No polls on TMC are statistically valid as they suffer from self-selection bias. Those who don't care about the doors are less likely to take the poll compared to those who feel more passionate about the topic. So yes, the results are not statistically valid and will not represent the larger body of Model X purchasers.
That said, there are a couple of notable differences: the doors poll is structured differently and more neutrally. It asks "which door style would you prefer, given what we know today", an independent choice with a more neutral tone. Relativity between options is less of an issue with that poll, versus the seats poll, although as noted it won't capture the apathy votes. The lack of discreteness in the answers (overlapping answers between sliding / standard / either) is also an issue. Either way, statistically, the results are invalid when attempting to draw conclusions about the larger pool of Model X customers from that poll because it is self-selected.
The seats poll suffers from another bias in the way the answers are structured, because it asks if the option is a deal-breaker to the pollee. This will place extra weight on those who consider it a deal-breaker, and those who do not consider it to be a deal breaker are considerably less likely to vote in the poll (because they're more apathetic). It is designed with a loaded question, and the lack of the apathetic vote will show more bias toward the non-apathetic vote. However, even if you correct that, it still suffers from self-selection and small sample size.
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Uhh, no clean-up needed. NONE of the text you quoted was toward bonnie and they're not attacks - and you have quoted my text completely out of context. I did not call anyone a name, and I called BS where it was present. Read the entire post again and note the multiple quoted text sections and their authors, it's to several different authors (bonnie gave a constructive note, to which I responded constructively; hpham007 said there was no bias, which is just wrong, period; Yggdrasil said there was no selection bias, which is again just wrong, period; and rdalcanto said that because Model S's executive rear seat option didn't have a great uptake that it means all Model X customers want folded seats, which is false logic as well. To help, I've even quoted a statistics textbook that says so, to which I was told I was wrong and TMC polls are indeed sound scientifically. I called BS on that; it's not an attack, it's the truth. Otherwise, find me a statistician who says that self-selected polls with small samples and loaded questions are statistically valid. Maybe political pollsters, but not anyone with a shred of credibility in statistics.
And what does the last one mean? It means that some of the posts here are suggesting that Tesla just randomly decided one day to take away folding seats for the hell of it just to piss off some customers, and fail to recognize that it's likely a trade-off that had to be made. They're unhappy with which direction the trade-off went - and it's okay for them to be angry - until they suggest that every other Tesla customer is just like them and therefore there will be millions and millions of cancellations and OMG the company is going to DIE!!!11!!11!!! (Because a flawed TMC poll that suffers from tremendous self-selection, loaded-question bias says so!)
I think it sucks Tesla had to make a trade-off. I would like folding second-row seats. I likely will not cancel because I can't get a cargo van storage space, others will. I know how frustrated they must be, having either $5,000 or $40,000 tied up for a couple of years and learning that Tesla couldn't accomplish its Big Hairy Audacious Goal at release time, especially after showing their goal in a slide from 18 months ago during the design phase. It sucks when you can't accomplish everything you want in the first landing. But to suggest that Tesla doesn't know what it's doing, or that the company is dead because it had to make this trade-off, seems improper at this time with the information we have. I hope everyone gets their cargo van capability eventually, it would make my life easier for those times I need it. 99% of the time, though, I will probably make better use of the additional room that is provided at the base of the second-row seats when compared to the folding seats.
I'm not saying that those who are passionate about wanting folding second row seats are wrong - in fact, for their specific situation, they're right for their specific situation, and it's a deeply personal element. What has been wrong here is the reliance upon bad statistics and/or some vocal opinions in this thread to attempt to extrapolate to the broader Model X customer base. We can all agree there will be some level of people who are angry and who will cancel; there has been no credible evidence offered as to the magnitude of that, along with the alternatives. That doesn't minimize those who have posted their opinions here - those are anecdotes that Tesla can consider, but the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".
In all seriousness, I have no idea to what extent Tesla sees/watches posts here, but it seems that, if enough is made of something here, it is heard... and often dealt with. I'd be extremely surprised if Tesla wasn't aware of the significant backlash here from at least a handful of big supporters regarding the inability of the seats to fold flat.
