Would it be possible to require/strongly encourage all Interest Check Thread posts to have a poll attached (maybe with the options of “Interested/Not Interested”)? (Or automatically add a poll somehow)
It’d not only make it more useful for the authors in judging interest, as well as potential players to express interest/disinterest. Right now, it’s more of a “Teaser” thread than anything.
This is something I actually really like to see whenever I am in the Interest Check Thread. The ones I have seen with Polls are the ones that make it easiest to gauge interest. I used it once (the Interest Check Thread, not the polls {don’t know how to use polls}). Having any idea who was actually interested was hard to tell because I was having a hard time knowing who was responding to my post vs. responding to someone else’s post (unless I was tagged or it was a direct reply)
So, yeah, I think a Poll should be required.
Edit: Figured out the polls.
I’d be loath to make it a requirement, as that would involve a lot of management, and the interest check thread is a space where people can throw in something as small as a vague half-sentence to gauge if people like a concept. I don’t think it’s a problem if the thread includes posts that are more “teasers” than strictly “research to find out the demand for my idea” - it’s just a consolidated place to discuss ideas and figure out concepts at the very early stage. But if people want to make polls in their interest check posts please do! It’s another way of gauging interest.
I second this. Add to that, imagine if someone uses a poll with the ‘interested-not interested’, and a lot of peeps vote ‘Interested’. They get swept by the hype, then the next thing you know…Pouf! they lose inspiration (which alone is devastating and artists are fragile), and here come the Guilt trip and resentment (Why did you put a Poll up for if you were going to Quit?!).
I strongly would say it is a bad idea. COG is not a YT channel with Thumb up and Down!
Because even if one doesn’t get much ‘Interest’ in their ideas, the writer still wanna write it? they should do it! it could grow into something and they gain experience along the way!
But a requirement is pressure writers don’t need.
A very good point!
General interest is a good motivator, I’ll say from personal experience, but I don’t think I’ve ever let a low opinion stop me. If anything, that makes me step back and reevaluate what I’m working on. To try and see it from a different POV, to see where it might not be that interesting to other people.
Feedback is invaluable. That I know.
That’s what I did yesterday, and it’ll be a bit before I check in to see the general consensus on my own project. Perhaps a requirement is too harsh and heavy-handed, but polls are a good way to see the general thought at a glance without scrolling endlessly looking to see who replied if they didn’t reply directly to your post.
Out of pure curiosity…has someone done that before?
I don’t think I would post something that small. Not much to go off of there.
I don’t know off the top of my head, it’s a long thread and I don’t tend to keep up with it 
but if someone wants to, they’re welcome to. The thread is a space where people can think aloud about ideas if that’s the stage they’re at; there’s also room for more fleshed-out concepts. I see it as flexible - the criteria is that people can post ideas there, however developed, that don’t have a WIP thread with a demo.
Except it’s nothing like a thumbs up/down button; it’s literally a button asking a question that can be easily answered and quantified. I also did mention it not necessarily being required, but perhaps encouraged as it could be useful to anyone who wants it (reader or author alike).
If someone doesn’t write it because of a lack of interest, that’s nothing against them or their idea; that’s just people in the community expressing interest/lack thereof. Nothing’s stopping someone from writing their idea regardless except for themselves. Again, this is also part of why “suggesting” polls was in the original post, not necessarily requiring them.
I don’t think it would give you any useful information. You can gauge the “not interested” through other means. For example, you can note the number of views that the thread had before you posted, then compare it with the number of views you have after. You can subtract the number of likes/ replies from (views from the moment of inspecting - views before inspected) and you have the “interested people ratio”. Alternatively, you can compare how many likes your post gets vs the most popular vs the ones who actually have a WIP.
Asking if people are not interested will not yield a response from the people who are not actually interested, because they are not interested enough to respond 
. Also, you have to take into account that this forum is leaning more on the positive side, so people will tend to not say anything than say something negative.
I’ve learned that around here at least, silence is the best indicator that people are not interested and activity is a pretty good indicator that people are (if it’s negative feedback, it’s even better because it means that the ones responding are invested enough to let you know what does not work for them).
That doesn’t count the “we’ll see when/if the demo comes out” group though. Not that the poll would, either.