The subject of polls kept on coming up at WordPress.com. There are many polling services, but most of them generate javascript, which isn’t allowed at WordPress.com.
But now there a new WordPress.com shortcode
from PollDaddy. Mark announced it on the forum.
As an example, here’s a poll on the PollDaddy shortcode. (It’s unofficial, in that it was created by me, rather than my WordPress.com or by PollDaddy.)
Update, one week later: I’m closing the poll. Of the 11 respondents, 9 liked the PollDaddy shortcode, and the other 2 don’t use polls, and so are unaffected by it.
The other metapoll of which I’m aware drew similar response: 8 in favor, zero against. To get to that poll/post, you can follow the first link in the comments. It may well be the the same people voted in both polls, so that fewer than 20 people actually responded overall.
Hello Andrew,
I did some troubleshooting and some workarounds concerning this Polldaddy polling option for wordpress.com! 😀
How to embed a poll from Polldaddy in a wordpress.com blog post
How is different or better for the hosted WP users from the existing poll tool? I mean it seems to do a very similar thing.
Dave,
I must admit that I wasn’t thinking about polls for blogs other than those hosted at WordPress.com. I always thought that, if you don’t have the restrictions on javascript and the like, self-hosted bloggers had polling options aplenty. That hasn’t changed.
There are many different third party providers of free polls on the internet for free-hosted worpress.com blogs and I have provided a link to a post reviewing them all in my PollDaddyShortcode for WordPress Blogs above that you got the trackback from.
All wordpress.com bloggers need to know is that:
1. None of the polls that use javascript or forms can be used on wordpress.com blogs as the software will strip out the code to preserve security.
2. Only the nexodyne polls and gfx polls display dynamic updating on the blog as the votes are cast but, the nexodyne polls are too large to fit into a sidebar so, they must be placed either on a static page or in a post.
3. The polls must be set up on the third party site and linked to from a text widget, a post or a static page, as the voting must take place on the third party site and not on the blog.
4. To create the appearance of an onsite poll bloggers can simply create an image of and upload it into a text widget or onto a static page or post, linking the image to the third party poll for voting.
Lastly note that sanjidas has been stating there there are problems with using PollDaddy when there aren’t any. The idea of running a poll is to get comments on your blog post so use one can simply use common sense and don’t set up a PollDaddy poll so the readers go sailing off onto another page to comment.
In fact I note that she published her own post on PollDaddy after she commented here on yours but that she did not link back to your post. It’s a pattern that she has going. She did the same to Hillel on his GetSocial post where it seems she commented for the purpose of link dropping back to her addthis post. She did a similar thing to Teck when he posted a url to GetSocial and she appeared in his comments link dropping back to her own blog posts. When it comes to the the wp.com support forum she only answer questions that she can drop links to her own posts in. [shrug]
Here’s some great news. The PollDaddy widgets do work in sidebars and here’s the link to said poll, which is on the left; robertstevenson.wordpress.com/
oops! b0rked the link http://robertstevenson.wordpress.com
Dear Andrew,
I don’t know why Timethief doesn’t like the idea that I provided a link to my post in a comment in your blog. If you also have a problem with me linking to my post in your comment, then please feel free to remove it. I believed it’s good to share. You have also shared this post in a link in a comment in my blog post. And it’s gonna stay there, if you don’t mind, that is. If you have a problem, please tell me.
Yes, I put a link to my post in Hillel’s Getsocial post, which is ONE post. But Hillel visited my blog and posted links to his Getsocial post in TWO of my posts. And I haven’t removed them. I like it when people share content with me.
As for the forums, if the way I help out in the forums is wrong, I am sure they would have banned me from posting in the forums. Timethief knows better than me that forum volunteers do get banned if they don’t behave appropriately.
I was not aware of your post when I wrote it. That’s why I didn’t link to it.
Lastly, if you don’t want me to put links to any of my blog posts in a comment in your blog, just tell me. I won’t do that again. But if you want to share your content in a comment in my blog, please feel free to do that. You are most welcome. I love it when people share good things in my blog.
Thanks for your patience.
Well, it’s good to see lively discussion in the comments on my blog.
I won’t enter this particular lively discussion on link etiquette, though. Neither will I start a poll on the subject.
TT, thanks for the good news about polls in the sidebar (above) and for the link from your blog.
@Andrew
You’re welcome for both. 🙂
i need my site users to be able to vote from their fone to a shortcode and also via the internet.does anyone know any provider of this 2 in 1 service.
treat as urgent pls.
i appreciate