March 2009 Survey Discussion

[bassclarinetl2]

Just sent in my contribution.  I agree that the aggregate data should be public, as well as the suggestions for ideas (anonymously of course)

[mouser]

everything is anonymous anyway, we didnt collect any identifiable info -- so i can just post total result info.

[mouser]

My plan is to post the results of the survey tomorrow (sunday) -- so anyone who hasn't taken it yet but would like to -- please do so now 

-mouser

[Josh]

Done

[mouser]

Ok the complete results of the First Public DonationCoder Survey should now be publicly readable by anyone!!

• http://app.sgizmo.co...WYAI2/?ts=1239574715

In the spirit of open source information gathering.. let's see if anyone can discover anything interesting in all of that data.

And maybe suggest some questions we didn't ask but should ask for next time?

[cranioscopical]

let's see if anyone can discover anything interesting in all of that data.

-mouser (April 12, 2009, 05:19 PM)

Well your big opportunity is to email the newsletter to under 15- and over 71-year-old females to inform them of the programming school! 

[mouser]

One thing we need to say about the survey is it's going to be disproportionately filled out by the email-newsletter readers, since the newsletter is where we really encouraged people to fill it out..   Not sure how that effects the responses per se, but i suspect it will have a real effect.

[mouser]

In last question:

"What silly or fun thing could we do on the site would bring a smile to your face and make the world a little bit more enjoyable?"

Cody is mentioned in about a dozen different answers 

[sgtevmckay]

Now understand what I am about to write here may have bias.

After having skipped quickly once and taken a second slower look, for some reason certain things stick out to me, beyond the bad humor and rank comments.

1.) apparently a need/want for cross-platform programs, and/or Linux induction.
2.) there are some that would wish to learn to program, and learn how; here at DC.
3.) in relation to #2 these folks would appreciate support and distributorship of their programs through DC.
4.) I agree deeply with the following, but this is not a minus. The DC site is overwhelming. Proper Navigation is an issue.
5.) Apparently a lot of guilty consciences out there. I would put this to rest by saying I just did not donate to DC, but I also donated for the ones that could not as well. Even the ones that could not donate still make this :Community" worth wild. There are those that have not donated money, that still donate their time, ans that is very valuable as well. So stop fretting.
6.) seems to be a call for tutorials of the products distributed and supported through DC
7.) Overall the folks, and the goers, here at DC have built something wonderful.

Again some of my immediate insights may have a personal bias, but it is what I immediately took notice of.
I am sure if I look tomorrow, I would find a completely different list.

[tomos]

well I've skimmed it and havent really read any of the comment answers

@ sgtevmckay
did you misread the interest in Linux/ cross platform ? [edit] it's pretty far down the list in question # 3 but of course maybe it's all there in the comments I didnt read [/edit]

I found it confusing that the choices/answers werent shown in order of popularity
e.g. 

Question # 3. Where do you think we should focus our efforts in the future? 
[shown here in order of choice - most popular to the top]

 Develop more new windows software
 Improve our existing software
 Write more software reviews
 Develop more features to help DonationCoder programmers
 Improve the online DonationCoder community
 Other (specify in next question) 
 Develop more cross platform software
 Develop web-based online tools


and
Question # 7. Which features of the site are important to you?
[shown here in order of choice - most popular to the top]

 DC Software
 Discussion Forum
 Software Reviews
 Bi-monthly Newsletter
 Mini-reviews
 Coding Snacks
 Shareware Discounts
 Special Programming Contests
 Programming School
 Daily Blog

[sgtevmckay]

It is entirely possible.
Again I mention that I did say there may be some bias.

[tomos]

It is entirely possible.
Again I mention that I did say there may be some bias.

-sgtevmckay (April 14, 2009, 01:49 AM)

in fairness,
something I neglected to point out:
in the above results, question #3 "answers" go from 3.9 (best) to 2.7. Similarly for question #7 - from 4.1 to 2.6. (I think that's out of 5 but it doesnt say)

So down the list doesn't mean no interest ...

[notanartist]

 I use FARR, but not many of its features at all - mostly just for program launching. I've read the Help pages over and over but mostly I don't get it.

-J-Mac (March 30, 2009, 02:59 AM)

would it be safe to say that if I've never heard of FARR I don't need it?
(eg, if you have to ask the price you can't afford it)

sorry--just (belatedly) took the survey and am feeling a bit giddy. I needed some release after the brain workout. 

[J-Mac]

 I use FARR, but not many of its features at all - mostly just for program launching. I've read the Help pages over and over but mostly I don't get it.

-J-Mac (March 30, 2009, 02:59 AM)

would it be safe to say that if I've never heard of FARR I don't need it?
(eg, if you have to ask the price you can't afford it)

sorry--just (belatedly) took the survey and am feeling a bit giddy. I needed some release after the brain workout. 

-notanartist (April 18, 2009, 02:51 PM)

Not safe to say at all!  I use it for its program launching abilities. I believe that is what it started out as - a program launcher primarily. Though its search abilities have been greatly extended via plugins written by bith mouser and a host of other gifted members here. I understand you can use FARR to search either on your computer or just about anywhere else.

However I've never gotten very good at using it for anything more than a program launcher - and an excellent one at that. I just press the Pause/Break key as a hotkey and start typing the first few letters of the program I want to open and FARR immediately finds it. Very quick and easy program launching from your keyboard.

Jim

BTW - I just noticed that was your first post here. Welcome aboard!! Ask away about, umm, just about anything you want! And please DO check out the software created by the members here - just click on the Software link at the top of the page. Lots of neat stuff.   

[mzah8]

90% male. Wow.

I cannot remember what I wrote in the 'appendices' section.. I might not have done at all. Sorry.

But otherwise, interesting results.

[Bill Steo]

Someone suggested software tutorials. Let me vote for that one.