The 'Shroom:Issue 124/Poll Chairperson Address

Poll Committee Discussion Written by:, , and

 Hello, everyone! This is your new Poll Committee Chairperson, here. Before I start, I'd like to thank everyone who voted not just for me, but for my running mate as well; it makes me very glad to see such an outpouring of support and confidence in our ideals, and we will do our best to live up to all of your expectations. Being a member of the Seventh Poll Committee was a blast, therefore I'd like to thank all of its members for being fun to work with and helping everybody out, even if I was only present for part of the term. You guys were all great!

As stated in the Poll Committee application topic posted on the forums last Friday, this year will be overall a much busier year for the Committee. We'll be tackling two big projects -- an analysis of the Awards Ceremony polls and community surveys -- this year, along with our traditional polls, where we will strive to maintain their high quality. As such, we called for eight members to join the Committee this year, and I must say, our turnout was significantly higher than expected; we received a grand total of 14 applications, a record high for the Poll Committee! While seeing such enthusiasm for the Committee was a welcome sight, it also unfortunately meant we had no choice but to reject some applicants. It was a difficult decision for Tucayo and I to make, but we're confident we have selected the best possible makeup of the Committee for this year.

Without further ado, it's time to introduce the members of the Eighth Poll Committee! The Committee for this year will be...
 *  (Chairperson) (Forum profile)
 *  (Vice-Chairperson) (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)
 * (Forum profile)

Congratulations to everyone selected, and a huge thank you to everyone who applied! We hope to have an excellent year together!

Year in Review
We entered the cycle with many plans, and I am proud to say we executed each one of them and we got tangible results from all.This Committee brought to you a grand total of 55 polls, in line with our commitment to bring you one new poll each week (and a couple more).

Guest submissions
One of the main projects that we had going into the year was to make it simpler for users and visitors to submit their poll ideas; previously, ideas had to be sent to the Chairperson via forum PM, which meant only people with an account in the forums would be able to suggest polls. As of August 2016, we added a link below our template in the Main Page that takes to a where users can easily submit their ideas. Over the course of the cycle we received more than 200 guest submissions, of which some made it to the Main Page. I am optimistic this feature will continue to be built upon in order to improve it and receive even more quality ideas.

Wiki Polls
Our polls average around 2,100 votes per week, which makes for a great way to get information that can be used to improve the wiki and its areas; with this in mind, we started monthly Community/Wiki Polls, aimed at getting a mass insight into subjects ranging from how many of our visitors read The 'Shroom, to their activity in other NIWA wikis. One of these polls was the poll with the second most votes this cycle. Lord Bowser has great plans on this front, so stay tuned for that!

Banner
On August 2016, it came to our attention that our Polls page was one of few main project hubs not to have a banner, after weeks of brainstorming and discussion, The Pyro Guy created for us. And a few months later he went on and updated the banner to the one you could see from March 2017: This gives the Poll Committee a much more prominent visual identity, which is vital to every project. I want to thank TPG for his amazing banners.

Poll Committee Discussion
For our dedicated 'Shroom section, we continued the procedure established by the Sixth Poll Committee, in which members rotated each month to write the section. I am proud to say the members of this Committee got a collective five SOTM awards, as well as one nomination for Staff SOTM. I dare say PC Discussion has cemented itself as a standard of Pipe Plaza and I look forward to seeing how it continues to develop!

And that's all on my end, I want to wish Lord Bowser the best for his term, I know it will be a great year for the Poll Committee! Take it from here, Andy!

Recent Polls
I can hardly believe another year with the Committee has passed. Two whole years ago, I was running against Packy for Chairman – which feels like yesterday – and now my second term with this project has come to a close. On the day of this issue's release, and  will take the reins of the Eighth Poll Committee. Leading the Committee for two years – from Vice-Chairman to Chairman back to Vice–Chairman again – has been my greatest pride here on MarioWiki, and I am confident that the new Committee will have as much success as Packy, Tucky, and I had.

I would like to lead off with the year's final Poll Analysis. Thank you all for supporting us!

Analysis
'''How long have you been visiting the MarioWiki for? –''' MarioWiki visitors clearly tend to stick around. The vast majority of visitors have been using the site for more than two years, while only 5% of voters reported visiting the MarioWiki for the first time. 480 voters have been visiting this site for more than 8 years! I can only think of a few MarioWiki veterans that have stuck around for so long, so I am shocked to find that so many unregistered users have been using MarioWiki for such an extended amount of time. Time to finally make an account, guys?

'''Which new Nintendo game announced at E3 are you most excited for? –' This poll was expected to have bias due to the question being asked to MarioWiki users, who evidently are more likely to favor Mario'' games over other games. Naturally, users gave the only Mario game in the poll, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the most votes. Sushi Striker was a borderline joke option, and it received just about as many votes as we expected, at less than 1%.

'''What is your opinion on the newly revealed Rabbids crossover game? –''' Merging the universe of the perpetually sugar-high Rabbids with the relatively controlled Mario was an unusual decision. When tallied, 1,531 voters expressed interest in buying the game, while 890 voters expressed disinterest in the game, with 297 undecided voters. While visitors are usually excited for a new Mario game, the somewhat high number of disinterested voters suggests that this game's premise seemed a bit too odd for most people.

Ports and remakes on the Switch – Voters enthusiastically hope for a sort of Virtual Console on the Switch, perhaps even porting GameCube games finally. And why not? After all, only because of Virtual Console was I able to play classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario 64 while being in the new generation that grew up with a Wii. While I also own a GameCube, the younger fans will most likely not, and without Virtual Console, it will be hard for them to experience incredible games like Super Mario Sunshine. Like most voters, I am a staunch supporter of the service.

That's all the analysis for the year! Thank you for reading this month's Poll Committee Discussion. Next month's writer has yet to be decided, as a new rotation has yet to be formed. Thanks for reading, and good luck to the Eighth Poll Committee!