3. I can't even vote and I don't plan on voting yet until my console dies. then I can add that statistic to the poll.
I really think that the "Haven't had a problem" option should get taken off just for the fact that you don't exactly know if you have a defective unit or not until it is too late.
That's missing the point of the poll! It's not a count of defective units, but a comparison of defective versus working, which gives a ratio. In CE goods, something like 5% is expected to be faulty, so getting a head-count of faulty units to working units, we see if each of the consoles is above or below that average, and by how much. Without recording working units, all we'd have is 30 odd 'my console is broken' with no idea if that's out of 30 consoles, 60 consoles, 2 million consoles, or whatever. As it stands now, we have a percentage for each platform. It's also a timed poll that closes in a few days, so it records a snapshot. The poll can be repeated
n months or years down the line to see how those rates have changed.
As to other complaints about this poll, it's not a direct comparison of XB360 and PS3 and Wii, because of the time on market differential. This
was pointed out in the beginning. Collating all three consoles makes a lot more sense than running three threads on the same fundamental subject. We can see the failure rates to date of each platform, knowing with our superior intellects that the figures aren't comparable. And the poll can be repeated to see how those ratios have changed.
Bickus Dickus said:
Sure, the poll may be fair within that sample, but I can't beat this one hard enough... your sample is crap! If you don't even attempt to get a decent sample, you can't begin to draw conclusions outside of that sample. All you can say with certainty is that here, on B3D, for people that likely own on of these consoles, and that feel like voting in a poll made about them, the 360 is getting a lot more votes for failures than the others.
There is only a problem if the voting habits of forum members vary by console. What reason have you to think that people with defective XB360s will register them, but people with defective PS3's and Wii's won't? If the variation for failure rates between systems isn't in line with what the poll results show, that suggests that a hell of a lot of PS3 and Wii owners are wanting to 'cover up' the fact their machine bust - and who is ever silent about broken machines?! I expect people to rant and rave if their console goes down the pan. XB360 owners have, creating all that momentum you talk about, so why not PS3 and Wii owners? Or a disproportionate amount of XB360 owners with working consoles have decided not to vote. Why would XB360 owners on average be less inclined to vote in this poll?
Not everyone on the board has voted, and that's expected, but the people that do vote should be a random sampling of members. Unless the demographics of console ownership sway voting habits, the sample that's voting will be a fair cross-section of console owners reporting their experiences with the hardware.
