Polls for the threads.

[King Henry V]

Now that we have an entire forum for interactive histories and its variants, I propose what has been suggested a long time ago but dismissed because the y would clutter up the forum. I say that we should be allowed to open polls on what the continuation of the history should be, with the author's proposed options plus any that may have been suggested by other members. A period of discussion would take place in each of the threads before the poll is opened. Each would then be stickied (so as not to confuse people with the past polls) and run for a certain period, say three days. After the third day, the poll would close and the thread unstickied.
Now that we have an entire forum for the histories, the argument that all the polls would clutter up the forum is made null and void, IMO. Off course, if the authors do not want to open polls they should not be forced to do so, but they have the right if they wish to excersice it.

[Kraxis]

Hm... Very much a possibility, and I see no reasons not to. Though I will advise against the use for all but the most popular stories.

[Ludens]

I don't see much reason for this. The current system works, doesn't it? Also, polls are fixed. This means you can't add options, so the author has to wait with posting his poll until the players have had a chance to propose an alternative option. It also means you cannot change your choice, something I do quite often. Off course, I could post a message in the poll thread announcing my change of mind, but then the author has to scan all posts to get the corrected outcome, which somewhat defeats the point of turning into a poll in the first place. Lastly, one of the aspects I like most about IH is the discussion between the story-points, so I see no need to transfer this to another thread for the sake of a poll. That is just my preference, however.

[King Henry V]

I don't see much reason for this. The current system works, doesn't it? Also, polls are fixed. This means you can't add options, so the author has to wait with posting his poll until the players have had a chance to propose an alternative option. It also means you cannot change your choice, something I do quite often.
That is why there should be a round of preliminary discussions before the poll is posted, so that any options that players have proposed can be added to the poll and so that they have time to change their minds in the interim.
The main reason for a poll is because most of threads' rules are that first one/three/five etc people to post get to decide the outcome of the story. So if say, two people have already given their answer and you want to add your vote to the outcome, you might make a decision that is too hurried, perhaps without reading the author's post properly and the different options.
Still, its only a thought.

[Franconicus]

I like the idea!