Surveys, Polls, and Other Interruptions

Surveys, Polls, and Other Interruptions

Email Surveys

I get a constant stream of email surveys from businesses that I have used. The surveys usually start with something like "would you recommend this business to a friend?". That indicates to me is that all that they care about is sales, not improving their product. Furthermore, what I want is not necessarily what my friends want. Delete.

If still going, I will start answering the questions, each one rating some aspect of their product/service. These aspects rarely get to the things that I care about. After about ten - Delete.

If still going, maybe they offer me the option to write something. If not - Delete.

So now I can give them some useful information. If I still care about the business, I will take some time to answer. I wonder if they will read my answer.

Phone Polls

I get calls regularly that are polls. My answer - "I don't do polls" and hang up.

To politicians who use these polls - tell me your positions and I will vote for you or not. Don't choose your positions based on polls. My big issue with politicians is that when they say something to me, it is them telling me what they think I want to hear. I want to know what they really think. Well, another big issue is stupidity.

To news services that use polls that are biased with leading questions to push a narrative - I'm not participating.

Twitter

And on a related topic. To news services that use Twitter to judge public opinion - I don't use Twitter and I don't care what people who do use Twitter think.

Spam Phone Calls

I am not selling my house to you. And I do not want you to turn my web page into the kind of garbage that most web pages have become.

Web Pages

And speaking of web pages - if I am looking at your web page on my phone, that likely means that I do not want to use your app. Please stop annoying me with nag screens that ask me to use your app.

And to the European Union - your requirement that web pages nag me about whether to allow cookies is far more annoying than the cookies. Why couldn't you have requested a small browser switch that lets people choose to allow or disallow cookies, saved for each URL. My search for relief found this Firefox browser add-on - "I Still Don't Care About Cookies". It doesn't look optimal but it might lower my stress level a bit.