Adding a Poll to a Discussion

Get a Countable Answer: Some questions do not need a thread of paragraphs, they need a show of hands. "Which scheduling tool are you actually happy with?" is worth more as a tally than as twenty replies you have to read and total up yourself.

A poll is part of a discussion rather than a separate kind of post, so you start it exactly the way you start any thread.

Adding a poll

1. Open Community and click New Discussion.
2. Fill in the board, title and body as usual. The body still matters: it is where you say why you are asking and what you are weighing up.
3. Click Add a poll underneath the body.

Two to Six Answers: Use + Add option for each answer you want to offer. Once you reach six, the link reads Maximum of 6 options, because the limit is enforced by the database as well as the form. The small picture icon beside an option attaches an image to it, which earns its keep when you are comparing layouts, plating or signage rather than words.

Choosing how it behaves

One Answer or Several: Tick Allow people to choose more than one answer when the question is not either/or, like "which of these have you tried?". Leave it unticked and each member gets a single answer, and picking a new one moves their vote rather than adding a second.

Set a Deadline, or Do Not: Ends sets a closing time. Leave it blank and the poll stays open as long as the thread does.

Voting, and changing your mind

Results Are Never Hidden: The poll appears on the thread and on every feed card, and the tally is visible straight away. Nobody has to vote blind to see where the room landed.

• Click an option to answer
• Click a different one to move your vote
• Click your own answer again to take it back

The bar and the total update instantly, so you can see the effect of your own vote.

Seeing who voted

Each answer carries its vote count on the thread page. Click see who underneath one and you get the list of members who picked it, which is worth having when you want to follow up with the three operators running the setup you are considering.

When a poll ends

Once the closing time passes, the poll reads ended, the options stop responding, and the final tally stays on the thread for anyone arriving later. A poll with no end time never reaches this state.

On Your Phone Too: Polls work in the Boost Academy mobile app. You can read results, vote, and start a discussion with a poll from the Community tab.

Ready to dig in?

Log in to Boost Academy, open Community > New Discussion, and put the question you have been going back and forth on to the room.

Access: All members. Some boards are Academy Plus only.