How do polls work, and when is it better to use a poll instead of open questions?

Reddit polls allow you to embed a multiple-choice vote directly in a post. When creating a poll post, you write a question in the title or body and then add between two and six answer options. After you publish, anyone who views the post can cast a vote by selecting one option. Results are displayed in terms of vote counts and percentages and are visible to all users, including those who have not voted. The poll stays open until you close it manually or after six days, whichever comes first, and votes are anonymous — neither you nor other commenters can see who selected which option. Polls are most effective when you want a clean numerical result and when the question genuinely has discrete, exhaustive options. "Which operating system do you primarily use?" with options for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Other is a well-suited poll question because the answers are mutually exclusive and the result — a percentage breakdown — is the useful output. The same question posed as an open text post would generate hundreds of individual comments saying the same thing, providing less actionable insight. Open-ended text questions, by contrast, are better when nuance, reasoning, or personal experience matters. "Why did you switch to Linux?" as an open question generates explanations, stories, and debates that a poll cannot capture. A poll would tell you that 40 percent of respondents chose Linux, but not why, or what they gave up, or what advice they would offer someone considering the switch. A useful hybrid approach is posting a poll alongside a text prompt in the body that invites people to explain their vote in the comments. This gives you both the quantitative summary and the qualitative texture. Polls also work well as engagement mechanisms in communities where the moderators want to gather community sentiment on a decision, such as changes to subreddit rules or upcoming events, because the visual results generate more participation than a text-only request for opinions.