While intellectually I'm interested in the results of this poll, I agree with what was said above. It's simply better not to get into this type of stuff as ultimately it will detract from the value of this site. As such, I've flagged this and I encourage others to do the same.

Well, even though it died, I think it managed to get interesting numbers. Overall, looks like nothing got out of hand.

I considered whether it would be inflammatory, but figured it was different than an article, where the interaction takes the form of discussion thus potentially leading to flame wars if the issue is controversial. Here, the interaction is mainly about voting, and people will feel less of a need to make their voice heard through comments.

So being curious, I decided to take the risk.

So far seems ok. If not, just flag it, and some mod will kill the thing.

It's not like we haven't done it before. We usually chat for a while, people complain, and then either it is zapped or we move on.

It's interesting to me to see how the influx of newbies will deal with the topic. It's a sociological/social networking question, which makes it interesting for hackers. Will the new group play by the older group's rules? Will the newcomers complain more about it "not being HN" than the old farts? Will the newbies pull the oldies out into discussion, or the other way around? Will folks who post regular science-vs-church articles participate here or pass?

But I can certainly agree that it can get out of control. What can I say? I like danger in small doses. This afternoon is kinda slow anyway.

Looks like it went ok.

As long as Pandora's Box comes in the form of a poll and defined carefully within some scope of intelligence, this case it's HN, then I say go ahead and open it; the people of the community are always the ones that make-up whatever it's contents are, which are always interesting nonetheless.

I'm sorry I have to disagree with the fundamental assumption of your argument.

Polls like this one attract new people and change the community.

Any one article will not profoundly change HN, but a steady stream will over time do just that.

And then HN will not be interesting any more.

Damn straight. Convinced me to sign up.