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another brick in the wall part II


I'm all about the higher education, and I'm also all about the helping people out.

So check it:



A graduate student at the University of Florida is doing a research study on you – the readers of this blog. There is a survey she would like you to complete & it takes less than 10 minutes. The survey asks basic questions about you & your reading of this blog. You can take the survey here until April 30. Please do not trackback to this post or survey since the point of her study is to actually understand you as a reader of my blog rather than people who find the survey through other links. Thanks!

Hey, we all waste spend time taking those silly "Which Fark Cliche Are You? and What Ice Cream Flavor Are Your Boots? surveys, right? (I'm Domo Kun and Mint Chocolate Chip, if you were wondering) so if you've got a few minutes to kill today, why not help this grad student out? I hear you can cash the karma in for one green light when you're running late.

Comments

Like I don't waste enough time on this lame website! Sure, I'll fill out the survey. Whatever you say, Wil.

i hear and obey...

just kidding. it looked like a interesting survey. i'd like to see her final results.

I would love to see what some people put for the "When I read Wil's blog, I feel like I am in his life" question!

Sure. Some of those questions seemed to be similar to those "Profile IQ" tests, you know, the ones employers use?

27. Do you believe Wil is talking Directly to YOU on his blog?

456. Does your dog read Wil's blog too?

but yeah, I did it too :) what the heck :) I love online surveys. Now, I'm off to find out if Kay Trammel is really an anagram for some secret CIA agency ;)

No, I'm not really insane, its just a sunny day today :)

Tasha

I feel honored to be a reader even if I don't get to come here everyday . I took the survey. I look forward to Wil's June post, hopefully, of the results.

Yes master...
I obey
(like a good little GIR)

Just took the survey. It was really quick. Not sure how much I skewed it, not living in the USA! :-)

I was confused by the question, "Do I think Wil is extremely attractive?" I mean, I'm a guy, how would I know? But I don't mean Wil is ugly, again, how would I know? I don't want to hurt somebody's feelings just because I answered "Strongly Disagree" when I'm obviously not qualified to answer the question. This took longer than ten minutes. These questions are too deep.

The same student seems to have surveyed Dave Barry's
readers as well.
http://weblog.herald.com/column/davebarry/archives/2004_04.html#14

I put "Too Many" down for "number of hours spent on the Internet" I did NOT use that response for "Number of Hours reading Wil's Blog"

And for us straight males to answer "Do I find Wil attractive" Puhleeze! (NEUTRAL).

Hey - I gave you good marks, Wil, you deserve it.

For me it is farked! I will try again later!

Cool! I'm always interested in helping out researchers. Off to fill it out...

Are we to believe then that we are NOT in Wil's life....? No way....He controls our every waking....and many sleeping....moments....
GET REAL.....Sheeeeesh

I Hear and Obey Will!

Well, I Hear and I'll obey when the site works again... I cannot connect atm. I wonder if your readers are farking her site...

Wil, funny that today, on 4/20, known as marijuana day, you post something about "higher education," and then sorta mention Pink Floyd's "Brick in the Wall." \m/

thanks gotts....I thought I was being kept out of the survey because of my rad views on foot care or treatment of small animals....I can relax then....I can chill....I can get off the roof of my house...sweet....

I can't seem to get the page to respond. Has the KISS... I mean WIL army Willdotted the page?

I'm rum raisin.

And the page is not loading.

Page STILL not loading... and for a change someone actually WANTED my opinion! ah well.....

So...Does the research take into account the fact that Wil has so many fan's that they take out site and keep it for several hours?

hmmm...the site appears to be slashdotted...er wheatoned?
L2

Yeah, its broken for me too .. too bad, I'll have to check back later! :)

It's dead, Jim.

Dang! I was ready to be surveyed, too! :|

I have tried several times to access this survey and it keeps saying that the page is unavailable. Im going to try one last time..
It wont load the page! *cries* Ahh well.. I decide to take a break from all the furious writing that I have been doing to take this survey and for some reason it wont load. *Kicks the internet*. Anyways I tried.. I finally got my poetry bug back, due in part to finding my father who I havent seen but three times in my life. Its depressing really. And Ive still managed to keep up with your site even though I have been writing a book and working on poetry like a mad woman. Love the site and maybe later this survey page will actually load for me. I wonder if it has something to do with the storms that we have been having today. =S.. Well its always good to see that you are getting a word of some kind from somewhere about something Wil! So have a good day and if its sunny there soak up some of those rays for me!

I tried to obey, but linky no workie. Maybe there are way too many of us trying right now. Guess I'll try again later....

The site appears to have been ToastedAmigoed.

Mint chocolate chip just happens to be my favorite ice cream flavor. Since it is the flavor of your boots, does this make us solemates?

Punnily yours.

I'm sorry, I began to fillout the survey but after 2 or 3 pages of politics questions I droped out. this survey struck me as a way to ask politic questions ipo real weblog related questions.

The "I like to read Wil's blog in my own environment" question just seems... creepy, somehow.

"Yes, I like to read it with the shades drawn, an old Prince bootleg playing softly, wearing just my Hello Kitty slippers."

I guess I lucked out. I got the page to load on my first try. I love surveys like that!

Yeah, it seems to be back up now.

The survey is wierd. I wonder what the real questions are that the survey is trying to answer. It seems like they might be:

1) Do blog readers over-identify with the writer? Sort of like people who watch an actor on a TV show that they like a lot and think that means they know the actor.
2) Do people think they are shut out of the political process?

At least it doesn't insist that you answer every question. It really bugs me when surveys/apps do that. On the page that says "I avoid reading political posts on Wils blog because..." I left all the answers blank. I don't avoid those posts. I usually agree with what Wil has to say, but even when I don't, he makes interesting points.

It will be interesting to see the results. Will we have raw data about the frequency of answers to the questions, or a final overview interpretation?

*laughing* Are you going to post the results when you get them? Heck, I'm curious to see how many people professed attraction for you.

That was fun, should be interesting to see the results.

The best question was "I am not as satisfied when I read a blog maintained by someone other than Wil."

Wil, I have to come clean. I'm cheating on you with Mimi Smartypants.

;) Liz

Ok I finally made it to the survey. And I completed it. I hope you are happy Wil!! Hehe.. But it was pretty cool.

PEACE..

For the record, I am a straight male and I find Wil a pretty handsome dude!

We feeling a little Pink today, Wil?

Wil, I hate to get all uppity at a time like this, but what's the deal with asking your readers to do something with the heading "another brick in the wall part II". Kind of makes it sound like you're saying "do what I'm telling you so that you can be a lemming" (and part 2 no less, Jeez, I'm not even a first generation lemming!?) I'm just saying...

It was a very political poll, but it is an election year. Speaking of politics, who is with me on writing in a vote for Wil this year? He is a lot better than the choices we have now.

Well uh.. We are all kind of lemmings if we follow this site so religiously as to fall into the balance of coming here at least once a day just to see what Wil has posted. Even if you only visit once a week, make it that priority to come here just to see whats up in Wils life, that makes you a lemming in the sense that you must know. And besides there is nothing at all wrong with being a lemming for Wil. Hes a cool guy and he deserves all the lemmings he can handle. =P
IMHO and I mean MY opinion, This site is great and he deserves all the attention he can get from it. It takes alot of balls for someone to put themself out here on the internet with their daily life, thoughts, and feelings like he has done. Especially someone who has acheived fame the way he has. So I find the lemming comment to be more funny and also flattering to Wil. =P
Give us all a break and let us be lemmings if we so choose, if makes us happy, and more importantly if it makes Wil happy, then Im all for it... =P

Lotus (one of the 'lemmings')

I found the survey very interesting and thought the intent of the survey was pretty clear. Makes you think about why we read what we do. And the political ramifications of bloggers and the way they shape political opinions seems like a good project for a Journalism & comunications graduate student.

Of course I read Wil's site "When I have nothing better to do"... hehehe

"Mama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true"

WOW...after that survey...I feel like Wil and I are psychic twins....It was truely an inspiration...Are you thinking what I'm thinking(but then Wil,you know what I'm thinking)? I propose that we all get together and build a major World religion around Wil..."WILISM"...it worked for L. Ron Hubbard...it can happen again...Let's all meet up in a small,obscure town in the Idaho backwoods and plan that headquarters...Bring as many wives,children,livestock as you feel comfortable with...this could be BIG...yessa

haha

"Wil keeps me company when I’m on the on the Internet."

why do I picture myself sitting in my office chair with Wil behind me, one hand on my shoulder like those "jesus: with you always" cartoons?

Sure! I don't aways comment here. But, I do read it regularly. So, I will fill out the survey.

BTW Wil, we watched "Deep Core" on Sci Fi the other night! You did a great job! Two thumbs up!

Just for the record, there ARE non-Americans that read the blog... Us Canadians don't vote Republican or Democrat. Thanks for not including all of us in the survey, evil survey taker person! :)

Gosh,not getting to vote Democrat,Republican,Libertarian or whatever...You're not missing much Rob.....

hullo fellow Canadians...I am not bothered - I filled it out anyway and have opinions on US stuff...so no worries.

I'm a WWdN fan, and my girlfriend recently had to go through the ordeal of gathering survey data for *her* thesis. I'd get struck by lightning TWICE if I failed to help this lady out! =)

Interesting survey. I figured I'd share at least one part of something I put on it: my reasons for coming and reading. (1) I find details of things like doing animated voice work fascinating. (2) Wil, you're a fine writer. I think you could make painting a room sound interesting. (3) Big, big D&D geek. I like reading Wil's experiences with the game, and playing it with his stepson and friends.

I cannot thank the 1,074 readers of WWDN (& Wil for posting this) enough for participating in this survey. I now have all the data I need & the survey is closed.

I look forward to sharing the results with you in June!

Thanks again to everyone.

Always glad to help another grad student...my thesis sure would be going anywhere if people didn't do my survey.

Ah, shucks! The survey is already CLOSED. Is it already April 30??

Goes to show what happens when I don't check in at midnight instead of noon...

So, just perchance, did "anyone" happen to keep a copy of the questions on the survey, so those of us who missed it can see what they were? I'm really curious about the "political" aspect.

Too bad, I missed out on the survey. :-(
I finished reading Dancing Barefoot the other day and would like to comment, now. The thing about your writing, Wil, is that it puts the reader right in your shoes. I don't think you are a Dostoyevsky or a Shakespeare, but I do think you have an uncanny knack for allowing the reader to see where you are coming from and to feel your feelings... something like that. Keep writing! I hope you do. I am happy to have purchased the book in support of your ability.

Thank you,
...

Dear Mr. Fekete,
Didn't save the survey...but let's just say that our friend Mr. Wheaton has some pretty eye-opening observations on Benito Mussolini....

A bit too "US-centric," but otherwise a fine poll. 'Twas fun.

Wow.

You got 1,000 people to make time to support a grad student project in less than half a day.

Now, THAT'S a following.

I'm sorry I checked in late today and couldn't be a part of it.

Yeah, me too! *pouts* Not fair.

Wil should feel extrasuperspecial popular today that on the day he posts that survey request over 1000 people respond.

Die insecure feelings, die!

Very sad... I missed out on getting to take it too. And it's not the 30th yet... :^(

Never had a chance to participate. *sigh*

Keep up the good work, Wil. I plan on getting your book for the library. I'm a librarian, I can do that. ;> Any chance on getting a signed copy?

Darn- over 1070 people already beat me to it. Oh well. I guess I should check Wil's site more often than once every few hours. Every 30 minutes maybe? :) But darn, then I'd have to blow off /. and my AD&D game to check the blog.

Guess I'd better re-prioritize my life, and get my life back on track!

You rock Wil!

Nice tribute to this community,over a thousand resposnses in half a day. Next time somebody says we're a bunch of phantoms.......you guys are great

You'd think that me having your page as my homepage woulda got me to be able to fill that survey out...but everyone beat me to it!

Stinky ol' time zone change (I'm in Brisbane, Australia...)

This is what I get for not checking your site first thing today...the survey is closed! :(

My Bad!

I, as well, was too late to help this college student with her studies. Best of luck to her anyway!

Oh, and uh, Nutsack Squirrel and Moose Tracks if anyone's curious.

She should at least left it up so the people who were too late could look at it.

Aw, boo-hoo-hoo. :^( I missed the boat -- and I really wanted to complete the survey. It's not often am I willing to do that. Well, it will be interesting to see what the results will be like.

Have a nice day everyone! :^)

Survey is closed, fellow readers beat me to it. Since I was going to answer the survey do I still get the Karma?

well damn. I thought that would be my good deed for the day. Should have goofed off today instead of working. Oh well. I hope it is a worthwhile survey for her.

Thats what I get for not checking the blog until the end of the day. The survey is already closed.

She should leave the quenstions up anyway. I am interested in what was asked.

-steve

stoopid full time dairy queen job makes me miss fun stuff. boooo

Sidelined again!

I was actually starting to think I could be just like the cool people, then reality struck. I was too late. The survey didn't want me.

Its just like knowing your going to be the last one picked in a gradeschool ballgame, only to discover that you can't play because the teams aren't even.

Bah Humbug!

Apparently she totally missed out on important target groups: all those European readers who read WWDN primarily during their working day, and all Asian readers who aren't online until deep in the night.

How very 20th century of her, not to consider international audiences.

(At least she got those of us who check for updates every five minutes, all around the world.)

Wil, could you perhaps post a copy of the questionnaire so that the 48,927 monkeys who missed out on this one do get their (our) chance to self-reflect? Please? I feel left out. Big time.

This survey obviously will not give statistically relevant results. The surveyor closed the survey when 1070 people gave their answers. That means she will mostly get results from people who (a) were awake when the post went up (probably US citizens), (b) are on the Internet very often, (c) visit Wil's site very often, and (d) enjoy taking surveys. Granted, (d) is difficult to avoid (any survey has this problem), but (a) to (c) mean she will get seriously skewed results. So, it's nice she will post her results, but I am afraid they are meaningless. Which makes it all too clear that she's only an undergrad.

Woops, too late to take the survey. Pity though, I could've used the good karma...might've kept me from locking my keys in my car this morning :-).

Oh well...hope she gets some good data!

Do I get the good Karma for going to try and fill it in?

It's not my fault it was already closed.

I know just which light I want to be green, too...

Poop! 1,070 people beat me to it!

*pout* I tried yesterday, but couldn't get through. Thought I'd check again this morning, but now it's closed. No fair!

/sulking in the corner...:(

This survey was a lot of fun, but I think the questions have the potential to be mocked/abused. And don't be offended by the answers to "I find Wil Wheaton attractive." ;)

It's quite funny to read some of the comment about Kaye (CIA?!) and any hidden meaning behind her survey. In the small world department, I have played poker with her husband who happens to be the UF webmaster. She's a straight up gal... you don't have to worry about her sending your data off to some nefarious government think tank. Kudos to Wil for motivating his readers to particpate, I know she has been very excited about her blog-related research. Now if only I could have motivated Wil to join our Trivia team this past weekend. :)

Wouldn't it be better for research's sake if she let as many people fill it out that chose to within a week or so, and THEN randomly cut it down to 1000 from those? (if she doesn't want such a large number, that is)

Although, all research is biased anyway :)

Oh well, I *tried* to take it yesterday but the site was down, and by the time I checked it again it was closed. Too bad!

the pain and confooosledom of those who were not able to scale the god-like heights of immortality connected with successfully answering the latest Wil-Questionnaire Thingy is more than....how you say in eenglish...worrisome...it's....OK....Wil does not love you any less because you chose to live your usual life rather than be glued to this his site 24/7....you can go on about your lives as if nothing happened....Many folk in Europe hardly noticed WW11....they had corn-pops to buy....you see...it's all a matter of degree...don't thank me...

Hey Wil: when they asked if I thought you were extremely attractive, I just had to kinda well say ahem "strongly disagree"...nothing personal buddy. It was well...like that scene in Trains, pLanes and Automobiles:

Where's your hand?

Between two pillows.

Those aren't pillows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, how bout them Bears? (whoof, oh man...)

I'm sure you had enough ex-teeny bopper Wesley-poster-kissing readers to get your numbers up in that category, dude.

Peter

Cripes...i LOVED that question about finding Wil attractive....soooooo totally loaded and funny....he-he...
i think i put neutral....i thought about..."Highly Agree"...but then i thought...."Wil might read this....find me sensitive and spiritual....decide to leave Anne and the kids for me...Do you have any idea of the sort of pressure that would be for Wil...me...Anne...the kids....my wife"?
Cripes...life is one angry whore in tight shoes....

Dang, I didn't get a chance to waste any of my time on the survey!!!

Not to nitpick but...
Just an FYI in the strictest sense of the term there is no such thing as good karma. Karma is gained in your current and previous lives and once you rid yourself of all of it you attain Nirvana.

Let it be known that I will NEVER help a Gator in any way, shape or form.

Go Dawgs!

I tried to do this survey Wil I tried, but I got turned away, much to my dismay (please read comment below when I applied to do survey)!! :(

Poor Me
Bec D/New Zealander living in Oz Land.

________________________________________________
Thank you for being willing to complete the blog survey.

The response to this survey was outstanding & more than 1,070 people completed the survey in one day. Due to this overwhelming & quick response from Wil Wheaton's readers I now have the data needed for this research study.

The survey is now closed.

The results will be made available in June 2004. Thanks again for your willingness to complete this survey.

Regards,

Kaye Trammell
ktrammell@jou.ufl.edu
University of Florida


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