I didn't keep good records on all of these, so some are just the last stats I bothered to copy. Some may be skewed by bozos-- there were no checks for multiple-voting.
December 1998:
How often do you visit the Robot Wisdom Weblog? (Total: 189)
18% This is my first time. 2% Less than once a week. 11% Once or twice a week. 44% Almost every day. 25% More than once a day.
February 1999:
What color would you pick if you won a free iMac? (Total: 249)33% Grape 31% Blueberry 13% Lime 12% Tangerine 10% Strawberry
Would you mind if RWWL started including links to interesting nude-celeb pix? (Total: 200)4% Yes, I'd hate it. 11% It sounds pretty tacky. 24% I could care less either way. 37% I'd probably check 'em out from time to time. 26% I heartily endorse this product or service!
March 1999:
How much spam do you get in an average week? (Total: 100)18% Zero 28% One to ten 28% 11 to 30 16% 31 to 60 5% 61 to 100 4% More than 100 1% More than 500
Which topic of RWWL links could you do without? (Total: 100)16% Political 15% Gossip 12% Computer-tech-Net 8% Sexy 1% Artsy 0% Funny-quirky 0% Science-space 48% None of the above
How many RWWL links do you find completely uninteresting? (Total: 100)10% More than 75% are uninteresting 28% About 50% are uninteresting 39% About 25% are uninteresting 23% Less than 10% are completely uninteresting
How much effort should I put into "Cam of the Hour"? (Total: ???)13% I love it-- give it whatever it takes 11% I like it so much I don't mind if the links suffer a bit 57% I enjoy it, but not if the links suffer 20% I have no interest in "Cam of the Hour"
What's your preference for background/text colors for the RW Weblog? (Total: 100)40% The current scheme (purple on purple) is fine. 29% Please just use a white background. 17% Color-experiments are fine but some of yours have gone too far. 15% The wilder the colors, the better I like it.
April 1999:
Do you ever use the [More] buttons in this Weblog? (Total: 77)12% I never tried them-- I never knew what they were. 38% I understood them, but never found any need for them. 21% I liked them when I tried them, but I rarely tried them. 13% I occasionally find them quite useful. 17% I never noticed them. 0% I rely on them, and miss them when they're omitted.
How long did it take for [test page] to load? (Total: 180)21% Less than 3 seconds 22% About 5 seconds 27% About ten seconds 12% About 15 seconds 14% 20 to 30 seconds 3% Almost a minute 2% More than a minute
May 1999:
How many books have you completed this year? (Total: 160)3% Not a single one. 11% One or two. 18% Three to five. 20% Six to ten. 15% Eleven to fifteen. 13% 16 to 25. 21% More than 25.
How often does your PC need rebooting? (Total: 203)
Windows Mac Other
More than once a day 19% 2% 2%
More than once a week 25% 8% 0%
Less than once a week 16% 12% 16%
Total 60% 22% 18%
Suppose Sinead O'Connor (recently ordained as a heretical priest) moved her church to your city, and offered weekly Sunday services where she combined various spiritual traditions with some musical performances to try to revive interest in religion. Assuming she did the best you can imagine her doing, how often might you attend? (Total: 124)36% Never, never, never! 40% Once, purely out of curiosity. 6% Maybe several times a year. 2% Maybe monthly or better. 10% Maybe almost every week. 5% I'd never miss her.
I was thinking how a decent adult/continuing education program could be run in the form of a weblog, with academic commentary on current issues and links to highbrow articles. My own experience of higher education is atypical (dropped out many times, completed little), but I wonder how people with more experience would rate this weblog in terms of liberal-arts undergrad equivalency? Please don't answer unless you've had at least a full year of undergrad to compare it to, but if someone read all the articles I link to, over the course of a full year, how many years of college do you think that's worth, in terms of the stated goals of liberal arts programs? (Total: 74)28% Less than half a year. 5% Less than a full year. 11% About a year's worth. 5% About two years' worth. 3% About three years' worth. 1% More than three years' worth. 46% The comparison is impossible.
How much enjoyment would you get from a whole-earth cam like Triana? (Total: 174)23% I don't even like the idea of it. 10% Sounds like a big bore. 21% I might check it out from time to time. 16% It sounds sorta cool. 20% I'd look forward to it. 10% I'd make it my screensaver.
What's the current start-page for your web browser? (Total: 125)30% Custom start page 26% Blank page 11% Major portal 9% Robot Wisdom 8% Local bookmarks file 5% GoogleOne each: Slashdot, Mozilla Open Directory, Suck, Obscure Store, SciTech Daily, Blues News, AltaVista, about:mozilla, Microsoft preset, Company preset, Command line
I don't want you to include clever workarounds that take extra steps, like a text window where you can store multiple 'scraps' of text until you need them. This question only refers to clipboards that you can copy selections into from one application, and paste selections from into other apps, using only a keyboard command. So: How many separate clipboards can you access with key commands? (Total: 88)2% I'm not sure I understand the question. 1% None (eg MS-DOS I think) 84% Just the one (most GUIs). 3% Two. 2% Three to five. 6% Six to ten. 0% Eleven to twenty. 1% More than twenty.
Do you know anyone who encrypts their email? (Total: 168)5% I regularly do 19% I do on special occasions 4% I know someone who does regularly 5% I know someone who does occasionally 25% I experimented once 26% I should learn more 15% I could care less
June 1999:
How often do you curse your browser? (Total: 152)7% Several times a minute. 7% About once a minute. 19% Every few minutes. 36% A few times per hour. 31% Hardly ever.
How do you connect to the Net from home? (Total: 205)4% I don't connect from home at all. 43% Non-dedicated phone line. 33% Dedicated phone line with 56k-or-less modem 4% ISDN connection. 5% DSL connection. 1% T1 or better. 9% Cable TV's Internet service.
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