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9 October 2000
Referendum Survey Results
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(Note: survey results are posted today; comments on the results, and responses to comments made in survey responses, will follow later this week.)
For one week from Friday Sept 29 through Thursday Oct 5, a survey was posted on this site asking visitors what they thought about Locus Online and what they would like to see from it (or from Locus in general, electronically) in the future. (The now-disabled survey form is here.)
A total of 118 responses were received. No less than 68 of them came in the first day, Friday. There were 13 responses on Saturday, 10 on Sunday, 15 on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday.
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Locus Mag |
Avg |
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News - Main Stories |
3.72 |
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People & Publishing |
3.62 |
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Editorial Matters |
3.47 |
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Data File |
3.45 |
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Books, New & Notable |
3.44 |
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Forthcoming Books |
3.41 |
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Obituaries |
3.29 |
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Reviews * |
3.07 |
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Interviews |
3.04 |
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Books Received |
2.83 |
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Bestsellers |
2.81 |
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Convention Reports |
2.46 |
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British Books Received |
2.19 |
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International Reports |
2.08 |
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Magazines Received |
1.95 |
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Convention Listings |
1.79 |
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Classifieds |
1.63 |
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Locus Online |
Avg |
Avg* |
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SF news |
3.81 |
3.75 |
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News Log |
3.64 |
3.69 |
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Field Inspections |
3.49 |
3.56 |
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Aether Vibrations |
3.13 |
3.00 |
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Letters |
3.11 |
2.69 |
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Editorials |
3.08 |
2.38 |
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New SFFH books |
3.08 |
3.44 |
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Media Refractions |
3.04 |
3.13 |
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New & Notable |
2.98 |
3.69 |
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Future books |
2.91 |
3.56 |
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Links Portal and pages |
2.75 |
2.94 |
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New magazines |
2.61 |
2.50 |
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Locus Index to SF |
2.47 |
2.31 |
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New e-publications |
2.43 |
2.50 |
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New NF books related to SF |
2.42 |
3.00 |
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New NF books |
2.42 |
2.94 |
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Book selections |
2.33 |
3.06 |
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Cumulative listings |
2.31 |
2.19 |
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Locus Index to SF Awards |
2.28 |
2.06 |
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New NF books associated |
2.14 |
2.69 |
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Story selections |
2.08 |
2.19 |
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Future movies |
1.91 |
1.69 |
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SFFH bestsellers |
1.69 |
1.50 |
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Index to book reviews |
1.69 |
1.44 |
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Author interview excerpts |
1.53 |
2.69 |
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Author appearances |
1.53 |
1.38 |
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Locus Bestsellers |
1.52 |
1.88 |
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Index to interviews |
1.44 |
1.44 |
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Convention Listings |
1.31 |
0.88 |
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Classified Ads |
1.31 |
1.38 |
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Banner ads (sffh) |
1.16 |
1.25 |
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Banner ads (other) |
0.53 |
0.88 |
Avg* = average of responses from non-
readers/subscribers of Locus Magazine
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The survey asked for rankings, from 'always' (equivalent to 4) to 'never' (0) of how often you read each section of the site, or how important you think it is even if you don't actually read or consult it very often. The range of responses was deliberately chosen to match the analogous Locus Magazine survey earlier this year.
The results are shown in the table, with the Locus Magazine results reproduced for comparison. (That survey ranked individual reviewers separately; here those results are averaged together.) Of course, the categories do not match exactly; Locus Mag has more news sections; more reviews; complete interviews; comprehensive books and magazines received listings; etc.; while Locus Online has various feature sections (Field Inspections, Media
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Refractions, Aether Vibrations) with no equivalents in the magazine; selected but more elaborate listings of new books and magazines, and of e-publications; etc. The only direct equivalents are the (Locus) Bestsellers, New & Notable books, and Convention Listings, which are reproduced online exactly as they appear in the magazine.
The Locus Online survey results indicate averages for all responses (Avg), and separately (Avg*) for respondents who indicated they do not read Locus Magazine. They were the minority: 66 responses indicated they subscribe; another 33 that they read the magazine; only 16 indicated neither; and 3 didn't answer the question. Thus some of the online results can be interpreted with this in mind. The online interview excerpts ranked quite low, for instance, but this may be simply because most readers have already read the complete interviews in the magazine.
The survey also asked about possible new sections of the website -- more, or additional, reviews, interviews, news sections, etc. -- and then about a variety of more-or-less likely expansions of the website, from putting the entire magazine online, to more comprehensive indexes to the magazine, etc. Those results are shown below.
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New Content |
Avg |
Avg* |
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Other book reviews |
3.21 |
3.50 |
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Other interviews |
3.00 |
3.31 |
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Other short fiction reviews |
2.81 |
3.00 |
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E-publishing news |
2.34 |
2.06 |
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General pub/lit news |
2.33 |
2.13 |
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Photos |
2.11 |
1.75 |
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Complete book review index |
2.10 |
1.81 |
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Movie reviews |
2.05 |
1.75 |
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Convention reports |
2.02 |
1.44 |
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Space and science news |
1.84 |
1.69 |
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Index to obits |
1.84 |
1.63 |
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More movie/TV news |
1.75 |
1.56 |
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Games/comics/anime news |
1.19 |
0.88 |
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New Ideas |
Avg |
Avg* |
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Book review archive |
2.77 |
3.00 |
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Locus Guide to SF |
2.64 |
2.63 |
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All complete reviews online |
2.62 |
3.38 |
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One or two complete reviews online |
2.59 |
3.50 |
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Locus mag online free |
2.52 |
3.63 |
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Index to book reviews in genre mags |
2.46 |
2.56 |
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Locus mag online for subscribers |
2.28 |
1.38 |
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Complete interviews |
2.16 |
2.81 |
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E-mail newsletters |
2.03 |
2.19 |
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Obituary archive |
1.82 |
1.63 |
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Locus Index to SF 2000 protected |
1.81 |
0.81 |
Avg* = average of responses from
non-readers/subscribers of Locus Magazine
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Comments about the responses, about why we asked, and about what Locus's real plans for the future are, will be posted later this week.
--Mark R. Kelly
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