Are you afraid to post in public polls?

Hmm nobody seems to be voting in polls I posted, even though there are some responses. Why? Are you guys too paranoid to vote because the polls are public and hence your choices will be indentified?

After all, some people are now scared to post their security software setup because it makes them a bigger target. Surely answering posts would be as dangerous since it gives the attacker an insight into the behaviour of the target?

or do my polls suck?

This calls for another poll... or two...

Note this poll is NOT public, so the people who want to vote annoymously without comment can do so.

 

WHO are you? That might help!!

WHY do you need to know all this, that might help!!

 

I suppose I'm much like you guys/gals, a person who is interested in computer security, though by no means am I a pro or a blackhat.

I'm very curious by nature, and having read so much about best security practices, I'm curious, how many people really follow them. Espically among a crowd that is more security conscious than the norm.

I'm particularly disappointed no one answered this poll.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=54682

What else do you want to know? Like most people here I'm fairly paranoid, so I won't reveal personal info of course.

 

Yes, i realise that now. To get even 100 responses is a big achievement.

The problem is I see most of the standard polls have being done already. Eg Favourite Popup blocker, browser, firewall, adblocking, spam. I don't think it's a good idea to duplicate them again

Polling on security practices doesn't seem to have being done much, so that seems a good place to start. The problem is, unlike for polling on software, I suspect, asking questiosn about behaviour is more sensitive ,since few would feel comfortable to owning up with less than ideal behaviour.

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Yes, I think you neatly divided the people here into distinct groups. That is reflected in my poll options already.

 

He used terms I would associate with a hacker. The term "Black Hat", he even sounds like a hacker and a black hat one at that.

Jimbob

 

I'm curious, what terms have I used that you assoicate with a hacker? Because I know what a hosts file is? Because I say "black hat"? Come on.

Of course, I'm no newbie but that does not make me a hacker either. Just a fairly competent computer user, no different than most members here.

You seem to be fairly new if you don't enough know what a hosts file is, if you stick around here in a very short time , you will be using the terms I use and more technically terms besides.

 

JimBob....there is really no call for that and even if the member is....perhaps We could learn a few things or three. Please keep those type accusations to yourself.

 

Thank you.

Back to the topic.

I've being pondering over what makes a good poll.

A) Subject interest - Obviously the subject must be interesting or one such that anyone can answer. Questions such as "What is your favourite firewall or browser " is obviously popular.

Something that is too technically for newbies is unlikely to be answered [that is leaving aside the problem of being accused of being a blackhat ]

B) Sensitivity - Clearly my polls on password is going to be a failure because they are too sensitive to answer.


C) Options given - The choice and number of poll options must be well chosen. I haven't tried to find out the maximum number of options required but they seem more than sufficient. It's also nice that people can select multiple options, so you dont need to waste options on "all of the above" or "various options".

The problem is I'm getting the urge to include too many options which dilutes the poll too much. It's pointless if every option has only 1 voter.

On the other hand, if none of the options are applicable, again the poll becomes pointless.

I suppose a well chosen poll would have maybe 5 options?

D) Phrasing of question - Is it better to have a yes/no kind of question only?

Compare

i) Do you digitally sign your emails? OPTIONS : YES/NO

versus

ii) Do you digitally sign your emails? OPTIONS: ALWAYS/SOMETIMES/NEVER

or are questions of this third form more interesting?

iii) What do you use to digitally sign your emails? PGP/HUSHMAIL/GNUPGP

The third form of question tends to get dated fast, because products fall out of favour quickly and you need to do research to figure out which options are popular. I've seen many polls fail completely because they list options that are not used commonly at all . E.g listing only bigname commerical firewalls like Norton, when people are using less well known brands like Outpost,Sygate.

 

LowWaterMark pretty much spoke my feelings and also described my behavior somewhat too. Although I like to see how creatures here vote. It leads to a better understanding of them. If you read their posts and take it in, you start to know there likes and dislikes etc. A personality now goes with the name and the avitar. It is all part of being here in the Wilders Forest (Community).

Now to answer the poll: NO.

 

I can talk your ears off so posting in a public poll is just another opportunity to talk.

bigc

 

I've personally no hesitation about participating in polls if (1) it relates to a field where I can at least make a pretense of answering knowledgeably, and (2, and more importantly) the selections are reasonable. I've seen quite a few polls here where I declined to "vote" because none of the choices offered seemed to cover my situation, or at least it wasn't obvious which one(s) did. So you'll often see polls in which I'll post a commentary reply but don't vote.

 

Hmm i seem to have problems with public polls. Despite setting almost all of my polls to public, only one or two seem to be working as public polls. Do you guys see the same?

 

Yes NO Maybe

 

I voted No, what is there to be afraid of?