As you may know, I have a (russian) telegram channel. One day I had a random thought about something I could make there. Now it became a tradition…

This year, on August 13, 13:00 I’ve posted a poll with a prompt “Rate yesterday” and the following options:

  • +2 (excellent)
  • +1
  • 0 (neutral)
  • -1
  • -2 (terrible)
🐸

Notice that the [-2; 2] scale is used instead of the usual [1; 5] to better empathize the balance, make it more unbiased and easier to think about. This was inspired by the article “5-бальная шкала оценки неверна” by optozorax.

I didn’t intend anything serious. It was partly a joke, partly a way to let go of the feelings (the previous day was terrible, it scored -2 from me). The poll got some votes and comments. The next day I’ve made an identical one. And the day after that too. And then, it became a tradition.

I received some good feedback about these polls. Some people even were waiting for them! (I tried to post them near 1:00 every day). People loved these polls for some reason…

It didn’t last for long though. I was making such polls for a week (ie the last one was posted on August 19). The reason I stopped posting polls was that I didn’t want it to be the only thing I do on the channel. I didn’t want my channel to look like it looked on August 18 — a single poll and that’s it. And I couldn’t post something other every day either.

So, I stopped. Then on September 1, I did a “Rate last summer” poll. And then I didn’t do anything like that for a long time. Now I want to revive this tradition (as of writing this it’s October 8 and I’ve just posted a new poll)

But why? Why did people like these polls, this silly little tradition? The short answer: I don’t know. But I think these posts let people reflect on their lives a little, they open up space for quite interesting and cosy discussions, they let us pause for a moment and think “what has really happened (today)?”.

And in the insane reality, we all live in these pauses are far more valuable, than it may seem at first glance.

Take care, bye.