Weasel words
Cheaper than trying to make your polls worthwhile.
From CNN:
This QuickVote is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole. The QuickVote sponsor is not responsible for content, functionality or the opinions expressed therein.
Which translates as: random people can game our poll, and we don’t care. We reckon that as long as we tell you that it could be bollocks, we’re OK. What happened to the journalistic ideal of trying to tell the truth of the story?