Re: GNOME user survey 2011 (v6)

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Wed, 2011-10-19 at 01:09 +0200, Mark wrote:
> I really want to drop in here.
> I on purposely say "gnome" instead of "you" to avoid giving the
> impression that i attack anyone.

Honestly, given your hostile tone, it instead comes off as if
you're attacking everybody. I'm going to try to assume you're
frustrated, and that you don't mean to offend.

> Some facts.
> 1. Gnome wants feedback but any feedback gathered online is "non
> representative". It has to be gathered from a "non biased" site like
> cnn.com -_- guess the person who said that lives in a dream world or
> under a stone

My objections to the survey are well-documented on this list.
I clearly stated multiple times that an open-invite internet
survey of any kind cannot control its sampling or control for
selection bias in any way.

The person who mentioned CNN didn't say that a survey on cnn.com
would be scientific. He said *all* web surveys self-select, and
that phoronix self-selects moreso. This is simply a product of
who reads the sites, and who you want to reach.

Most of the people who create GNOME are professional developers,
or are working towards becoming professionals. Perhaps surveys
ought to be run by professional statisticians, or quantitative
social science professionals.

And among the many reasons why this survey is clearly biased and
poorly run, let's not forget that cherry-picking negative (and
overtly hostile) comments before the data is even published is
about the least professional thing I've ever seen in a survey.

> 2. Gnome gets feedback on _gnome's_own_list_of_questions_ but it's
> "non representative" ... 

The majority of GNOME developers did not participate in creating
these questions. Of those that did, most were not supportive of
the survey as deployed. To characterize it as "GNOME's own list
of questions" is extremely disingenuous.

> 3. It's "useless"
> 4. Feedback should be looked for just by asking people, not on
> internet.

> Really, is gnome KIDDING me? How unrealistic can gnome be! And if
> phoronix isn't a site for user feedback then what is? For who is Gnome
> even targeted?

I'm sure if you ask a dozen different GNOME developers, you'll get
some different answers. But mostly, I think GNOME targets people
who don't want to think about what terms like "operating system",
"desktop environment", or "distribution" mean.

Many technology enthusiasts enjoy GNOME. In fact, those of us who
create GNOME are technology enthusiasts. But we set the bar higher
than our own tolerance for technology pain.

--
Shaun