. Before the explosion of the site's "popularity," I commented often. Since then, not nearly so much.

There are innumerable sites on the net where partisan bickering and attacks are welcome. I contribute to a few of them. There are almost none where intelligent commentary about public opinion is presented largely without spin (or where the spin itself can be discussed.)

I value this site highly for what it is. You, Profs Franklin, Abramowitz, and others make my day. What doesn't make my day is wading through hundreds of posts that consist of petty bickering and insults to find nuggets of insight.

"Actually, as a staunch liberal and Obama supporter, the single most disheartening thing about the comments on here of late have been some of the stuff that my side of the aisle has been posting. It's like we completely lost sight of whom it is we've nominated and support for the highest office of the land. Obama created such a huge grass-roots following by trying to get each of us involved in the process and by elevating the dialogue to a higher, more meaningful level."

YOu've got to be kidding.
Obama calls anyone in his way a "racist"... Clinton and the "fairy tale" comment , which was about Obama's back and forth on supporting the Iraq war.
Calling HRC "Claws" and "mood swings"
, calling some Americans "Clinging" to BIble's.
Obama,"dusting" his shoulders off .. a move from a vile rapper. His "flipping the bird" and other snide and snooty moves.

Obama has lead just as dirty a campaign as the other side. His supporters either won't acknowledge it, or support it.

To echo a couple of other folks, I read this site daily (too many times a day!) and have done so since it started, reading Charles Franklin's site before that. I almost never post comments, but usually read some of them. I've enjoyed the intelligent comments a lot and don't mind a certain amount of good-humored teasing -- sometimes it's amusing enough. But I hope people will avoid going over the line and letting their teasing degenerate into diatribes, a line Tybo above seems awfully close to.

blipman, which line?

and did you read the ealier post of "narrow minded bigots"?

Let me add, I attacked no poster,called no one names, made up no charges, and used Obama's own words and and phrases as examples.

If that's offensive, the only cure is censorship.

I'm looking for where I've said that either candidate had run a dirty or clean campaign. I don't seem to have mentioned anything about that.

But Obama's message to his supporters has been from Day One consistent. He DOES urge us to keep our dialogue on a civil level. I think we could go round and round about who's dirty and who's not really, but that just drags us down in the minutia, and to be honest, "dirty" is usually in the eye of the beholder.

And I agree with Tybo on several points he's made in this thread, but I think my original sentiment may have been lost a bit. (Or more likely just stated poorly on my part.) What I meant to get across was that it's disheartening that liberals, whom I hear complain time and again at the gross and unfair mischaracterizations of their positions by the conservative side of the aisle, are not doing the the public discourse any favors by engaging in the same tactics now that we appear to be at the verge of being on the top of the political food chain. I did not mean to imply, that by using Tybo's quotation, that he was engaging in those tactics. His quote just seemed like a great jumping off point for my comment.

"But Obama's message to his supporters has been from Day One consistent"

yes, denigrate your opponent, while smirking.

I've given multiple examples of it.
And ,as I said earlier,the Obama fans do not wish to acknowledge it or perhaps can not see it.

That type of blindness is similar to that of Bush fans, who could find no fault with their candidate.
The similiarities between Mr Bush and Mr. Obama are startling.
Both ran "Change" type campaigns, neither has ever held a real job, both hid their background (BUsh on TANG, Obama on college,)both promised decency but attack relentlessly.
Both labeled their opponents attacks as either Anti-Chirstian (BUsh)or Racist (Obama), effectively limiting any question of their character, But spent more energy on stage craft (aircraft carrier, Greek columns)than on government.

BOth developed a following that elevated the man to a near fenzied following.

BOth campaigned as "Uniters"

Frightening indeed

Ooooookayyy....

Frightening isn't it?
we've lurched from one campaign "uniter" to the next.

GOvt is work, If you need (not you personally) to be inspired, get thee to a church or a concert