It's the OVP equivalent of
said bookisms. Novice writers will often worry that their writing looks boring and repetitive if the verb used to indicate speaking is always "said" ("Bob said", "Alice said", "the wizard said", etc.) and overcompensate by swinging wildly in the other direction by substituting about any verb they can find for "said", no matter how awkward, overly-fanciful, etc. ("Bob snarled", "Alice chortled", "the wizard inquired").
I suppose that some people are too wary of a forum full of threads that begin with a "who/what/where/when/why/how" and end with a question mark to allow themselves to create a title that perfunctory and simple, and so we sometimes see titles that are pretty far-removed from describing their actual content. The ultimate purpose of a poll is to ask a question, so no one should hesitate to simply ask that question if they wish. This doesn't mean that you can just type "n/t" for the body of your post, though, as (beyond merely being under the character limit) if it's a question simple enough that you can't elaborate on the purpose of your poll at all, it's probably not right for this forum.
When I modded OVP I was laid-back about this sort of thing. Suppose I still am, though considering that I don't come around OVP regularly it can be slightly disorienting to find an entire page of polls that I have to click on to know if I'm actually interested in responding or not. Though, I'm sure it's less bothersome for OVP regulars who read new threads immediately as they come up on a daily basis. Ultimately, I'm not interested in curtailing the creativity (or perceived creativity) of the people creating polls and, really, the title stops mattering three seconds after you've clicked on a thread, so it's a non-issue for me, even though a thread title that indicates the subject matter is always preferable.
