A poll running on an online forum of mostly right-wing Vietnamese is currently voting to continue the protest against Viet Weekly but to end the protest against Nguoi Viet. The result, however, reflects only a tiny percentage of the forum’s members.
(Read all posts on the Viet Weekly protest here, the Nguoi Viet protest here.)
The Yahoo! group “diendancongluan
,”a huge mailing list that generates more than 100 emails every day including weekends, has been running two parallel polls since May 5 seeking input on the two protests. Major players in both protests regularly participate in this mailing list, including Ky Ngo and Cung The Tran, two of the three defendants sued by Nguoi Viet.
One poll asks, regarding Viet Weekly, to choose from 5 choices: (a) End the protest; (b) Do not end the protest; (c) Protest until the publication closes; (d) Viet Weekly is on the communists’ side; (e) Viet Weekly is on South Vietnam’s side.
(Although the choices don’t seem to be mutually exclusive, people can only vote for one.)
A second poll asks the exact same questions, regarding Nguoi Viet. Both polls are slated to close May 31.
So far, the polls have not attracted too many takers. Out of a massive membership of 3412, only 16 have voted in the Nguoi Viet poll, and even fewer, 9, have voted in the Viet Weekly poll.
The current standing shows, for the Nguoi Viet poll:
11 to end the protest,
1 not to end the protest,
0 to protest until Nguoi Viet closes,
3 that Nguoi Viet is on the communists’ side
1 that Nguoi Viet is on South Vietnam’s side
As for Viet Weekly (pictured above):
1 to end the protest,
0 not to end the protest,
3 to protest until Viet Weekly closes,
5 that Viet Weekly is on the communists’ side
0 that Viet Weekly is on South Vietnam’s side
The low participation rate may be a function of how a Yahoo! group poll works: Only those with Yahoo! ID’s can vote, and votes are not anonymous.
