Polls

Info

This feature comes with the livechat plugin version 10.2.0.

Create a poll

You can create a new poll by using the “Create a new poll” action in the chat top menu:

$Screenshot of a “Create a new poll” form. The form contains\nseveral fields: question, duration, choices,\n…$ $Screenshot of a “Create a new poll” form. The form contains\nseveral fields: question, duration, choices,\n…$

Warning

This poll feature should not be considered as a reliable voting system. It is easy to cheat. There is no mechanism to prevent anonymous users to vote multiple times by just reloading the chat. Votes are never fully anonymous, someone having access to the server could see who voted for what choice.

Poll form

Fill the form fields:

“Question”: the question to ask to you viewers
“Poll duration (in minutes)”: the duration for which viewers can vote
“Anonymous results”: if checked, votes won’t be publicly visible in the chat
“Choice N”: choices that will be presented to viewers

You must at least fill the two first choices fields.

Once you submit the form, the poll will instantly start.

If there was a previous unfinished poll, it will end and its result will be shown.

Access rights

Every room’s admins can create a new poll.

When you promote someone as room admin or owner, they gets instant access to the “Create a new poll” action.

When you remove admin or owner rights to someone, they can’t create new poll. But any existing poll will continue until it ends.

Every user that is not muted can vote. This means that you can prevent anonymous users to vote by using the “Mute anonymous users” feature.

Poll workflow

When the polls starts, a first message will be sent in the chat, from the account of the user creating the poll.

A banner will also appear to show the poll, and will be updated regularly with the current votes.

$Screenshot of a chat session. In the chat, there is a message with the\npoll question, and the different choices. There is also a banner on the top\nof the chat, where you can see the question, and the number of votes for\neach\nanswers.$ $Screenshot of a chat session. In the chat, there is a message with the\npoll question, and the different choices. There is also a banner on the top\nof the chat, where you can see the question, and the number of votes for\neach\nanswers.$

Viewers can then vote by clicking on their choice, or by sending message like “!1” in the chat.

Votes counts will be updated regularly in the banner.

Viewers can change their vote at any time, just by making a new choice. Their precedent choice will be replaced by the new one.

$Screenshot of a chat session, with an ongoing poll. The current user has\njust voted by sending\n“!1”.$ $Screenshot of a chat session, with an ongoing poll. The current user has\njust voted by sending\n“!1”.$

Tip

Anonymous viewers can only vote once they have choosen their nickname.

If “Anonymous results” is checked, votes won’t be shown to other users. If unchecked, votes will be publicly visible as you will see message like “!1” in the chat.

Info

For viewers using XMPP clients or outdated livechat plugin versions, the banner will not be visible. But they will see the message in the chat and will be able to vote by sending messages with their choices.

When the poll ends, a new message will be sent in the chat, with the results.

$Screenshot of a chat session, with poll that has ended. The banner no more\naccept new votes. There is a message in the chat with the poll results. For\neach choice, there is the number of votes, and the percentage of the total\nit\nrepresents.$ $Screenshot of a chat session, with poll that has ended. The banner no more\naccept new votes. There is a message in the chat with the poll results. For\neach choice, there is the number of votes, and the percentage of the total\nit\nrepresents.$

Info

The only way to get old polls results is to search for the poll end message in the chat. For now, polls results are not saved by any other means. So don’t forget to note polls results if you want to keep them.