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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: June 24, 2002 2002 WebWord Survey -- I've been running WebWord for nearly four years. It is hard to believe but I have never conducted a survey to find out about the people that visit WebWord and read the newsletters. If you would take the survey, I would be in your debt. It is only 15 questions and should take you less than five minutes to complete. Please take the survey. It really is painless and the data will be very useful to me.
Reader Comments...
What WebWord lists are you subscribed to? You do not include an option for people who do not subscribe to anything. Posted by: on June 24, 2002 01:10 AM
The income question does not specify the currency either. Posted by: Mathew on June 24, 2002 01:17 AM
Anonymous, you are correct. That was a mistake. I do not offer a "Neither" choice. Matthew, the currency is US dollars. Note: If I make changes to the poll, I will lose all results. So, I'll live with it as it is. Perhaps I will need to throw out a couple of questions.
There is no country option for Washington D.C. It is not part of the USA in most respects. (e.g., We don't have representation in Congress, etc.) Posted by: on June 24, 2002 01:56 AM
It's only 15 responses so far, John. And it's still a Sunday in your part of the world. Make changes before it becomes impossible to do so. I'm surprised you haven't asked any questions about interests, what they do at work, etc. Surely, that's more important from a demographics perspective. Posted by: MadMan on June 24, 2002 01:56 AM
I thought the possible responses for the question on hours of use was low. How many WebWorders honestly spend less than 1 hour a week on the Internet? Meanwhile, "20+ Hours" doesn't do some of us justice. Posted by: Jack on June 24, 2002 02:29 AM
At first I thought: hey, do I really want to give demographic information, for use in selling advertising space? Then I thought: hey, how many useful links have I found because of WebWord (countless), maybe I can give five minutes of time back in return ... :-) I found the education question confusing. We don't really have "college" in Australia. Instead we have "university". Maybe you should distinguish between "graduate", "post graduate", and "high school", etc. Posted by: James Robertson on June 24, 2002 02:52 AM
You haven't included many countries in the countries options. "Other" would include a lot of countries! Posted by: on June 24, 2002 03:17 AM
Hey folks, I really appreciate the comments. I understand that there are going to be some problems with the survey. They are always problems with surveys. I'm going to leave the survey just as it is. There will be quite a bit of very useful information even with the flaws. Please remember that I've been almost completely data blind. Of course, the data will be useful for advertising purposes. But it will also be useful just to get a demographic picture of the WebWord readership. I'm sure plenty of people will be interested in the results too, and that is why I've allowed everyone to see them. Regarding MadMan's comments about understanding reader interests, hobbies, skills, etc., I want to know that too! However, I'm going to tackle those questions in another survey. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on June 24, 2002 08:38 AM
I've always found when running surveys that the most interesting information collected come from open-ended comment fields. Just a box where people can chime in on anything is consistently interesting. Posted by: on June 24, 2002 10:02 AM
Anonymous, I agree that having open-ended comment fields is a Good Thing but it wasn't possible with this (free) survey tool. I did battle with two Perls scripts for about 5-6 hours. I just gave up. I had both scripts installed and configured but just couldn't quite get them to work. It was incredibly frustrating. To be honest, I am glad to have as good a survey out there as I do. One of the things I wanted to do was to run a contest. With this survey tool, that wasn't possible either. For the next survey, I'll do things differently. On that note, can anyone recommend a good survey service? I don't mind paying a little bit of money (less than $50 if possible) to get a more useful survey in place. Any thoughts on this? Posted by: John S. Rhodes on June 24, 2002 10:23 AM
Look for a good, free poll script and pay someone $50 to install it for you. Posted by: Jack Schonchin on June 24, 2002 12:04 PM
If it were ASP, I could knock one together in a couple of hours. :) That said, I know there are plenty of free (or cheap) alternatives out there. Want me to find some for you? Hey John, why don't you try asking on the evolt.org mailing list? 3000+ web dev guys subscribed. ;) Posted by: MadMan on June 24, 2002 12:41 PM
In fact, try this big list at: (and search for "free") Posted by: MadMan on June 24, 2002 12:47 PM
Disappointingly generic survey. The "occupation" question struck me as a particularly blunt instrument. No big surprise that at least half of respondents here are "professionals." Why not break that down to be more specific? And wouldn't "management" also be "professional" in most cases? (Sorry, my mistake -- oxymoron. ;-) Don't you have any friends in market research to consult on these matters? I criticize only because I care.
Anonymous, Valid criticisms. 1. Even this gross data will be useful to me. I'm not trying to get specific details at this point. 2. I was only able to ask 15 questions. This time around I decided to ask generic questions because of the limitation. I'll try to get more details next time. 3. Please realize that this data will help me help advertisers. It will also help me avoid hitting you with ads that have no relevance. I believe that targeted ads, ones that you care about, actually can add value (no pun intended). 4. I do know some folks that can help me. Also, if someone here wants to help me construct a more useful survey, that would be great. All feedback, even negative, is appreciated. 5. As I mentioned above in response to MadMan, I do plan on running another survey that will hit things like interests, hobbies, etc. 6. By 2017 you can expect that the survey will comply with usability guidelines. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on June 24, 2002 03:47 PM
Dear Anonymous, As the survey reveals, most of us who visit this site are "professionals" and we always reveal our identity. We are not bothered of doing so. However, it does bother us when others (such as yourself) do not reveal their identities while posting comments. I believe this issue was pointed out in a few other postings by others. It is a pleasure to us to know who we're talking to, and since putting a face to the voice is not always possible in the world of e-communication, putting a name to the voice is a great value. As we all post here "...because we care" we also care about those who share their identities with us. Thank you for your cooperation. Posted by: Management on June 24, 2002 03:55 PM
Dear Mr. Management, a few points of contention: 1) You did not reveal your identity. Or at least, I have not noticed anyone posting under the name "Management" before. Are you being intentionally ironic? 2) You should thoughtfully consider all points raised, on equal footing, regardless of the fingers behind the words. I consider anonymous posts as valid as named posts. 3) Placing a name with a message enables you to disregard a speaker out-of-hand... as have half the people reading this post have already done. Boo! 4) What's in a name? Nothing. My real name is not Jack. Tomorrow who knows who I'll be. I've always wanted to be Alex. Other people simply go anonymous when the feeling hits them. Posted by: Jack on June 24, 2002 05:11 PM
You know for a simple, free survey...it isn't really that bad. Sure there will be nothing definitive, but it will give you a very nice snap shot of your user audience.
I like it that you've got a decent representation of ladies visiting this site. I've always wanted more women in the profession. If anyone's interested, I'm single, and look somewhat acceptable with a chimpanzee. Damn, I just made a big ass of myself. Did I mention I live in India. Doesn't stop me from terrorising John and this Web site. ;) Posted by: MadMan on June 25, 2002 01:17 AM
Oh MadMan, you know a long-distance relationship will never work. Internet telephony is just too choppy. Posted by: Jack on June 25, 2002 09:57 AM
I'm not a big fan of these long-distance relationships, Jack. I wouldn't want something like this to happen to me. Posted by: MadMan on June 25, 2002 11:53 AM
MadMan, are you saying you don't want anyone discovering the corpse in your fridge? Posted by: Jack on June 25, 2002 03:38 PM
MadMan, are you saying you don't want anyone discovering the corpse in your fridge? Posted by: Jack on June 25, 2002 03:38 PM
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