There was a proposal made on 2009-03-10 that was discussed through a week and about 50 posts before Reggie executed the changes. You might argue that was a short period of time. Fair enough. On the othr hand if you follow the posters and the thanks you see that most of the usual suspects had a say, so it looked like having reached a critical mass for a change. No votes, but no huge discussion either. There were many opinions and the original proposal evolved to integrate them. I notice this is the opposite approach you have: throw a poll first and discuss after. Well, in my experience discussion helps to reach consensus while polls tend to stress divisions and polarize the debate. This is why I think voting is a last resort for making community decisions, not the first one. of those other two polls, around 75 user / 150 users voted. How many of them voiced their opinion in the thread?? Not 75/150, So poll numbers help shore up and support positions and give validity to people opinions. In fact if you look at the thread, the opinions appear pretty evenly matched, while the polls show quite a different outcome. It's like in this poll. You say "I don't have an answer, I only post to you my problem as I see it." but in fact you do have an answer and quite clear. The poll is a means for you to know how much support you get for that answer: "I want my advocates "Maemo Community Council" to promote important issues up to the community for discussion in a consistent manner in a consistent location." (2h after opening the poll) You could have started with the proposal you actually have in mind asking for feedback to contest it or improve it.