Gawker: Poll

What Should America Steal From British English?

Ryan Tate — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:22:42 EST

The Economist ran a fascinating (and popular) poll of British readers, asking which "Americanisms" they use. Many, it turns out, have taken to saying "apartment" instead of "flat" and "sidewalk" instead of "pavement." So let's flip it around: Which dreadful Americanisms would you trade for something from the mother country? More »

What Would It Take For You to Leave Facebook?

Adrian Chen — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:26:10 EDT

As you know, Facebook has been waging an extended war on your privacy: How bad would it have to get for you to quit Facebook? Please "like" our Facebook page and answer this question on our Facebook wall. [Facebook.com] More »

Event of the Year Showdown: Apple Tablet vs. Lost vs. Obama

Ryan Tate — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:57:09 EST

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In the span of one week, Steve Jobs will unveil an Apple tablet; ABC will premiere the final season of Lost; and some guy named Barack Obama will address the "State of the Union." Which event will make your year? More »

20 Percent of America Wants to Impeach Obama Right Now

Maureen O'Connor — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:18:03 EST

Corollary: 20 percent of America does not know what an impeachable offense is. "There may be a certain segment of voters... that simply think the president doing things they don't agree with is grounds for removal from office." [WashIndy] More »

Pick the Best New York Tabloid Flyby Fronts

John Cook — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:48:48 EDT

New York's tabloids are in high dudgeon over yesterday's Air Force One flyby. Who got the best headline and front-page out of it? More »

Hillary Clinton Asks You to Pick Your Poison

John Cook — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:40:50 EDT

Hillary Clinton is holding a contest to sucker people into paying her debt to Mark Penn. You can choose a prize, including a not-creepy-at-all day with Bill Clinton. We ask, which is the most bearable? More »

Bernie Madoff Is Your Most Loathsome Financial Villain

John Cook — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:06:43 EDT

You've disappointed us, but we shall abide by the will of the People: Bernard Madoff won our poll to identify the face of the New Depression with 29% of the vote. More »

There's Still Time to Vote in Our Most Loathsome Poll!

John Cook — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:54:35 EDT

Bernie Madoff is leading our Most Loathsome Financial Villain poll, but there's still time for second-place Alan Greenspan to make a comeback. Go vote for your candidate! More »

Pick the Most Loathsome Financial Villain

John Cook — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:59:07 EDT

The New Depression rolls on and those overpaid AIG failures are this week's target for populist wrath. But do you hate them more than last week's villains? Embrace your hate and vote in our poll. More »

No One Follows the News

Gabriel Snyder — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:13:03 EDT

Most shocking finding in this poll? 76% of Americans have no opinion of Bernie Madoff. More »

Do the Obamas Get a Class-Resentment Pass for Their White House Soirées?

Pareene — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:06:04 EST

The Obamas are just like us: drinking through this recession, at home! Well, not entirely like us. They're all wearing fancy clothes and they have jobs and Steve Wonder is there. More »

Rahm Emanuel Is Your New Obama Hottie

Owen Thomas — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:59:09 EST

Amazing what people fetishize these days: Gray hair, dark circles under the eyes, average-at-best height, a missing middle finger? Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, beat conventionally gorgeous policy advisor Melody Barnes in our poll. More »

What Did You Think of Obama's Speech?

Owen Thomas — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:26:47 EST

Barack Obama has given your speech. Now have your say: How did his words strike you? More »

Pick Your Favorite Obama Hottie

Owen Thomas — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:15:24 EST

Tina Brown writes that the incoming Obama administration promises a restoration of intellectualism to the center of American life. In honor of her thesis, we present the official Obama Hotties poll. More »

Gawker's Golden Globe Poll

Gabriel Snyder — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:53:02 EST

The Golden Globes will be decided by 83 well-fed junketeers of the HFPA who are idiots. So, why not vote in the Gawker Golden Globe Poll before you start throwing things at your TV? More »

The Gawker Exit Poll

Gabriel Snyder — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:33:33 EST

For once, the exit polling consortium seems to have kept a pretty tight lid on the exit poll numbers (so far!) that first raised and then dashed the hopes of so many John Kerry voters in 2004. But there's no reason that your vote can't be counted in an entirely unreliable tally. Below, tell us how you voted today, and be sure to come back at 7pm for our liveblog and coverage of the election results. More »

The First Presidential Debate

Nick Denton — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:01:33 EDT

The talking-head consensus seems to be that John McCain showed authority as the debate turned to foreign policy. But Barack Obama "held his own." I reckon the Democratic candidate-intent on demonstrating his foreign policy knowledge and dropping names of hard-to-pronounce foreign leaders- missed several opportunities to turn the discussion back to the domestic economy and score. When McCain waxed lyrical about the great social and economic progress in Iraq, Obama could have asked him: what about social and economic progress back home? John McCain sounded sometimes as if he were running for president of Iraq, not the United States. A bolder opponent would have exposed that vulnerability. But enough of what I think. What about you? More »

The Suspension Of John McCain's Campaign

Nick Denton — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:28:06 EDT

McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt is a risk taker and a brilliant manipulator of the news cycle. The Rove acolyte's two biggest gambles—a delay in the Republican Convention in deference to an approaching hurricane and the selection of camera-magnet Sarah Palin as running mate—both distracted the media and the public from John McCain's weaknesses as a presidential candidate. One can assume he's behind the "suspension" of the Republican nominee's campaign. Will it allow McCain to skip an otherwise dangerous debate this Friday night while claiming he's putting country first? Here's an instant poll. Suspend your political bias but not your judgment. More »

How do you feel about Facebook's redesign?

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Facebook users are on a forced march to the "New Facebook" redesign starting today. I IM'd a friend of mine who doesn't work in tech to see what he thinks. His answer: "The single webpage was much cooler. Now with these tabs and all, it's harder to find things." Clearly, my pal's not on board with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plan to turn Facebook into a "social operating system" — and to be an "operating system," you need dropdown menus and tabs and other whizbang features. (Let me beat all the engineers to the punch — no, Facebook is nothing like an actual OS. If it were like an actual OS, it would crash more.) Zuckerberg's grandiose ambitions aside, I like the new design because it makes sharing video, photos and messages with my friends that much easier. Also, it hides annoying widgets. I figure that people are whining about it because nobody likes change. But that's just one man's opinion. Take our poll below and let Zuckerberg know how you feel. More »

Who should play Zuckerberg in a Facebook movie?

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:00:00 EDT

"West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin is still in the research phase of his Facebook: The Movie project, but we thought Valleywag's readers could help cast the lead role. Take your pick from our list, below. More »

Lock In Your Vote for Hottest Guy in Book Publishing

Sheila — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:01:27 EDT

We're still taking votes for our Hottest Man in Book Publishing poll. The winner will get to pose for a classy-not-trashy glamorshot (if he consents.) The two top vote-getters at the moment? Here they are, girls: Matt, on the left, is a trade sales coordinator at Penguin. Nathan in the orange shirt is a San Francisco literary agent. But there are eight other eligible contestants! The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy, or whatever. [Vote here!] More »

Vote for the Hottest Guy of Book Publishing 2008

Sheila — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:06:21 EDT

Back this summer by popular demand, we've got ten straight book-publishing gentlemen lined up for you to vote on! The winner will receive the "Gawker Hottest Straight Guy of Book Publishing 2008" title for an entire year. (Last year's winner? Luke Janklow!) If the winner consents, we'll take a classy glamorshot of him for his winning post. After the jump, we've got little bios for our book publishing boys. Vote! More »

Finding the worst-entry level job in tech: Round Two

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EDT

We're on to Round Two in our worst-tech-job contest. We've whittled down 10 terrible gigs down to five:

Follow the link for each job to see a picture of their locations, a list of key responsibilities, first hand accounts of why each job is so bad and how much they pay. Then, come back here and vote, below. More »

Pick your career poison: temporary Google database admin vs. IODA intern

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:40:00 EDT

The last matchup in this round of our worst-job tournament: temporary database administrator for Google, contracted through WorkforceLogic, vs. content acquisition intern, IODA. Given the compensation disparity between these jobs — IODA doesn't pay its interns, while WorkforceLogic reportedly pay database admins as much as $70,000 — it seems like a no-brainer. Remember, though, just because WorkforceLogic will deploy you to the Googleplex, that doesn't mean you'll ever be a real Googler. Not to the Stanford and Harvard grads munching on their Bacon Krispy Kreme burgers. At least at IODA, you'll deserve the scorn heaped on you by the paid wage slaves. Pick the worse fate, below. More »

Yahoo proxy ballots are out; early results are here

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Enough with the letters. It's time to vote. On Monday, Yahoo mailed out ballots for its upcoming board election, for which corporate raider Carl Icahn has proposed an alternative slate — one that will do his bidding and attempt to resuscitate merger talks with Microsoft. Yahoo also said it plans to spend $12 million campaigning for its board. Anyone who has owned Yahoo shares since before June 3 is eligible to vote online, via toll-free number or by snail mail. Yahoo will announce the results on August 1 at its annual shareholder meeting. By why wait till then? Review the pros and cons for each side and then vote your Valleywag proxy below. More »

Pick your career poison: Facebook user operations analyst vs. MySpace customer support specialist

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:40:00 EDT

He won't sell, but can Mark Zuckerberg successfully carry Facebook through to an IPO? That's what the latest matchup in our tournament to find tech's worst entry-level job comes down to. Otherwise, the key responsibilities for Facebook's user operations analysts and MySpace customer support specialists are very similar. Even the pay is roughly the same. A tipster tells us Facebook pays its customer service reps $34,500 per year — though that number might be higher now that Facebook stopped handing $600/mo. housing subsidies. Readers figure MySpace pays $37,000. So what's it going to be? The slightly lower-paying job at the risky startup with higher upside or a gig at News Corp.'s shiniest Web toy? Vote in our poll below. More »

Pick your career poison: Part-time Mahalo guide vs. Pete Cashmore's personal assistant

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:20:00 EDT

The class of 2008 has already begun to realize the tragedy of actually having to work for a living. Cheer up, kiddos; it could be worse. You could be employed, part-time, cutting and pasting Google search results for Jason Calacanis's Mahalo. Or you could serve as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore's personal assistant — the entry-level gigs facing off in our third matchup to determine the worst job in tech. Vote below. More »

Pick your career poison: Microsoft customer support vs. Yahoo finance intern

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:20:00 EDT

Its time for the second match in our single-elimination tournament to find the worst entry-level job in tech. In our first poll, the drudgery of working as a Google online sales and operations manager narrowly edged out the perils of being an Amazon.com support engineer, 53 percent to 47 percent. Today's contest: Getting paid by Microsoft to take angry calls from Vista users all day, vs. fetching coffee in Yahoo's finance operations. Making the contest even harder: If Carl Icahn has his way, both might soon find their paychecks signed by Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell. Vote below. More »

Pick your career poison: Google online sales and operations manager vs. Amazon.com support engineer

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:00:00 EDT

We picked the ten worst entry-level jobs in tech. Now, in a single-elimination tournament, we're going to let you choose which gig is truly the worst. Round one begins with Amazon.com support engineers versus Google online sales and operations account managers. We'll let your fellow readers advise you before you choose: More »

Guess how much tech's 10 worst jobs pay

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT

To come up with the estimated pay for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs we spoke to former and current employees, HR reps and friends of friends working these jobs. But still, some of our commenters expressed disbelief over the salary estimates. "80 grand for an entry level job? Time to apply and kick those whiney losers out! Let's see how they feel about their new job bagging groceries at the Safeway," wrote mwbeeler. Loakim said:

Boo fucking hoo. I clicked through about 4 of those and if they are representative, then getting paid 60-70K right out of college at an "entry" level job is nothing to complain about, regardless of the "tough" working conditions (ceiling too low? CSR work? no windows? cubicle? oh the torture!!). I spent half my life to get a Ph.D. and will barely be making that as an asst professor at a major research university.

We like our estimates, but we're willing to bow to the wisdom of the crowd, or the madness thereof. Save for IODA's unpaid internship — no point in guessing there — we've created a poll for each job. Take your best guess. More »

What should Max Levchin do with his forgotten $100,000?

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:20:00 EDT

Before PayPal and Slide founder Max Levchin moved from Illinois to Palo Alto in 1998, he'd started three companies and sold the last for $100,000 — not a tiny amount of money, especially for a young entrepreneur. But after selling PayPal to eBay for $1.54 billion, these days Levchin is worth around $100 million. Six figures no longer merit that much of his attention. It's such a paltry amount that in Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, Sarah Lacy reports Levchin actually forgot about the money until 2006. "In just four years," Lacy writes, "$100,000 would go from being unfathomable riches to pocket change." Levchin is no longer interested in the purchasing power of money, but we are. So let the young multi-millionaire know how he should spend that $100,000 in "pocket change" in our poll. More »

Tech's worst workspace: Mozilla

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:20:00 EDT

What's so bad about Mozilla's Toronto workspace? Besides the fluorescent lighting, the colorless white walls and the folding tables, the worst thing about Mozilla's Toronto workspace is how we're sure management would improve it. With corporate graffiti, company logos and too many colors. That was management's trick at Facebook and look where readers ranked it in our poll on tech's ten worst workspaces — as tech's second-worst workspace, just after Mozilla. Check out the full list, below. More »

Last chance to vote for tech's worst digs

Owen Thomas — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Don't miss your chance to vote for the worst workspace in tech. The poll closes at noon Pacific, at which point we'll announce a winner. More »

Rank tech's 10 worst workspaces

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 EDT

After reviewing our post "The 10 worst workspaces in tech," commenter AdmNaismith described Facebook's office, pictured above, as "foggy, dank, dim, and utterly depressing." Commenter mothra1 hated Yahoo's New York offices more: "They suck! Lifeless and impersonal. Kinda like the douchebags who still actually work there." Meanwhile, Adobe apologist BlairHapjo told us we "clearly didn't get past Adobe's lobby," and the rest of the office features "Aeron chairs, real offices (with doors!), big picture windows." For us, the worst offices we found on Office Snapshots and elsewhere were the the ones that try too hard to seem Internet-hip, like Jajah and Google. Now it's time to settle the disputes. Below, vote for your least favorite and help us rank tech's 10 most dismal places to work: More »

Last chance to vote for tech's best digs

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:40:00 EDT

Be sure to vote for the best workspace in tech. The poll closes at noon Pacific, at which point we'll announce a winner, and then launch voting for the worst workspace in tech. Review the contenders now. More »

Google and the seven dwarfs

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Google's collection of Web properties somtimes seem unconnected and disorganized. But there's a common thread between Print Ads, Audio Ads, TV Ads, Checkout, YouTube, Postini and DoubleClick. Can you guess what it is? More »

Rank tech's 10 best workspaces

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

After reviewing our post "Tech's top 10 workspaces" commenter Dweezil complained that our choices were full of "to much modernism bullshit." Commenter Web2PointOhShit tore at everybody: More »

Our favorite Google-owned domain name is bayareaburritos.com — what's yours?

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Google owns 9,984 domain names. Our favorite is bayareaburritos.com, but More »

Comcast chickens out of FCC hearings at Stanford

Jackson West — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:20:00 EDT

Superlawyer Lawrence Lessig won't have Comcast to kick around at the FCC hearing on network neutrality — the principle that broadband providers can't discriminate against certain kinds of Internet traffic — being held at Stanford tomorrow. The event was only scheduled after Comcast paid chumps to fill chairs at an earlier hearing at Harvard in an obvious effort to squelch debate. With Comcast working with BitTorrent and just today joining with legal file-sharing startup Pando to work on a "bill of rights" for file sharers and ISPs, the company is trying to make voluntary moves in an effort to stave off involuntary regulation. I was planning on attending, if only because it promised to be an entertaining nerdfight — now, I'm not so sure. Since public hearings are supposedly democracy in action, you tell me if I should bother buying a Caltrain ticket. More »