The “blurb” feature on Wepolls allows anyone to add a snippet of information to a poll. This way, when a question is asked, context can be provided in the form of a sentence, a few paragraphs, or external links.
In the future is feature will be expanded to detect and embed articles, videos, and images as well.
On December 15th Fred Karger and governor’s Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer participated in a debate on Wepolls.com, a social polling network. This was the first ever debate to take place on a social polling site, and only the second social media debate in history.
The candidates answered poll questions posed to them by Republican primary voters from a wide variety of topics.
Debate Exclusion
Karger and Roemer have been excluded from every nationally televised debate. Johnson has been excluded from all but two. It’s not surprising that they have strong feelings on the subject.
When asked if it’s fair that Johnson was excluded when after he has been polling on par with Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, it’s no surprise that the former two term New Mexico governor responded with a resounding no.
“I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to be included,” Johnson said. And he put the blame squarely on the media. “The notion of drawing lines between candidates who are all polling within margins of error is fundamentally wrong -- especially when it is the media debate sponsors doing the polling,” adding that the voters should decide which candidates are or are not credible.
In a related question, Johnson remarked that he would be a viable candidate to win the Republican nomination if not for the current media blackout that his campaign faces.
Karger responded that “everyone should be included” in the debates. “Just let me in one debate that's all I ask,” Karger said. “I will change the debate and hope to excite the country. I have so many ideas to help turn this country around.” He also added that he feels that his homosexuality is the primary reason for his exclusion from the debates.
In an eloquent fashion, Roemer let his feeling about the televised debates be known “These debates are a circus,” he answered. “I feel sad for retail politics. It's all about selling books and being a regular cable news contributor.”
Fred Karger
Being the first open homosexual to run for president of in a major party didn’t go unnoticed by the voters at the debate. One such voter, Joey Husk, told Karger he inspires many in the gay community to never to give up, including himself. Johnson, a supporter of civil rights, cheered the comment.
Karger also acknowledged that he has faced hostility from within his own party with regards to his sexual orientation, adding that he has received, “far more equal treatment and acceptance that I had ever imagined. Hope to make change from within.”
The toughest question of the night was pointed at Karger, who received a PolitiFact rating of “pants on fire” for a statement he made about Mitt Romney, saying he had to do basically whatever the Church of Latter Day Saints asked of him. Not only did Karger stand by his statement, but added, “It's called obedience and is practiced by every Mormon in good standing.”
Buddy Roemer
For Roemer, the defining issue at the Wepolls debate was how politicians pay for their campaigns. “If I were in the debates, I would pose the one question worth asking: Where do you get your money?” Saying that that politicians, work for the people who fund their campaigns, specifically citing Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and their Super PACs. “This election is about trust, and frankly I don't trust any of the other candidates to do for the American people what they say they will.”
The only candidate to answer a question about faith, when asked about intelligent design Roemer responded that if belongs in religion class while evolution belongs in science class.
Roemer was also the only one to answer a question about energy. When asked about which is the fuel of the future, he responded “natural gas,” saying, “We have the technology to safely drill for natural gas in America… we will begin to release ourselves from the grip of foreign oil.” He went on to add that it’s a national security issue.
Gary Johnson
Johnson perhaps had the best line of the night, just as in his last televised debate with his “my neighbor’s two dogs” comment. When asked about what kind of industrial policy he would support he responded, “A Butt THE HELL OUT Policy,” which received overwhelming support from voters.
Another popular position popular with the crowd was Johnson’s opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), saying, “The Internet must be free from government efforts to regulate, police and/or tax it.”
He also wasn’t afraid to stand up for his support of a woman’s right to choose. When asked about an interview he did with Alex Jones where he was challenged on that stance, Johnson was quick to remind the audience that anyone who heard the interview knows that he brought the fight to Jones.
The libertarian leanings of Johnson are well known. He acknowledged Roemer’s classification of him as fitting well into that category, but when asked if he would seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party, he would only say that he’s considering it, and what’s most important to him is that the message isn’t being heard by the American people.
When asked about a potential third party run, Roemer said, “I have already made public that I am looking at Americans Elect.” The organization requires that his running mate be a Democrat or independent. Roemer had publically expressed interest in Sen. Joe Lieberman for that position, but Lieberman declined. Roemer added that he’s a proud Republican, but an even prouder American.
Occupy and Protests
One point where all candidates agreed was on the subject of protests around the world. TIME made the protester the person of the year, and all three debate participants agree with that decision, saying the protesters are “changing the course of history.”
Roemer reminisced on his time marching for civil rights and drew parallels between the ‘occupy’ movement and Vietnam protests. Karger added that the occupiers have a “very legitimate case” and urged them to continue peacefully.
Debt and Spending
Reduction of federal spending emerged as a priority for all three candidates, though each said they would take a different approach. Johnson, who vetoed 750 bills as governor of New Mexico, would use his veto power to keep Congress in check, and reaffirmed his pledge to balance the budget and reduce spending by 43 percent
The approach that Roemer would take is to address social security, one of the most costly federal programs, by increasing the retirement age one month for 24 years. Karger added that he would run government more like a small business.
A Valuable Message
Not everyone who participated in the Wepolls debate had a deep understanding of these three candidates, but they overwhelmingly walked away with the same thought, that voters are being denied important and diverse voices that the American people deserve to hear.
Karger, Johnson, and Roemer each bring unique messages to the table, and each debate without them is cheaper for their absence.
· To view the full content of Fred Karger’s debate participation, click here
· To view the full content of Gary Johnson’s debate participation, click here
· To view the full content of Buddy Roemer’s debate participation, click here
Wepolls is proud to announce a forum between three national Republican candidates for President of the United States. The debate will feature Republican strategist and activist Fred Karger, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson*.
The forum is set to take place on Dec 15th, 2011 at approximately 11pm EST, immediately following the Fox News debate.
Anyone can come to Wepolls to ask questions of the candidates!
Use the following tags:
Or, add two or more tags, just separate them by commas!
On the night of the forum Wepolls staff in cooperation with the campaigns will decide which questions the candidates will answer.
The candidates will answer your questions and elaborate in the comments. They will interact with the other candidates, and with other people who are making comments.
Be sure to register before submitting a question. Registration is required to add a tag to a poll.
Wepolls is the greatest polling social network in the world and welcomes all forms of discussion. In this climate, political discussions are abound, and tens of thousands of Republican primary voters regularly express their opinions on Wepolls, including those about the who won a particular GOP presidential debate. Unfortunately, the names of Gov. Buddy Roemer and Fred Karger have never appeard in any such debate, and Gov. Gary Johnson has only appeared three times. Wepolls is so proud to help give these important candidates a voice to express themselves to their constituancy.
Visit Wepolls.com/debate for more information.
*Gov. Gary Johnson's participation is predicated on his exclusion from the Fox News debate.
One of the most frequent requests we've received at Wepolls is the ability to keep people from adding options to a poll they've created. While we have sympathized with this need, we also felt it was important for people to be able to respond in the way they wanted to polls.
Today we are releasing a feature that lets you restict others from adding options to your polls. We hope this feature is used only in cases where a limited set of response makes sense. We want Wepolls to continue to be a place where everyone can make their voice heard as well as a place that meaninful dialouge occurs. We therefore will be tweaking this feature in order to make Wepolls exactly that :).
Here's how you can use it:
When disallowing the addition of poll options, the person who creates the poll will still be able to add options, which is especially useful if an important option is forgotten.
Note: Making a poll private is now also under the “Advanced” settings.
This morning KTAR News (92.3 FM Phoenix, AZ) ran three stories about Wepolls. We would like to thank reporter Jim Cross for conducting a great interview and doing an amazig job of editing the story.
We would also like to invite you to listen to the report in this YouTube video, or read the print article here.
Recently a Wepolls user read one of our blog posts and emailed me a question. “What’s the roll?”
That’s a fantastic question, and the short answer is this: “The roll” revolutionizes social media.
Okay, but what is it really?
At Wepolls, in the front page users are presented with a list of polls and topics. It doesn’t look all that inviting on the surface, but it’s what’s underneath that counts.
Once someone takes a single poll Wepolls automatically puts a similar poll in the “next poll” position. This is what we call “the roll.” Most people who come to Wepolls stay in the roll for quite a while, taking polls and making comments.
Currently, the roll suggests the next poll to a user based on their voting and skipping behavior. (If they vote on polls of one type, they’ll get more like it, if they skip polls of one type they’ll get less like it.) In addition, the roll shows people comments that they might be interested in, allowing them to read and reply to the comment.
Roll vs. Feed
Content delivery through a roll in social media is new and is in stark contrast to the “feed” offered by Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Feeds are nice, and Wepolls has one too, but we see it more as a starting point for entering the roll, not the primary vehicle for social interaction.
By delivering content through the roll, user stay engaged longer and interact more, and therefore are more engaged and more social. That’s the problem with feeds in the land of Facebook and Twitter; it’s too hard to find what you care about, and it’s too easy to miss what you should have.
Here’s a real life scenario. A close friend posted that he lost his job on his Facebook page. I met him for a drink the next weekend and asked, “How’s work?” He wasn’t amused. I had missed his status update on Facebook even though I login multiple times a day.
That whole mess would’ve been avoided if my friend made that comment on Wepolls. I would’ve been taken right to it and forced to make a decision on whether or not to skip to the next item in the roll, or respond to the comment.
As Wepolls continues to develop and implement new features, more and more things are going in the roll.
In the meantime, try taking the following poll and experience the roll for yourself.
POLL: What is a better delivery system in social media, a content roll or a feed?
Since Wepolls launched the “poll roll,” as we call it, has been a popular feature. This is when someone takes a poll, another pops up next to it.
Scroll down to read the comment. Either post a comment or click the “Next” button to move on to the next item in the roll.
This is a major step forward in making Wepolls more interactive. Look out for more content to be appearing in the roll in the future.
One of the largest complaints we receive is that people add inappropriate options to polls. We’re not going to remove that ability, but we are giving everyone the chance to help us moderate content. Wepolls has grown too large for our busy staff to screen all content.
How to Flag Poll Options
When viewing poll results, hover the cursor over a poll option. A “flag” link will fade in. Click on the link to report inappropriate content. Staff will then review it to make a final determination.
Deletion Criteria
In order to offer the best possible service, Wepolls staff will be consistent in moderation of content. For a poll option to be removed, it must meet one of the following criteria:
Wepolls will not moderate content that does not fall into one of the above categories.
Topics have always been a part of Wepolls. Since the site launched Topics have been added to every poll, and can be found below each poll. Any registered member can add a Topic to a poll.
Recently, top Topics have been given a more prominent placement on the site, right at the top of the screen.
How Topics Affect You
When taking a poll, based on the Topics assigned to the poll, Wepolls makes a guess about which polls you may like, and then presents you with the next poll.
This algorithm is constantly evolving over time, becoming more and more sophisticated. If you don’t like a poll, try using the “Skip to results and next poll” option. This will help prevent Wepolls from suggesting polls that you may not be interested in.
How Topics Work
Ever want to take polls in just a particular topic? Try clicking on one of the Topics at the top of the screen, or use the “All Topics” or the search feature to find one that you’re interested in
Selecting a Topic opens a page containing all related polls. When selecting a poll from a Topic page, Wepolls will only suggest to you polls from that topic.
Give it a try!
