Online hunting polls

Does the presence of foreigners to monitor bird hunting in Malta constitute foreign interference?

This is the question appearing in the timesofmalta.com poll. Assuming Maltese nationals are being asked to express their views about this matter, since by "foreigners" I assume one refers to anyone not being Maltese, please allow me to explain what we hunters consider as foreign interference and how this interference influences and affects people's opinion.

I am listing a number of websites that show how "foreign interference" manipulates not only the perception of hunting here in Malta but also The Times surveys that are meant to indicate the population's opinion about a particular topic. It is also to be noted that these surveys are used as official indicators of what the Maltese population think. They have been referred to by the EU and also by several foreign newspapers as being proof of the population's pulse. Having these polls manipulated in this manner renders them useless and of no scientific value. Their continuance make a mockery of The Times.

These sites - http://physis.pnw.fi/pipermail/ebn/2008-April/002520.html ; www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=76459 ; www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=106526 ; http://physis.pnw.fi/pipermail/ebn/2008-January/002374.html and www.kaizenlog.com/2008/04/25/times-of-malta-online-poll-on-spring-hunting - indicate how a survey about spring hunting earlier this year was circulated among all Birding societies worldwide in order to urge members to vote against hunting.

The poll, which for most of the day showed a result in favour of hunting, began to take on a different result as the "foreigners" started voting. The end result, as was to be expected, was a poll in favour of a spring hunting ban. Foreign interference at its best!

I am also quoting from one other similar site - http://physis.pnw.fi/pipermail/ebn/2008-January/002374.html - stating what David Conlin, from Proact, the life member of Birdlife Malta, the RSPB and CABS, co-ordinator for this year's Raptor Camps, had to say to all his disciples and followers. "There is a poll on The Times of Malta today regarding spring hunting; The question is 'Should the government fall in line with EU insistence not to open the spring hunting season?'

Please visit the link and vote Yes! ... it is currently on 79.4 per cent yes with 228 votes... David Conlin - Proact International".

We now have a poll asking whether the presence of foreigners to monitor bird hunting in Malta constitutes foreign interference. I leave it up to readers' intelligence to guess what the result will be.

Editor's note:
Online polls by The Times and timesofmalta.com are never promoted as being scientific. In addition, they are never "manipulated" by anybody at The Times or at timesofmalta.com.