A poll is not a news story and shouldn't be in the news feed. Please put it back in the sidebar where it belongs.
Slashdot is no longer either "news for nerds" nor "stuff that matters", as evinced by the front page. What the front page tells us about Slashdot by making declarative, self-referential statements is the following:
- Slashdot journal entries can be automatically submitted as stories — tells us that Slashdot is a blog service which also has "stories" on the front page.
- Polls on the front page of Slashdot? Is the world coming to an end?! Nope; read more about it — Ugh, slashdot, learn to WWW. The link anchor should be the text "Polls on the front page of Slashdot". Anyway, I read the link (heresy!) which is currently, temporarily floating atop the front page, and it's a feature they hope you will like. heh heh. They missed that one.
- Slashdot is a DHI service. — Make of that what you will.
So just to be clear, the front page is not a "news feed", because Slashdot is not a news site. Slashdot is a blog with integrated forum, with stories on the front page. They could call it "news", because Fox News went to court for the very important journalistic right (</snark>) to call anything they want by that name, but they don't. I find that, at least, refreshingly honest.
Feel free to rant on about how polls don't belong in the feed, but don't get it twisted — Slashdot is not a news outlet. Don't expect them to behave by "old media" rules.