Important update to our rules regarding polls

Hey, everybody - I hate to have to do this, because it's not the fault of any regular users on this sub, but rather because of Reddit's own bad systems for how poll posts and spoiler flairs work, but going forward, we have to make a rule change.

See, look at this. This is what a spoiler-flaired poll post looks like if, like me, you're still using the desktop Old Reddit interface. Can't see a thing inside the post, so you don't have to worry about spoilers of any kind unless you actually make the effort to click into the post. Cool.

Now look at this. This is the exact same post being viewed on the New page, except on the redesigned "New Reddit" interface they're so damn proud of. As you can see, thanks to some design dipshittery, the spoiler flair no longer does a friggin' thing to block the contents of the poll, so any spoilers included in it are just plainly visible to anyone browsing the page.

For this subreddit's Weekly Poll posts, we use Strawpoll, a really useful site that's been around much longer than Reddit's own poll-making system. So, before I get to explaining the new rule change, here's why you should use Strawpoll instead of Reddit's poll system:

• Reddit limits you to only six options at most on a poll. Strawpoll doesn't. Because of this, you regularly see people here having to split their poll threads for something like "favourite finale episode" into, say, one poll for the six mainline games' options, and then another one for the spinoff games.

• Reddit doesn't let you check the current standings of a poll without voting in it. Strawpoll does. No offence to anyone, but I kinda groan every time I see somebody make a poll here and use the sixth option as "check results", because selecting that option counts as your vote, so you can't make an actual choice in the vote anymore after having picked it. It's a waste of an option slot and it'll waste the votes of loads of people checking out the poll.

• Reddit forces you to have a time limit on a poll's availability. Strawpoll doesn't. Simple enough.

Strawpoll is just better than Reddit's poll system on every front to begin with, and then there's that whole thing about spoilers. So, unless Reddit fixes their shit and makes spoilered polls properly hide their options on all versions of the site's interface, we're going to have to instate a rule change going forward, amending our existing rule about polls.

Starting now, poll threads must be made using Strawpoll, rather than Reddit's own poll system.

I know it's annoying, and it's going to be inconvenient for some people, but frankly, a person occasionally being inconvenienced by having to spend an extra minute making a Strawpoll instead of using Reddit's more limited and spoiler-prone poll system is a lot better than continuing to have people posting spoilers, minor or major, that people just unavoidably see as they're scrolling down the page.

You can embed a Strawpoll in a post here using the regular "post link" function and using your poll's share link.