Polls

Overview#

Three different things share the name.

A quick poll is one question posted in a channel: ask, get answers, done.

An embed poll is a single question posted as an embed with a button per option, created with /poll create. It sits between a quick poll and a full session: it has a form and live tallies, but no web page, scheduling or overlay.

A poll session is a sequence of slides you run live: your audience votes from a web page or from Discord, you open and close each question when you are ready, and an overlay shows results on stream as they come in. It is built for streams, quizzes and events rather than for settling what to have for dinner.

Polls may not be available on every server yet. See Beta Features if you cannot find them in your dashboard.

Quick Polls#

In Discord:

/poll quick

You give it a question and some options, and it posts a panel in the channel. Members vote with buttons and the tallies update in place.

That is the whole feature. If you want scheduling, a scoreboard or an overlay, use a session.

Embed Polls#

In Discord:

/poll create

Opens a form for your question and its options, then posts an embed with a button per option. Tallies update in place as people vote, one vote per person, changeable while the poll is open. It needs the Manage Messages permission.

Use it when you want a cleaner embed poll than /poll quick but do not need the web vote page, scheduling or stream overlay of a session. See /poll create for the command reference.

Poll Sessions#

Create one from Server → Polls in the dashboard. A session is a named container holding slides, and each slide is one question.

For every slide you set:

• The question and its options
• An optional body and image
• The layout (list, grid, or a dropdown), set separately for the web page and the Discord panel, because what reads well in a browser is not always what fits in a Discord embed
• Whether results are visible while voting is open, hidden until you reveal them, or never shown
• Optionally a correct answer, which turns the session into a quiz and starts a scoreboard

Running a session#

Slides do not advance on a timer. You open a slide when you want the question live, and close it when you have had enough answers. Nothing is counted while a slide is closed.

You can:

• Open and close each slide as you go
• Reveal results on a slide whose results were hidden
• Post a slide's panel into a Discord channel so people can vote there too
• Clear votes on a slide to run it again
• End the session when you are finished

Where people vote#

On the web. Each session has a vote link that needs no Discord account and no login. Hand it to an audience and they can answer from a phone.

In Discord. Post a slide's panel to a channel and members vote with buttons. Both surfaces feed the same tallies, so you can mix them freely.

Stream Overlay#

Every session has an overlay link designed to be dropped into OBS as a browser source. It shows the current slide's results and, in quiz mode, the running scoreboard, updating live without you touching anything.

The overlay is read-only and carries no controls, so it is safe to have on screen.

Scheduling#

A slide can be given a time to open itself. At that moment the bot posts its panel to the channel you nominated, without anyone needing to be at a keyboard.

One caveat worth knowing: if the feature has been switched off for your server between scheduling and firing, that occurrence is skipped rather than postponed.

Exporting Voters#

For any slide you can see who voted for what, and export it. Useful for prize draws and for checking a vote that looked odd.

Anonymous web voters appear as anonymous: there is nothing to tie them to a Discord account, which is the point of the public link.

Common Questions#

Can people vote twice? One vote per person per slide, changeable while the slide is open. Anonymous web voters are tracked well enough to stop casual double-voting, but a public link with no login is not proof against someone determined.

What happens to the panel when I close a slide? It stays where it is and stops accepting votes. If results were set to show, it keeps showing the final tallies.

Do I need the overlay to run a session? No. The overlay is only for putting results on a stream.

Can I reuse a session? Clear the votes on its slides and run it again. The slides, options and layouts stay as you set them.