April from over at the Lois & Clark Fantasy Land page thought we might like to check out a survey about your fanfic habits.

So please take a look, it looks like a fun thing to do:

http://web.pdx.edu/~levia/

It was fun, Annette. Thanks!

Cool! Thanks for sharing the link, Annette

PJ

Yeah, thanks. I think I learned something about myself while completing the survey.

~Sira

Definitely interesting. I hope the results get posted somewhere because I'm curious to know what analysis they get from those questions. It was fun to do anyway.

Kaethel

Wow! Did anyone else find some of those questions... umm... highly personal? They want an email address (I assume so that no one can submit more than one survey), but then they want to know your annual income and even your sexual preference.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not about to answer those questions over the internet. About a year ago, the Canadian government did the census. I got the long questionaire. There were two questions on it that I didn't think were any of the government's business: sexual preference and religion. So I refused to answer. At the bottom of the questionaire was a place for notes where I stated that I refused to answer those two questions because I thought they infringed my civil rights. And that if they wanted to throw me in jail as a result, they were welcome to do so. I am actually of the opinion that asking those questions was a violation of the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms. If I wasn't prepared to answer under the threat of incarceration, I'm not about to answer for a survey. (Btw, I haven't heard anything back from the government which makes me think that they aren't planning to throw me in jail )

ML

Heh, ML, I did the exact same thing. However, I got picked for a monthly phone call from an enumerator who was always asking me if my data had stayed the same this month. (She was actually a sweet little old lady who in addition to asking census questions used to ask me how things were going in general and encourage me when I got depressed - I was out of work and having a *REALLY* hard time financially at the time. No job prospects at all. I got so I looked forward to her calls - she was so sweet, she used to cheer me up. I kinda miss her )

Melisma (ducking back under her Rock to continue mourning - it's the day of the year, unfortunately...)

Well, ML, in jail you'd have more time to write....just kidding

I thought the end was rather personal too, for a research project. I know demographics are important when trying to "sell" something, but I didn't think that was the case here. Well, if leaving things blank means my survey won't count, so be it

Trust me, Trenna, I have thought of that. But I don't think they'd let me take my laptop - so that could really slow me down

And, Melisma, if we do get sent to jail, I'll ask them to let us share a cell

Anyway, I'd certainly be willing to do the survey (because I think it could be really interesting seeing the results) if there was some way to do it and be certain that my annonimity would be protected (even from the people doing the survey).

ML

Well... I suppose you could use a fake name and set up a hotmail account... I know that people who do that within FOLCdom get caught eventually, but I think that's because we have "real" IP numbers to compare. If you sent in the survey from a real but temporary email account, and didn't give your name, I don't know if the IP numbers would give you away. If you really want to go all out, you could find an Internet cafe They'd never find you then...

Btw, I think the gender preference question was probably asked because they wanted to see how many straight women liked and/or wrote slash...

PJ

I did consider that idea, Pam. I guess I'm just not confident that it couldn't be traced (not that anyone even cares enough to do so :rolleyes: ). I just find the information requested a little too personal. If I want to come out of the closet (assuming I'm even in the closet, of course ), I wouldn't want to do it by default as the result of a survey.

Not that I don't understand the interest in the survey. It's just not something I'm comfortable with.

ML

Oh, was that it? I just thought you didn't want to let anyone know that you earn scad-zillions a year as a lawyer

PJ
who thinks they missed a check box for "both"

Actually, Pam, it was the gender question that got to me. Male, female or other. I just couldn't feel comfortable revealing the answer to that question (Mainly because I can't seem to figure out what 'other' refers to ).

ML