I like the polls. The thing is you don't get karma/points when someone votes. Someone has to upvote it to have it stay on the front page. If you don't like the poll or polls in general then you shouldn't up vote them.
When you were 12 or younger how did you learn how to program? I was 16 when I started programming as a hobby and I had a programming class. I wish I started programming when I was 12.