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SodaHead FAQ Answers

General

What is a SodaHead

SodaHeads are registered users of the site. You can bookmark or connect with other users by marking them as your SodaHead. The identity of the original SodaHead remains unknown.

Why should I add SodaHeads to my profile

Adding SodaHeads to your profile makes contacting, interacting or following them quick and easy. It also gives them certain privileges to interact with you.

How do I add a SodaHead to my favorites?

You can request to add someone to your list of SodaHeads by viewing the user's profile page and clicking the "Add SodaHead" link. This adds that user to your list of SodaHeads. Your SodaHeads have the option to remove themselves from your publicly viewable Profile, however, you will still see this person as a Private SodaHead on your Dashboard.

What is the difference between a Mutual SodaHead and an Accepted SodaHead?

You will receive a SodaHead request in your SodaHeads Approval Inbox when a user adds you. You have three options when you are added as a SodaHead:
Add SodaHead - Adds the user to your list of SodaHeads on your publicly viewable profile and vice versa. You both appear on each others pubic profile page under SodaHeads.
Continue Public - You will continue to appear on the requesting user's profile. This does not add the user to your SodaHeads.
Remove Public - Removes you from the requestor's public profile. Nobody can determine the requestor marked you as their SodaHead. However, you may remain in their SodaHeads viewable to them only from their Dashboard.

What does it mean to share a poll?

Sharing a poll is sending a poll to someone. There are many reasons why you might be interested in sharing polls with SodaHeads including: bragging rights, curiosity of what your friends' opinions are, or just because you think the poll is interesting.

How can I view recent activity on my authored content?

There is a "View Activity" link at the top of the site which takes you to a page that displays any activity associated with content you created. For your Authored Polls it shows activity related to votes, vote comments, and comment replies. It also shows any replies to comments you may have made site wide (outside of your authored polls). This allows you to stay update with the latest changes to your content and respond quickly to those SodaHeads that are interested in what is bubbling in your head!

What is Social Voting?

Social Voting is very similar to a standard poll except that social voting users not only vote, but they create the polls and interact with other users by offering their commentary. It's "Web 2.0" meets old-school polling.

Why should users Create a Poll?

Perhaps you're interested in gauging popular opinion, trends or just want feedback from the community. Maybe you want to harness the predictive power of crowds to determine the outcome of a particular event or even find out what the conventional wisdom is on any issue or topic. Or maybe you're just interested in creating a poll to ask your friends their thoughts on a particular subject. On SodaHead, you can create a poll to find the conventional wisdom or the opinions of community identified experts. There are no limits to the possibilities of your poll and the response you will get. So be creative and find out what's bubbling in your head!

How would creating a poll benefit me?

Share your opinion and ask the questions you always wanted to. You must have a strong opinion on something. Share it and see what others think about it. How smart are you? Are you right more than you are wrong? What do others think about your views or opinions? Are people adding you as their SodaHead? Who is going to win the next American Idol? Is real estate or the stock market a better long term investment? Do I look like Elton John? Which team will win the Super Bowl? Did Ellen get implants?

How would creating a poll benefit my business?

Survey your customers, employees and vendors. Gain customer feedback on features, tools, colors or anything. Don't go to market without customer feedback. Let the public choose what they like! Should we integrate .mp3 technology into our cell phones? What charities should we assist with this year? What is the most important tool in your tool kit?

How would creating a poll benefit my group?

Get everyone's opinions and thoughts in one organized place. What should our target goal for donations be this year? Should we change our monthly newsletter to a weekly newsletter? Should we agree to take on additional members?

How would creating a poll benefit my blog?

Make your blog more interactive and learn about the opinions of your users. Promote your blog on SodaHead, create polls with meaning and in the poll description, promote your blog and put your web address as the reference for users to learn more about the topic and your blog. Embed our polling widget and track your readers responses to polls.

How would creating a poll benefit my Professors, Pupils and Educational Institutions?

Teach students about polling, survey students, conduct research, ask parents for their opinions about school policies. Would it be worthwhile to intern for a semester? Who will win the presidency in 2008? What do you think the legal drinking age should be? Should the school offer additional honors courses in various subjects? Should prom be held at a hotel or a dance club this year?

How do I create a Poll?

To create a Poll on SodaHead you must be a registered user and logged into your account. As an unregistered user, however, you may still vote on polls, browse through user profiles, discussions and blogs. If you vote on a poll without registering your vote will be considered anonymous, you will not be able to add comments and you your votes will not be stored for later viewing. To create a poll, click on the "Create Poll" link in the navigation bar at any time.

Poll Types

Event/Prediction

Asks users to predict the outcome of an event. This type of poll must have a confirmable answer. These polls can be timed to close prior to the actual event. When you vote, your answer is stored in your voting history and is used to determine your overall predictive accuracy which is displayed in your profile page. Example Questions: Who will win the next Super Bowl? Who will win the Oscar for Best Actor this year?

Opinion/Belief

Asks users to indicate their opinion or belief in a particular subject matter. This type of poll does not have a confirmable answer. These polls can be timed. When you vote on these polls, your voting history is recorded, however, since there are no right or wrong answers to the subjective questions, it will not affect your SodaHead accuracy rankings. Example Questions: -Who is the best dressed celebrity for 2007? -Who was/is the greatest basketball player of all time?

Poll Options

Photos

You can upload photos to your poll description as well as your poll answers. Adding photos to your poll will enhance it's appearance and will likely gain more votes. You will be prompted to add images during the poll creation process.

Answers

You may select from one of two options when creating your poll:
1) Multiple Choice: This allows a user to create up to 10 answer choices not including the standard answer choices, "All of the above", "None of the above" and "Undecided".
2) Yes or No: This option creates a poll using the standard answer choices "Yes" and "No". This option does not prevent you from selecting the additional standard answer choices "All of the above", "None of the above" and "Undecided".

Date

You can pre-select a date & time for your poll to close. If your poll asks users to predict the outcome of an event, input a date & time prior to the event ending to prevent users from voting on the poll after the game has ended. For instance, if you want users to guess the winner of the Super Bowl prior to the Super Bowl beginning, you would set a particular date.

Editing Polls

After you create a poll, you may only edit certain portions of your poll. - You may only correct spelling in the Question and Answer sections. You may not add or remove any words from these sections. - You may freely edit the Description. - You may Add a new Image for any section that does not have an image.

Answer Order

Answer choices are ordered randomly on the Poll Snapshot page to discourage answer bias.

Closing a Poll

Closing a poll prevents users from placing any more votes. This can be automated in the poll creation process or it can be done manually by the author of the poll from the Poll Snapshot page.

Poll Snapshot Page

Share Poll

If you like the poll you are reading, you can share it with your fellow SodaHeads or e-mail it to your friends and family. Simply click on the "Share Poll" link on the rop right side of any Poll Snapshot page.

Author

Provides a link to the Poll Authors' user profile page.

Vote Comments

You can leave a comment when voting to further explain your vote. These comments are then displayed in the Vote Comment section beneath the poll. If you voted without leaving a comment, don't worry, you can return to the Poll Snapshot page later and leave a comment by clicking on the "Add Vote Comment" Link.

Voting History

You can view a SodaHead's Voting History from their Profile page by clicking on the link "Voting History". You can also view your own Voting History from your Dashboard by clicking on the "more" link in the My Votes box.

Raves

You can rate the relevance, quality or importance of content on Polls and Blogs. You can click on the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down icons to voice your sentiment on any SodaHead's content. You can view a SodaHead's received Raves from their Profile page or on the Browse SodaHeads page by clicking on the text "Raves" in the Ranking section. You can also view your own Raves received from your Dashboard by clicking on the "more" link in the My Raves box.

Poll Author

If you find a poll that you really like or find insightful, you might want to check out the other polls created by that SodaHead member. Just click on the poll's creator Profile Image or user name in the Poll Details section. You'll find a user profile and a list of polls that person has created. You might even find a kindred spirit.

View Results

If you have not yet voted on a poll, you can view the voting results without voting by clicking on the "View Results" link on the top right side of any Poll Snapshot Page.

Recent Voters

The Recent Voters section displays a summary of the most recent SodaHead votes and for what answer they voted. For a more in depth analysis of poll votes by SodaHeads click on the "Who Voted" link on the top righ side of any Poll Snapshot page.

Who Voted

The Who Voted page allows you to see how a SodaHead voted on the poll. You can also find additional data regarding anonymous votes (unregistered SodaHead votes).

General Voting FAQs

How do I vote?

Anyone can vote on SodaHead. You do not have to be registered to vote. However, by registering you can contact SodaHeads, share your polls with them, view your voting history and check your overall SodaHead ranking by Votes Received and Raves. If you are not a registered user, you cannot leave comments on any poll or anyone's profile.

Re-Voting

After you have voted you will be unable to alter your vote.

Blog

Why Blog?

Because people care about you and what you think.

How do I add a blog entry?

You can add a blog entry by clicking the Blog link on the header of the page and then click "Add Blog Entry" link found on the left side navigation.

How do I prevent anonymous users from leaving commenting on my blog?

You can change your blog comments options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link. This feature allows you to restrict comments to only your SodaHeads.

How can I approve all comments to my blog before they are posted?

You can change your blog comments options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings Link. This feature prevents comments from being posted to your Blog. All comments are sent to the Message Center for your manual approval or rejection.


My Profile

What are the bar graphs next to my profile?

The bar graphs are graphical and percentage representations of your Vote-Getting and Raves ranking on SodaHead.

What is Votes Received?

Your Vote Received ranking is determined by the number of votes you have generated on polls you created on SodaHead. Your ranking is based on a curve relative to other users.

What are Raves?

Your Raves are the number of times on a net basis users gave you a thumbs up or thumbs down on any of your comments, blogs, polls, and discussions. Your ranking is based on a curve relative to other users.


Settings Options

How can I change my notifications options?

If you are creating a poll you can set notification options during the poll create wizard. You can also change your notifications options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link.

How can I change my newsletter options?

You can change your newsletter options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link.

How do I prevent anonymous users from sharing their polls with me?

You can change your poll sharing options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link.

How do I prevent anonymous users from leaving commenting on my profile?

You can change your blog comments options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link. This feature allows you to restrict comments to only your SodaHead's.

How can I approve all of comments to my Profile before they are posted?

You can change your profile comments options on the My Dashboard page by clicking on the Change Settings link. This feature prevents comments from being posted to your Profile, if you choose. All comments are sent to the Message Center for your approval or rejection.

Where can I update my personal information?

You can update your personal information by going to the My Dashboard page. If you want to update your Identity click on the Change My Identity link. If you want to update your personal data click on the Change My Data link.

Change My Identity Profile Name: This is your user handle that corresponds to your Profile Image and this name will be visible to all users.
Education: Here you can indicate your level of formal education.
Relationship Status: This allows you to indicate your current relationship status as, Single, In a Relationship, Married or Divorced.
About Me: In this section you can highlight any attributes about yourself that you would like other users to know.
Change My Personal Info You can change the following attributes on your profile. First Name, Last Name, e-mail, Password, Gender, Zip Code, Birth date, Postal Code and Country.

How can I upload my own picture instead of using a SodaHead Profile Image?

You can upload your picture by going to the My Dashboard page and clicking on the Change My Identity link. In the Profile Image section, browse your computer for the desired file and upload your image.

How can I change my interests?

You can change your interests by going to the My Dashboard page and clicking on the Change My Interests link. You may select up to 16 categories. Selecting Interests will populate the My Interests Tab on the Poll Home Page and will help other SodaHeads find you based on your interest.

There are 3 ways to select your interests: 1) Click on any of the Categories of Interest provided.
2) Click on the "Add More" link. A category tree will appear to the right of the screen and you can click on the "+" to expand the list or on the "-" to collapse it. The tree displays all of the interests/categories available for you to choose.
3) You may enter any tags/keywords that you believe are relevant to your interests.