Youtube now lets video uploaders create Google Moderator polls attached to their videos; Moderator lets users submit questions (or comments) and other users can vote up or down those user-submitted questions. In the past, Google Moderator and similar systems have been used by politicians to avoid being asked tough questions, and those who take advantage of this new capability need to make sure to only use it for situations where it's appropriate.

For instance, if your goal is to find out the most popular Lady Gaga song, Moderator will work wonders: that's the type of application it's suited to.

However, if your goal is to find the best female singer, then Moderator isn't going to give anything approaching an accurate result: if Gaga doesn't win it then Britney Spears will.

For a tangible example that "best" and "most popular" are usually at odds, see peekURL.com/vmzpp4c from Lee Doren of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He (apparently in conjunction with Youtube) wants people to submit answers to "Out of all the people on YouTube, why should people listen to you?" He'll then promote the top choices.

The current top three are:

1. Why should youtube viewers listen to me? Well, I hope to inspire people to live life to the fullest and make the most of every day. Follow me as I gain a new perspective on life while traveling around the world!

2. because I'm not your typical conservative. I'm not a Christian white person stereotypical of conservatives. I'm Hispanic who supports the Arizona immigration law, opposes affirmative action, but I can hug the trees with the best of them.

3. People should listen to me because I can use complete sentences. I also have no sense of irony, so you can't count on everything I say being true. I am also in a unique position to opine on the subject of me.

Trust me on this: there are plenty of people much, much more worthy of being listened to on Youtube. Yet, per Doren and Youtube, those are (at least currently) the "best". Except, obviously, they aren't.

See popular voting systems for past examples and the outline of a better system. And, beware Google bearing gifts.