Voronwe, in general I agree--there were definitely too many polls for a while there!--but I think they can be useful at times. For example, I'm pretty sure Ethel wasn't the only person surprised by the very strong support for opening the board that was revealed by one of these polls.
The reason I started this one is because it was more or less promised that the issue of invites would be revisited around April 1. This poll thread has provided a chance to discuss it and has also, so far, indicated that there is
not broad support for reopening invitations. That is useful information, I think.
This is also a painfully important issue for some people. A discussion thread can feel inconclusive and may even give a distorted impression of the prevailing opinion. A vote count is hard to dispute.
And--need I say it?--we can't really
have a vote that means anything. No rules yet, no constitution. . . .