My PS username was Jolteon∞XVII for a while, but now it's Jolteon∞Electrify. I'm a Lobby voice, so with that said I'd like to focus on a suggestion that's specifically about the poll system. As a user who is very fond of the poll system in general and who tries to take full advantage of it often, I think there are a few things that could make polls more efficient for staff members and users. I have three main proposals/suggestions. Whoever is reading this, just a few moments of your time would be appreciated. I apologize for the lengthy suggestion post.
POLL SUGGEST COMMAND/LOBBY EXP. (LOBBY EXP. IS OPTIONAL CONSIDERATION)
FIRSTLY, I think there should be a PM command specifically for suggesting polls. Something along the lines of "/poll suggest [poll question, option 1, option 2, etc...]". As an avid user of the poll system, a lot of the times I find myself getting the "your message was too long" pop-up in PM whenever I wanted to add a twist or make my poll a little more interesting for users. Sometimes I like to even add a little humor, but I understand that polls are probably meant to be kept brief and simple (mostly anyway)--it still doesn't hurt to consider it I suppose. A small change like that can make a big difference in poll efficiency. This command would, in hindsight, bypass the abrupt "your message was too long" pop-up. There could also be an OPTIONAL extension to this command that gives the staff member who the user suggested the poll to an option to either approve it, reject it or for the user to simply reword it. Upon approval, the poll is automatically sent to the staff member in poll format.
OPTIONAL LOBBY EXP. - I would also like to add my personal Lobby experiences-and probably other Lobby voices who may feel similar-in this thread. Sometimes, Lobby desperately needs a topic because it can quickly and sometimes easily get derailed. And from my experiences of being in Lobby, I can confidently say that polls definitely help add some substance as well as positive, engaging and sometimes thought-provoking conversation. I cannot speak for Lobby staff, but maybe they'd appreciate users being as productive as possible. So getting polls posted as fast as possible would be a great thing for Lobby chat.
SECONDLY, maybe there could be some kind of poll command that only works for room-staff. In a sense, it would act as the "/away" command that blocks PMs and challenges, but this command would work for polls only. Since I do suggest polls pretty often, sometimes I feel a bit abrasive and bothersome to staff (my condolences Foxxy and Flying Kebab) because I ask them multiple times if they are accepting polls. In some ways, having to do this can be inconvenient (especially for global staff who watch over multiple rooms). With that said, this command would have to be contingent with my first suggestion. If a user utilizes the "/poll suggest" command in PM, then they'd get a pop-up message with their poll stating something like, "this staff member isn't accepting polls at this time." There could be another variation of the command for staff members to use that's along the lines of "/poll away, [specify time limit for away status]". That way users would get a pop-up with the amount of time left until a staff member starts accepting polls again.
THIRDLY (COULD BE CONTINGENT WITH THE 2ND SUGG.), this command would work with the staff "/poll away" command that the room-staff would have access to, or it can really be its own standalone command. Users could pull up a list of staff members who are currently accepting polls. For example, say if Flying Kebab had his status set to "/poll here" or something of the sort, then the list would display his name along with other staff who are currently accepting polls after the user typed something such as "/poll staff" to see who is currently accepting. That way a user would know before hand to not PM a staff member to ask about polls.
This is all assuming that users will actually utilize the poll suggest features. All of this could prove to be more complex than simple, but I still wage efficiency over anything else. However, I am confident that PS has the ability to actively and efficiently have ways to inform users of a new change to a prominent, successful server-wide system. Users are always asking about polls and it just takes us to pull up quick, simple FAQ articles. If you read to the end, then thank you for your time.
