The Big MetaFilter Survey 2015

September 14, 2015 10:18 AM

Please take an informal, light-hearted survey that is designed to let us all discover some fun, fascinating and potentially insightful things about MetaFilter and each other. Here is the link to The Big MetaFilter Survey 2015.

I put this together with the help of comments and MeMails from a wide range of MeFites, largely inspired by this XKCD survey. Special thanks to The Underwear Monster for sparking the initial idea, and aniola and If only I had a penguin... for detailed feedback and suggestions. I'm not a professional survey-maker, and this was strictly a spare-time kind of project, so my apologies if there are questions that are worded poorly, or don't have answers that reflect your experience or preference. I did try to avoid questions that I thought might upset people or cause them to feel uncomfortable, and if I cause any offense with any of the questions, it is unintentional, and I truly apologize. I hope people find it fun and interesting and not too onerous. There are about 100 questions overall, mostly simple yes-or-no type questions.

I want to point out a couple things:

1. As it says in the "Privacy Statement" I appended to the beginning and end of the survey, "While this survey is not designed to collect personally identifying information, the results of this survey will be made public to users and readers of MetaFilter. Theoretically, it may be possible to deduce personally identifying information by combining various responses to this survey and your publicly-available MetaFilter activity. You should not submit a response to this survey if this is a concern. Your responses are not recorded until you click "Submit" at the end of the survey, so you may read the entire survey before deciding to submit your response." I hope that doesn't deter too many people from submitting responses, but I want to make sure people understand that I plan to share this data with others.

2. There are a number of location-based questions that people may take issue with, but I have a couple of MeFites who are interested in mapping the data, so I wanted to include them for people that are comfortable making their location known to one degree or another. Please feel free to ignore those questions, or to obscure your exact location to whatever degree you feel comfortable.

3. Please resist the temptation to submit jokey responses, if you can. While I know that the data is not going to be statistically representative, or used for any concrete purposes, I hope that myself and others can manipulate the data in interesting ways. Introducing inauthentic answers works against that goal. Thanks!

4. If you would like access to the data (or have any other questions about the survey), please email the address I have set up for the Survey: [e-mail]. I will try to respond to MeMails about the survey as well, but it's not nearly as efficient as email. I plan to keep the survey open for a least a couple weeks, and I will share links to the data once I stop receiving responses.

5. I'd love for someone else to prepare another survey, with some of the same and some different questions for 2016, with the idea that this could become an annual survey enabling us to see changes over time.

Thanks again, and have fun!

posted by Rock Steady to MetaFilter-Related at 10:18 AM (237 comments total)

Are you ready to begin the MetaFilter Survey 2015? *
( ) Yes
( ) No


/swoons from indecision
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:22 AM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

Nice tag. You know the one I mean.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:30 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Prediction: 80% of Mefites will answer "no" to the very first question.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 10:31 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

How many siblings do you have?

0

Must be a number greater than 0

/throws only child tantrum
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:32 AM on September 14, 2015 [27 favorites]

How many pets/animals live in your household?

0

Must be a number greater than 0

STOP PRESSURING ME!!!
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:33 AM on September 14, 2015 [18 favorites]

I was a bit taken aback that turkey was listed as a food group but lamb was only included in 'other', yankee imperialism at work again no doubt.
posted by biffa at 10:34 AM on September 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

Same for # of grandparents
posted by tofu_crouton at 10:35 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

How many of your grandparents are still alive

0

Must be a number greater than 0

THEY'RE DEAD I TELLS YA. THEY'RE ALL DEAD.
posted by dinty_moore at 10:35 AM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

Oh no! I'll fix those "greater than 0" ones right now!
posted by Rock Steady at 10:36 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

(I'm putting .00000001 for that one, as that is the percentage of my grandparents that are kept alive in my heart)
posted by dinty_moore at 10:36 AM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

What is your ideal indoor temperature?

I can't answer that one because you didn't define units. And I definitely wouldn't answer it if you defined them as Fahrenheit.
posted by shelleycat at 10:39 AM on September 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

Those number validation ones should be fixed now. Sorry, everyone.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:39 AM on September 14, 2015

FWIW, if you're like me and can't remember which sub-sites you've posted or commented on, you can see that information on your profile page.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:40 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just got stuck on the grandparent one. Will that change need me to start over?
posted by advicepig at 10:41 AM on September 14, 2015

shelleycat: "I can't answer that one because you didn't define units. And I definitely wouldn't answer it if you defined them as Fahrenheit."

Well, I had to pick one, and since I'm in a backwater colony that continues to use Fahrenheit...
posted by Rock Steady at 10:42 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like the question about ideal time to eat an evening meal. That can be quite strongly cultural as well as life-circumstances specific.

When asked for vegetables I kept coming up with words like rabbit or egg, which I think means I should be going to bed soon.
posted by shelleycat at 10:42 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Maybe throw in a little pop-up at the top of the website about this? And/or put it in the sidebar?
posted by Going To Maine at 10:42 AM on September 14, 2015

advicepig: "I just got stuck on the grandparent one. Will that change need me to start over?"

It should be fixed now, advicepig, but I guess if you started before I made the fix, you can leave it blank.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:43 AM on September 14, 2015

OK but you didn't say Fahrenheit on the page so at least some people will give in Celsius and it will be a mess. So you should define it.

I just dislike Fahrenheit on principle because I can't spell it. It's only correct in all these comments because of spellcheck.
posted by shelleycat at 10:43 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Isn't it safe to guess that anything less than 40 is Celsius and anything over 40 is Fahrenheit?

/had to spellcheck both.
posted by dinty_moore at 10:45 AM on September 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

OK wait - so I'm taking the survey and it jumps from a straight-forward question ("How many MeFites live in your household?") to, I guess, is an _opinion_ question? ("Users with ____ posts have made a lot of posts."). Am I putting forth my own personal opinion about what constitutes "a lot of posts"? Or am I reading it wrong?

I would adjust the survey to say, "In your opinion..." to indicate we're now onto subjective questions...
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:46 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Governmental elections: does this mean general elections or any elections at all? Should I count the spoiled protest ballot for my local PCC?
posted by biffa at 10:48 AM on September 14, 2015

A small thing, but you currently cannot unchoose the, what do you call them, where you can choose only one option out of several. Once you click an option, you can't unclick it. I'm not sure if anything can be done about that though. Probably not a thing worth trying to fix anyway, only reason I mention it is because the "what do you call [foodstuff]" is only meaningful for US, I don't call them anything in English, but I clicked "other" and then reconsidered. But you can't undo that.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 10:49 AM on September 14, 2015

(Also, I'm not sure why you're spending time on this little section, e.g., "users who have XX favorites have given a lot of favorites". Surely a number of favorites given over _a certain amount of time_ would be important: for example, 10,000 favorites given over 6 months constitutes 'a lot'; 10,000 favorites given over 15 years, not 'a lot'. Not sure the utility of this segement...)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:49 AM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

To be honest, I don't care what temperature units anyone uses. But I'm a scientist and you always always have to define your units. It's just good practise. And acknowledging that the world has two ways of doing this, rather than just assuming we all do yours, is also nice.

I was going to say that I can always spell Celsius but actually, I got that wrong too the first time up there (pre-spellcheck). So it turns out I have no excuse for my weird prejudice.
posted by shelleycat at 10:51 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

"What is the best thing you have learned or discovered on MetaFilter and/or the subsites?"

This is an extremely big text box in survey terms, and invites more than one response. Do you literally just want one? Because that's very very hard to do - whereas I immediately thought of several and began typing them in.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:52 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Living in a climate where comfortable temp varies greatly with what you are currently acclimated to, I answered based on today's weather. In a few months, I will find that temperature unbearably hot.
posted by advicepig at 10:53 AM on September 14, 2015

Pyrogenesis: "Once you click an option, you can't unclick it."

Hmm. Yeah, if that's a problem it's inherent to Google Forms, and not something I can do anything about.

As far as interpretation type issues (what constitutes an election, one vs several things you've learned on MeFi) I'll have to say just interpret it to the best of your ability and answer how you like. Some of them are vague-ish on purpose, others due to my own incompetence, but I don't want to refine the meaning of questions now that responses are coming in. Sorry!
posted by Rock Steady at 10:57 AM on September 14, 2015

temperature comfort varies between winter and summer.


3. Please resist the temptation to submit jokey responses, if you can.
oh. oooops.
posted by theora55 at 11:12 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

No question about pants wearing habits?

This survey is incomplete.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 11:13 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I was going to say that I can always spell Celsius but actually, I got that wrong too the first time up there (pre-spellcheck).

It's really easy to spell once you're used to it! Like, say, typing it into countless login forms across the Internet for decades.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:13 AM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

I measure my temperature in degrees Rankine.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:15 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

WHERE ARE THE SEX QUESTIONS?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:17 AM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

Okay I'll just get on with it then.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:25 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do you listen to any of the MetaFilter podcasts?

Does this only include the main podcast which is a long round up of links (which I don't listen to), or does it also include Out of the Blue (which I loved the inaugural episode of and want to hear more).
posted by sparklemotion at 11:33 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

It was over too soon! I wanted it to get weird!
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:46 AM on September 14, 2015 [19 favorites]

What kind of people have never eaten ice cream, and do they lurk among us?
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:49 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Seconding too short, too unweird. Also, I flipped out on fifth US specific question in a row. I had to start over.
posted by hat_eater at 11:51 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I could not answer the first food question as it was all meat-based! I wanted weirder questions, too.

I also learned that I apparently do not have a word that squicks me out.
posted by Kitteh at 12:03 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

WHERE ARE THE SEX QUESTIONS?!

"What's something you used to think was fictitious but it turned out to be real?"
posted by Rangi at 12:04 PM on September 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

WHERE ARE THE SEX QUESTIONS?!

"What's something you used to think was fictitious but it turned out to be real?"

The Rusty Venture? No, no, the Double Frogman.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:06 PM on September 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

That's pretty damn perfect y'all!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:16 PM on September 14, 2015

Heh I got away with minus one siblings
posted by Namlit at 12:19 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

WHERE ARE THE SEX QUESTIONS?!

The questionnaire was created by Rock Steady.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 12:19 PM on September 14, 2015

Not enough disgusting earwax questions.
posted by Diskeater at 12:21 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

Looking forward to seeing results but frankly, if most of us don't pronounce it "mee-fye", I may lose faith in the entire operation.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:22 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

"How many pets/animals live in your household?" Human beings are animals. Switch to 'pets' for clarity.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 12:25 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Why is earwax not listed as a food type?
posted by Wordshore at 12:29 PM on September 14, 2015

The questionnaire was created by Rock Steady.

You mean he's going do that again and again and again?

I'm already excited.

(Really, it was THE BEST Big MetaFilter Survey I ever took! Also the first, but I digress.)
posted by hat_eater at 12:30 PM on September 14, 2015

i have some non standard answers, but they aren't jokey, they are just the only way i could get through the answer.
posted by nadawi at 12:31 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, just wanted to note that the 4 "pets/animals" that live in my household included the livestock, but not the bees because having ~10,004 animals in my household might have skewed things.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:39 PM on September 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

No language question! But I enjoyed it anyway.
posted by languagehat at 12:41 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Did I do it right?
Do I get to stay now?
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:42 PM on September 14, 2015

What do you picture when you hear "a plate of beans"?

Is that a trick question or am I supposed to specify what type of beans I am visualizing? Or am I supposed to name a user? Did I over think that?
posted by AugustWest at 12:44 PM on September 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

The 'Have you ever had sexual relations with another MeFite?' question is confusing. MeFites are also animals. Is this question about bestiality? Bestiality is a crime in my country.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:45 PM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

Pony request for this survey -- could we please add "as God intended" after every answer I select? Thank you!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:46 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

I got 86% pure, how'd everyone else do?
posted by backseatpilot at 12:47 PM on September 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

I got confused and answered Goatse to the wrong question :( If I retake the questionnaire, is the original deleted i.e. some kind of cookie, or IP address, checking is going on?
posted by Wordshore at 12:50 PM on September 14, 2015

Not only am I violently ticklish, I will deck you. Don't even try.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:51 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ice Cream Flavor?
Chocolate
Vanilla
No Preference
I don't eat ice cream

No fill-in-the-blank? 'No preference' is that the same as 'kahlua almond fudge'.
posted by QuakerMel at 12:52 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I got confused and answered Goatse to the wrong question

story of my life
posted by backseatpilot at 12:52 PM on September 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

I thought I was the only person who hates the word "munch!"
posted by radioamy at 12:53 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

And "nourish" - fuck nourish.
posted by radioamy at 12:53 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK wait - so I'm taking the survey and it jumps from a straight-forward question ("How many MeFites live in your household?") to, I guess, is an _opinion_ question? ("Users with ____ posts have made a lot of posts."). Am I putting forth my own personal opinion about what constitutes "a lot of posts"? Or am I reading it wrong?

I would adjust the survey to say, "In your opinion..." to indicate we're now onto subjective questions...

No. These questions have objectively correct answers which can be determined through the proper application of Marxist-Leninist science. I can't believe people don't get this.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:54 PM on September 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

Really, it was THE BEST Big MetaFilter Survey I ever took! Also the first, but I digress.

"It was the best of MetaFilter surveys, it was the worst of MetaFilter surveys..."
posted by Wordshore at 12:54 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

- In what country is your primary residence?
Answer choices: A list of all countries in the world.

- Chopped/pulled pork barbecue?
Answer choices: South Carolina, Eastern Carolina, or Western Carolina style.

hahaha
posted by clearlydemon at 12:56 PM on September 14, 2015 [16 favorites]

Does a jukebox count as a record player? We had two jukeboxes but no record players (not a joke, we really did).
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:56 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not only am I violently ticklish, I will deck you. Don't even try.

No sex questions.
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:58 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

You forgot Music Talk from the list of MeFi subsites. Everyone forgets Music Talk.
posted by Kattullus at 1:10 PM on September 14, 2015

I would like to imagine that Music Talk has developed into a strange and incomprehensible subculture all its own, inhabited by Mefites who never interact with the rest of the site and have their own in-jokes and cant and rituals, and I am certainly not going to disabuse myself of this entertaining fantasy by actually going there.
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:20 PM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

"How many pets/animals live in your household?" Human beings are animals. Switch to 'pets' for clarity.

Spiders are also animals. They like to hide, though, so I am afraid I can't produce an accurate count.
posted by thefoxgod at 1:41 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Governmental elections: does this mean general elections or any elections at all? Should I count the spoiled protest ballot for my local PCC?"

Since I put that into the pot in a previous thread, and I've answered it, I counted every election that had governmental balloting, i.e. including primaries and a vote for Nader. I was curious about the relative levels of political participation and thought that it could be inferred roughly as a per-year measurement if we knew a member's age (acknowledging that the age of majority may be different in different places).
posted by klangklangston at 1:41 PM on September 14, 2015

WHERE IS TOILET PAPER ROLL ORIENTATION

THIS "EXPERIMENT" IS A FRAUD
posted by poffin boffin at 1:50 PM on September 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

I managed to figure out what that whole Fahrenheit tomfoolery was all about, but you lost me when it came to asking about my "favorite" "color".

I demand my refund denominated in snowflakes! No foreign funnymunny, please!
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 2:09 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

prize bull octorok: "It was over too soon! I wanted it to get weird!"

My daughter is not going to believe there is a group of people that think I am not weird enough.

languagehat: "No language question! But I enjoyed it anyway."

Yeah, I wanted to ask about that, but I couldn't think of a reasonable way to do it that would also be useful, datawise. Maybe in the future someone using a more powerful survey tool can do it well.

poffin boffin: "WHERE IS TOILET PAPER ROLL ORIENTATION"

Toilet paper goes overhand. It is known. Not up for discussion.

Kattullus: "You forgot Music Talk from the list of MeFi subsites. Everyone forgets Music Talk."

I guess I consider Music Talk and FanFare Talk a part of their respective subsites. Maybe I'm wrong!

And thanks to everyone who has participated. Over 200 responses already! 28% of you dislike the word "moist"! 53% of you do not wear shoes in the house! 8% of you are not sure if you have had sex with a MeFite!
posted by Rock Steady at 2:10 PM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

"How many pets/animals live in your household?" Human beings are animals. Switch to 'pets' for clarity.

>Spiders are also animals. They like to hide, though, so I am afraid I can't produce an accurate count.

How many spiders are on your person at this very moment?
__ none
__ no no no no no no no
posted by phunniemee at 2:10 PM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

I am currently accidentally eating one of my seven requisite annual spiders.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:12 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

That's smart. It really sucks if you save em all to the end of the year and suddenly it's New Year's Eve and you're knocking back champagne and spiders like they're going out of style.
posted by phunniemee at 2:17 PM on September 14, 2015 [23 favorites]

Spiders?
__ Buffalo
__ Teriyaki
__ Cool Ranch
posted by Rock Steady at 2:18 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

No plants on the first food question? That's mostly what some folks eat. I want a refund.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:19 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

New Spider Brut: From Moet & Chandon
posted by shakespeherian at 2:19 PM on September 14, 2015

clearlydemon, one of those choices is your favorite, even if you don't know it yet.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:22 PM on September 14, 2015

Johnny Wallflower: "No plants on the first food question? That's mostly what some folks eat. I want a refund."

Yeah, the point of that question is basically "Are you a vegetarian, and if so, to what degree?" I actually added that question specifically because aniola mentioned that a lot of the food questions were animal-product based, so I thought it would be good to let MetaFilter's vegetarians be counted. Sorry if it had the opposite feeling, but I got the wording from somewhere that suggested you get more accurate data if you ask people what they do eat rather than what they don't.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:33 PM on September 14, 2015

Toilet paper goes overhand. It is known. Not up for discussion.

I knowed you was alright.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:40 PM on September 14, 2015

Gotcha, Rock Steady. Good call.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:42 PM on September 14, 2015

no "what instrument do you play as a profession"

wimper
posted by Namlit at 2:50 PM on September 14, 2015

What instrument do you play as a profession, and how much do you rely on shoplifting to feed yourself?
posted by shakespeherian at 2:51 PM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

If you play an instrument for a profession and you locked your keys in the car, how long would it take you to find some way to get the bass player out?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:10 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

The survey that started this thread is pretty awesome and will yield some interesting data. I enjoyed participating.

Here's a slightly shorter and weirder survey. I put literally 20 minutes into it. Here is a link to edit the survey. Anyone can edit this survey. I consider it public property.

Here is the resulting uneditable spreadsheet.
posted by aniola at 3:25 PM on September 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

No question about pants wearing habits?

I swear this is what came to mind when I read that.
posted by moonmilk at 3:29 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

No question about pants wearing habits?

I think we all know the answer to that one without the survey.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:39 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

You take the drummer first, then go back in with the bass player, then get the vocalist, otherwise the drummer eats the vocalist while you're crossing the river

"When you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried the tune."
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:01 PM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

(I can edit the spreadsheet, but I promise not to.)
posted by aniola at 4:05 PM on September 14, 2015

Pretty good, and thanks for taking the lead and setting it up!

My feedback for next year:

- some of the questions with text fields were way too broad to be answerable, like the ones about favorite genres. I don't think they're going to yield much.

- most of the multiple choice questions that didn't have "Other" fields could have had "Other" fields, just to ensure you scrape up every little piece of data and don't leave anything behind.

- I would put the location-based and other "sensitive" questions at the end. Knowing what I already said, it would give me a better idea of how much IRL stuff I feel comfortable revealing. Instead I played it safe, and then when it was over I felt like it would have been fine. I think you will get more data that way. I didn't fill that stuff in because I was heeding your privacy warnings, then I submitted it and felt like I didn't really say anything identifying.

- MOAR QUESTIONS! Surveys are fun.
posted by bleep at 4:16 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think the favorite ice-cream should have a text box for all of us who are not super enthused for chocolate or vanilla, in favor of mint chocolate chip or butter pecan.

Thanks for making the survey. It's fun.
posted by Margalo Epps at 4:23 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

God damn you all, I will say "Meh-Fee-Tay" until the day they put me in the ground.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:23 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

(I can edit the spreadsheet, but I promise not to.)

I can't, but if someone tells me how to I promise to edit only my own Yes/No answer. No need to wait for the rest of the results though, I'm calling it now: Metafilter is for spiders, and cats.
posted by sfenders at 4:25 PM on September 14, 2015

MINT CHIP!!!
posted by aniola at 4:26 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

sfenders has permission to edit the spreadsheet.
posted by aniola at 4:28 PM on September 14, 2015

8% of you are not sure if you have had sex with a MeFite!

Dear 8%,

Do you masturbate? If so, you've had sex with a MeFite.

You're welcome.
posted by romakimmy at 4:34 PM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

I'm guessing that would be whoever has the username "sfenders" on google? You can ask them to set O6 to a "Mu" or something.
posted by sfenders at 4:41 PM on September 14, 2015

Was this the middle 'murican mefi survey, lots of food and not much sex and what about the cat.
posted by adamvasco at 5:26 PM on September 14, 2015

I so much wanted to elaborate on pets: I love one dog more than the other, for defensible reasons, and the parrot hates me.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:33 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

a good-looking spider NEVER goes out of style
I'm looking to invest in a really good quality pair of spiders.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:03 PM on September 14, 2015

The correct orientation for toilet paper is the opposite of whatever the cats want.
posted by aubilenon at 6:17 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

Toilet paper goes overhand. It is known.

It is known.
posted by blurker at 6:55 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

"sex with a MeFite" was an odd question for me, as it followed "have you met someone who turned out to later be a MeFite" and the opposite of whatever that question was. Neither is true - I bought my husband (with whom I have sex) a gift membership; however, the order and context of the questions made me feel a little ... trampy? Anyways....FUN SURVEY!!!
posted by ersatzkat at 7:07 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

72% spider pie.

SWEET VALIDATION!
posted by carsonb at 7:34 PM on September 14, 2015

"sex with a MeFite" was an odd question for me, as it followed "have you met someone who turned out to later be a MeFite"

Yes, the knowing someone who became a MeFite didn't seem to be an option there. At least it also asked afterward if you lived with a MeFite. (Though I s'pose those don't have to be the same people.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:45 PM on September 14, 2015

I apparently skimmed the one about disliking certain words because I know I don't have the thing where words like "moist" or whatever give you the shivers. But I saw radioamy's comment and realized I didn't catch "munch."

So I'd like to use this comment to register my official hatred of the word "munch." Fuck you, munch.

Also I made a joke answer. I'm sorry.
posted by univac at 8:08 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, if this happens yearly I vote we call it the MeFi Census.
posted by univac at 8:10 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

"At the risk of being overly-pedantic: a good-looking spider NEVER goes out of style"

"We are not crazy cats! We are Spiders!"
posted by klangklangston at 8:12 PM on September 14, 2015

Also, if this happens yearly I vote we call it the MeFi Census.


I vote we call it DoublePlusGoodMeFiCens.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:16 PM on September 14, 2015

What is your favorite color?

About fifteen years ago, at my previous job, I had to place a service call for an ancient workstation. It was past end-of-life, so the support tech had to conference in the supplier to order the replacement part we needed. To complete the transaction the supplier's rep (I will never forget her, because she's the only person named Circe I've ever encountered) made me establish a user account, complete with challenge questions, the last of which was:

"What is your favorite color?"

I immediately replied, "Green. No, blue!"

Circe didn't get it, because she said, "Blue, that's a pretty color," but the support tech said, "Actually, it's from Monty Python."

Confession: I could not resist responding similarly to the MetaFilter Survey.
posted by ogooglebar at 9:04 PM on September 14, 2015

I was just horrified startled to realise I had been bouncing around on metafilter for nearly a decade now when I checked to answer one question. That's a lot of beans.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:29 PM on September 14, 2015

There should also be a question about how you pronounce #1's username.
posted by birdsquared at 11:04 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Ice Cream Flavor?
Chocolate
Vanilla
No Preference
I don't eat ice cream

This made me sad because it made me realise that Rock Steady has clearly never had the majesty that is hokey pokey ice cream.
posted by shelleycat at 11:24 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

OOooo. At some point I should make homemade hokey pokey ice cream. I forgot about hokey pokey ice cream!
posted by aniola at 12:01 AM on September 15, 2015

No question about pants wearing habits?


I just woke up from a dream about pants. It should have been that classic anxiety dream where you keep showing up places (class, work, grocery store) with no pants.
Except dream me is evidently much calmer than real me. My dream reaction was basically "dammit, no pants. Why can I not keep my pants on today? Now I have to go find more pants!"

Also I am so not ready to answer the survey, so I will do it later. After I find some pants.
posted by nat at 12:03 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

- pi is 3.14 pounds of delicious crust, berries, sugars, and spices.
- 50% of all mefites who responded believe that there are 8 slices in a pie. 20% want to know what KIND of pie.
- aside from common sweeteners, there's also strawberries and hope
- cats > birds
- cheese > chocolate
- the blue > the green > the sea-foam green > the grey > the map > everything else
- at least half of mefites who responded are experiencing fall/autumn
- a year can mean a lot of things
- the most certain favorite flour product was SEITAN and the least certain responses were churros? and Bread?. There was, of course, also the sifter.
- Mefites overwhelmingly prefer spiders (when given the option)
- 2/3 of mefites who responded chose yes over no.

source
posted by aniola at 12:36 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the good work. Interesting.
You lucked out and included the correct answer in the too-short bbq item (vinegar is the one true way).
That ice cream question tho
posted by Mngo at 1:31 AM on September 15, 2015

"My roommates and I thought it would be funny to lie on the 2000 census. It was funny, but that's also how our district got an additional 17 seats in the House."

How Many Persons Live in This Household: 10,999,002 10,999,003 (including my roommate's unemployed cousin who sleeps on the couch; everyone else has their own bedroom).
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:32 AM on September 15, 2015

So many questions!!

I got Zayn from One Direction as my boyfriend, I am 65% New Yorker, and I am Leslie Knope based on my zodiac sign.

Thanks Rock Steady!!
posted by kinetic at 2:53 AM on September 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Mefites overwhelmingly prefer spiders (when given the option)

I was given the option to prefer neither, and I'm eternally grateful for that.
posted by hat_eater at 5:48 AM on September 15, 2015

Whiskey?
Single malt
Bourbon
No Preference
I don't drink whiskey
Other:

A single malt is whisky, bourbon is whiskey. I don't drink whiskey but I do drink (scotch) single malts. What do I answer?

(inner pedant heaves sigh of relief at getting this off his chest)

And temperature is measured in Kelvin
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 6:46 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Fahrenheit

Life is too short, sorry.
posted by bonehead at 6:49 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

How many pieces of pizza is a lot for someone to eat in one sitting?

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH PIZZA!
posted by xqwzts at 7:06 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not to mention that we don't even know how big the pizza is, and into how many slices it's been cut.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:09 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH PIZZA!

I was disappointed that this was a numbers-only field because the real answer is "whatever I eat, +1."
posted by phunniemee at 7:23 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I was disappointed that this was a numbers-only field because the real answer is "whatever I eat, +1."

I tried to think of the largest number of slices I would ever eat and then added one to that.
posted by grouse at 7:28 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

There's also the "however many pieces of pizza there are total, minus however many I want to eat, +1" which, if we're being honest, is the more accurate way to phrase it.
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

the majesty that is hokey pokey ice cream

I found this when we visited New Zealand and fell in Love. It's not available in North America, and I thought I would never again taste such sweet perfection. Then we visited Scotland and Lo! there appeared a stand selling Mackie's Honeycomb. Just as good! Also not available in North America! <sob>
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:38 AM on September 15, 2015

You can buy vanilla icecream in the US and then add honeycomb as a topping. Honeycomb is available for sale or you can diy if you want the fair trade version.
posted by aniola at 7:47 AM on September 15, 2015

A single malt is whisky, bourbon is whiskey. I don't drink whiskey but I do drink (scotch) single malts. What do I answer?

I picked Other and wrote Scotch. I don't really know much about the subject, but I know what I like and apparently it's called Scotch.

Bug Report: the ice cream question is missing the "coffe" option.

RockSteady, did I miss where you said when the results will be posted? This was really fun and I'm looking forward to seeing what people do with the data.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:47 AM on September 15, 2015

I tried to take this, realized how long it was, and bailed. I will try to take it again later.
posted by The Whelk at 7:50 AM on September 15, 2015

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 7:58 AM on September 15, 2015

Room 641-A: "RockSteady, did I miss where you said when the results will be posted? This was really fun and I'm looking forward to seeing what people do with the data."

I'll give it a couple weeks to let straggler responses come in and then repost in the thread once I've closed the survey. Shoot an email to [e-mail] and I will be sure to alert you directly.

I should have phrased the ice cream question better - it was supposed to be something more like "If forced to choose, do you choose vanilla or chocolate?" rather than "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" but now that I know it exists, I'm going to have to try making some hokey pokey - my wife and I love honey in all its variants.

Also, I've been browsing through the "What's the best thing you've learned from MeFi?" answers this morning and they are both hilarious and heartwarming. A significant number of answers mention tolerance, privilege, emotional labor, trans* awareness and/or feminism, while others call out QWOP or "Punch 'Em In The Dick".

stoneweaver: "Follow through is the best quality"

Yeah, and it's actually not one of my strong suits, so I'm pretty chuffed that I at least managed to get this off the ground.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:17 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

You can buy vanilla icecream in the US and then add honeycomb as a topping

Not the same, at least to me. The Kiwi version is honeycomb bits in honeycomb ice cream and the Scottish version is honeycomb bits in their "Traditional" flavo(u)r, which doesn't contain vanilla. I appreciate your concern.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:20 AM on September 15, 2015

I'm going to have to try making some hokey pokey - my wife and I love honey in all its variants

N.B. - the "honeycomb" in this case is not the bee product, but a candy also known as cinder toffee. It's the stuff in Crunchie bars. N.B.B. - Violet Crumble is not an acceptable substitute.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:26 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

> the real answer is "whatever I eat, +1."

This is how I answered the "a lot of X" questions: anyone who makes more posts/comments/etc. than I have is making a lot of 'em. Jokey but also the most accurate answer I could come up with.

> Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

I realize you're probably (I hope) being "ironic" but this kind of discourse is still poisonous.
posted by languagehat at 8:48 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I did enjoy doing this. Pity about the timing, otherwise a question about popping could have been considered, on reflection.
posted by Wordshore at 8:55 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Kiwi version is honeycomb bits in honeycomb ice cream

No it's not, it's hokey pokey pieces in plain ice cream. Tip Top is the canonical version and all else is a pale (but occasionally acceptable) imitation.

Hokey pokey is really easy to make. We make it in chemistry class age 12-13 years - or did back in my day and I'd be surprised if they stopped. You need proper Golden Syrup though, the British stuff is fine. Then sugar and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) like so. It has nothing to do with honey.

Crunchie bars are technically hokey pokey but the texture is all wrong and the taste too strong, home made is far superior. So is the stuff in the ice cream.
posted by shelleycat at 9:22 AM on September 15, 2015

Oh god. I just checked the Tip Top website and they say it is hokey pokey flavoured ice cream. It doesn't taste like it and maybe I'm no longer a real kiwi?
posted by shelleycat at 9:25 AM on September 15, 2015

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.


I'm not racist- I'm ageist! I want young people of all races, cultures, or socioeconomic backgrounds to stop saying this!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:28 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

A single malt is whisky, bourbon is whiskey. I don't drink whiskey but I do drink (scotch) single malts. What do I answer?

I believe there is some regional variation in spelling, here. In the US, you seldom see it spelled "whisky," except on bottles of scotch. On bar menus, single malts, blended scotches, bourbons, as well as Irish, Canadian and/or Japanese whiskies will all be listed under "whiskey," unless maybe it's some kind of fancy bar that specializes in different sorts of whiskey, in which case they might make the "whisky" vs. "whiskey" distinction.

I don't drink bourbon, but I do drink scotch, and I particularly like single malts (though blends are good, too), so I answered single malt.
posted by breakin' the law at 9:32 AM on September 15, 2015

Not to mention that we don't even know how big the pizza is, and into how many slices it's been cut.

What if the pizza is cut into squares? Are those considered "slices" too?
posted by dogwalker at 9:58 AM on September 15, 2015

I'm gonna speak up in favor of simple vanilla vs. chocolate. If you add in a bunch of different flavors or a free text box you'll dilute the answers, and most ice cream flavors fall more-or-less into a "chocolate" or "vanilla" category. If your favorite flavor is butter pecan, you are more of a vanilla person. If it's kahlua almond fudge, you are more of a chocolate person. You could add something for fruit-flavored ice cream (strawberry?) and perhaps mint (because I don't really know what to do with that), but I think the options should be kept relatively simple. On some level, you gotta make a decision, people.
posted by breakin' the law at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

they say it is hokey pokey flavoured ice cream. It doesn't taste like it and maybe I'm no longer a real kiwi?

No, you're so accustomed to the awesome base flavo(u)r that it's just sweet, sweet background noise to you. Kinda like the way Americans are used to Hershey's milk chocolate. Only you have it better.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:11 AM on September 15, 2015

I have no problem with choosing between chocolate vs vanilla. But then you need to make that the actual question using actual words, whereas this just said "Ice Cream Flavor?". Since I don't choose either of those flavours by default but I do eat a lot of ice cream, there were no answers for me and I just skipped it.

I actually skipped quite a few of the poorly defined questions. Like the pizza slice one, that makes no sense at all to me as written since there is no standard size corresponding to "one pizza slice", it varies based on how you cut it in the first place. Different slices of the same pizza can even be the same size, so while one person eats two another eats one and still has more pizza. Maybe there's some weird cultural baggage in that question that I am missing, but that also makes it a bad question for an international audience.

I understand the reason for making it more ambiguous is to get a wider range of answers, but I don't really see the point of being so vague that all meaning is lost. But, again, I'm a scientist and value things like defined units and stated assumptions more than average (and possibly too much).
posted by shelleycat at 10:15 AM on September 15, 2015

Only you have it better.

Except that I live in Germany where pizzas come unsliced and ice cream comes without hokey pokey.
posted by shelleycat at 10:16 AM on September 15, 2015

I get I can technically just say yes to the sexual relations question, but it'd have been great to have the option to mark that the person is a spouse/SO.
posted by michaelh at 10:26 AM on September 15, 2015

Just wanted to pop in to apologise for defaulting to smart-alec (maybe the "plz be serious" could be after the privacy statement?) and to nitpick that "non-alcoholic flavored beverage" should also specify "carbonated" going by the range of answer options and there could usefully be a "none" in the body mods question
posted by runincircles at 10:33 AM on September 15, 2015

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

I’ll take both, I guess? That’s depressing.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:14 AM on September 15, 2015

OK, done. And I will be totally identifiable in the results.

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

Guess you can put me in those categories, then. Nothing against the word, this is just me not liking it for whatever reason. Feels weird in my mouth, is mostly it. I kinda hoped the survey would show the level of diversity of this place, but I guess people will use the data to sort us into groups however they want.
posted by nubs at 11:33 AM on September 15, 2015

And Rock Steady, thanks for doing this - I'll be in touch about the results, and I'm also curious to see about working on one for next year.
posted by nubs at 11:34 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wait, it's over...? I wasn't ready for it to be over.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:39 AM on September 15, 2015

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

I'd love it if this comment did not derail the thread entirely. I do think there are some interesting questions that touch on race when it comes to that word and opposition to it, but it is currently the most unpleasant word in the list, with 42% of MeFites disliking it ("panties" is in second place with 35.9%) and I don't think it is going to be helpful to begin the discussion with such inflammatory language.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:44 AM on September 15, 2015

i don't even know which race i am supposedly meant to associate it with? the first time i ever saw it, it was being used by non-korean kpop fans to refer to kpop stars.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:47 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Bae" is, like most recent American slang, African-American in origin.
posted by Etrigan at 11:53 AM on September 15, 2015

Germany where pizzas come unsliced

Let me guess, it's considered a character defect if you let someone else cut your food?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:15 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

*Everything* you do differently than me is a character defect.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:22 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Guys, it's not spelled "Fahrenheit," it's spelled "Freedom Units." Like, "It's 62 Freedom Units today, good football weather!"
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:08 PM on September 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Okay, looks like it is my turn to have an "I'm too old for this shit" moment. I grew up in the Soviet Union, but due to circumstances we got our first PC in 1986, which was basically unheard of at the time. I've been online since good old IDSL days of 1996 or so. I worked in a software company for a couple of years. And right now I'm trying to get what "bae" is supposed to mean, and wtf? I'm at a complete loss. Some dudes sleeping or pretending to, related to some meme or what? Which is related to cooking somehow? What's the relation to race? I... can't follow this at all.

I think I just officially became old.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 1:23 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's real football, the one where you almost never touch the ball with your foot.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:28 PM on September 15, 2015

The etymology of "football" is games played on foot, as opposed to horseback, not "hit the ball with your feet" and although it's a fallacy that etymology determines meaning, it's also the case that just because people now associate one usage of "football" with "hitting the ball with your foot" doesn't mean that another usage is wrong because it conflicts with that view.

Also, Fahrenheit is a temperature scale designed around the extremes of the outdoor environments that humans typically inhabit. Celsius, in contrast, is not.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:41 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, Fahrenheit is a temperature scale designed around the extremes of the outdoor environments that humans typically inhabit. Celsius, in contrast, is not.

We regret to inform the general public that due to global warming, we are unpegging Fahrenheit from the freezing & boiling points of water, & will now float on the open temperature market, relative to the new extremes of human experience.

As of this AM 100 degrees F was trading at 40 C, moving towards 40.5C on tomorrow's futures exchange.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:14 PM on September 15, 2015 [13 favorites]

Whoa dudes, man, like if I am hearing a plate of beans, there's no telling what the visuals will be like.

(Synthetic, "Stonerese" disclaimer.)
posted by Oyéah at 2:16 PM on September 15, 2015

"What color is a plate of baes and how do you feel about it?"
posted by Going To Maine at 2:20 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ivan Fyodorovich: The etymology of "football" is games played on foot, as opposed to horseback, not "hit the ball with your feet" and although it's a fallacy that etymology determines meaning, it's also the case that just because people now associate one usage of "football" with "hitting the ball with your foot" doesn't mean that another usage is wrong because it conflicts with that view.

Late medieval references to football group it with hockey and handball, not against horseback sports. Pretty much all that can be said for sure about medieval football is that it seems to have involved kicking the ball. The reason so many varieties of football (association, American, Australian etc.) are called football is that they evolved at roughly the same time from the same game, which was called football, though many regional variations existed, and may have something to do with the modern variety of rules, Association football was the only one to ban all but goalkeepers from touching the ball with their arms.
posted by Kattullus at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, Fahrenheit is a temperature scale designed around the extremes of the outdoor environments that humans typically inhabit. Celsius, in contrast, is not.

Yeah, God knows 0 = freezing and 100 = boiling could break a person's brain with its illogic.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:34 PM on September 15, 2015 [11 favorites]

Yeah, God knows 0 = freezing and 100 = boiling could break a person's brain with its illogic.
posted by Celsius1414

epony-splainable!
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:45 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I am totally on board with metric being superior to the imperial system but when it comes to temperature, I just feel Celsius loses something in the translation. When I want to whine about how hot it is, 104 degrees just sounds more impressive than 41 degrees.
posted by bgal81 at 2:55 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Ivan Fyodorovich:

"Also, Fahrenheit is a temperature scale designed around the extremes of the outdoor environments that humans typically inhabit. Celsius, in contrast, is not."

My wife and I struggle on a daily basis because of our irreconcilable differences when it comes to defining "extreme" in the context of the environment we inhabit. Extremely cold to her means I'm rather comfortable. Comfortable to her means I'm about to suffer a heatstroke.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:55 PM on September 15, 2015

Why do you dislike the word "bae"
[] Something to do with being racist and uncool.
[] What? Is that supposed to be a real word?
[] I dinnae ken, wha kynd o unco ill-speak be this bae?
[] Transferred a dislike of "babe" or "baby" to this similar neologism.
[] Resentment of the replacement of "babe" or "baby" which were perfectly good.
[] General disdain regarding monosyllabic vocabulary.
[] Automatic dislike of anything new.
[] I love the word "bae"! It's soft and pleasant and gender-neutral, as easy to slip out of your mouth as the other really basic words a child first learns, like "ma" and "pa". It's wonderful, and I imagine I'll be saying it as a pet name for the rest of my life, constantly.
posted by sfenders at 3:17 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Yeah, God knows 0 = freezing and 100 = boiling could break a person's brain with its illogic."

Apparently, only about a third of Americans know that the temperature at which water boils varies with altitude -- for people with post-graduate education, it rises only to about half.

But I wasn't asserting that one scale or the other was "illogical". That Fahrenheit is "illogical" is the sort of nonsense that many people assert -- in countering that, I wasn't arguing that Celsius was necessarily illogical.

The freezing temperature of water is a meaningful temperature to a large portion of humanity, but the boiling temperature isn't. It exists within the vast range of "injuriously hot". But 100F is a meaningful temperature to a large portion of humanity -- it's right around the upper boundary of outdoor temperatures in environments where many people live. Similarly, 0F is right around the lower boundary. The vast majority of humanity lives in climates where the mean annual temperatures are between 10C and 16C ... which is between 50F and 65F. A large portion of that group will see winter lows around 0F, another portion will see summer highs around 100F, and some of the remainder will see both or not too far away from them. Fahrenheit makes a lot of sense as a temperature scale used to describe human experience of environmental temperature.

I don't have any particular affection for Fahrenheit, and I'd prefer that the US adopt the SI, but it's a mistake to argue that Fahrenheit is more arbitrary and less meaningful than Celsius. They're each arbitrary and meaningful in different respects.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:24 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

The freezing temperature of water is a meaningful temperature to a large portion of humanity, but the boiling temperature isn't.

There are billions of people cooking food that might disagree with you.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:35 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I have a spelling dislike for ae words. It feels incorrect, like they should be spelt ea but have been reversed deliberately to be quirky like fae, another word I dislike strongly to, or because they have a spelling exception which I dreaded as a kid who had a vocabulary and self taught spelling style that was always out of sync. Bae makes me immediately think I've misspelt something, ahhh make it go away. Rofl is another acronymy-word that used to make me since for the same reason.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:47 PM on September 15, 2015

it's a mistake to argue that Fahrenheit is more arbitrary

One could argue that. But one should first visit wikipedia if the word "frigorific" is not already familiar.
posted by sfenders at 3:47 PM on September 15, 2015

There are billions of people cooking food that might disagree with you.

You don't need to know numerical temperature in order to cook food unless you're doing some very specific modern technique. "Apply heat until phase change" is how cooking works. People somehow managed to cook food for centuries before thermometers were a thing.
posted by phunniemee at 3:51 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

People somehow managed to cook food for centuries before thermometers were a thing.

Oh yeah? Explain the paleo diet!
ヽ(ಠ0ಠ)ﾉ
posted by Going To Maine at 3:58 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

But one should first visit wikipedia if the word "frigorific" is not already familiar.

If you want to be technical, note that Celsius is no longer defined by the boiling point and freezing point of water. It's defined by absolute zero (−273.15 °C) and the triple point of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (0.01 °C).

If you want to be really technical, note that Fahrenheit is now defined by the same physical properties as well, since it's defined exactly in terms of Kelvin or Celsius.
posted by grouse at 4:01 PM on September 15, 2015

Maintaining the use of Farenheit is just US contrarianism at this point.
posted by robcorr at 4:09 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I remember in the 70s we started learning the metric system for the inevitable and impending US conversion we were promised.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:18 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Done. Though I'm annoyed I didn't have an option to say that I don't really believe in universal Ask/Guess Culture, at least as described in the link.
posted by maryr at 4:32 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

I'm a middle-aged white guy, "racist" and "uncool" are written into my job description.
posted by MikeMc at 4:42 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Anybody know what temperature a plate of beans freezes at?
posted by dogwalker at 4:48 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Anybody know what temperature a plate of beans freezes at?

In Kelvin or Freedom Units?
posted by MikeMc at 4:51 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Anybody know what temperature a plate of beans freezes at?

It depends on the altitude.
posted by grouse at 5:08 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ivan Fyodorovich: " and some of the remainder will see both or not too far away from them. "

Continental climates repreSENT!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:30 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a spelling dislike for ae words.

Funny -- I love them. When i was in high school, I spent many an hour at a coffee shop at 24th & Castro called the Meat Market. The name was painted on the glass windows so that from inside looking out, it read TEKRAM TAEM. Some of my happiest moments were spent under that sign getting juiced on Kenya AA & writing angsty/bad high school poetry.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:53 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh yeah? Explain the paleo diet!

Everyone was dead by age 35. Paleo living is waaaay over-rated.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:55 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you're going to be an absolutist about Farenheit, you should really be using Rankine anyway.
posted by bonehead at 8:44 PM on September 15, 2015

TEKRAM TAEM

"It all began innocently enough on Tuesday. I was sitting in my office on that drizzly afternoon listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desktop, and reading my name on the glass of my office door--'REGNAD KCIN.'"
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:59 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

What is the best thing you have learned or discovered on MetaFilter and/or the subsites?

How to stop loving the film Doctor Detroit.
posted by juiceCake at 9:09 PM on September 15, 2015

bonehead: "If you're going to be an absolutist about Farenheit, you should really be using Rankine anyway."

I HAVE ALREADY MADE THIS JOKE, THANK YOU.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:22 PM on September 15, 2015

Sorry Big C, bonehead's pun carries the day.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:27 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Well, we'll just see what the Metafilter Board of Arbitration has to say about *that*!
posted by Chrysostom at 9:42 PM on September 15, 2015

1) "What's a grammatical rule that you frequently break?" I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE
2) I could have sworn I saw the 9/11 thread live, but maybe this is a false memory. If it's true, though, I waited at least 6 years to join!
3) Your barbecue heresy has been...noted.
posted by wintersweet at 9:52 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

dorothyisunderwood: I have a spelling dislike for ae words.

Big Metafilter Survey: Do you regularly go by the name assigned you at birth?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[x] It's complicated

I changed my name for gender reasons and deliberately included an ae because I think they're pretty. Sorry, dorothy.

(This opinion might have been influenced by spending my pre-teen years reading fantasy novels, but I hope not.)
posted by daisyk at 11:23 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

"faevourite"
posted by valetta at 12:35 AM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

Caets are aessholes. I haed to be saed.
posted by Namlit at 2:37 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Lamb as "other" lumped in with venison and duck was very distressing. We eat beef, chicken and lamb. Not bambi! Not duckies! Turkey isn't a separate food group, its freakishly large chickens!
posted by kitten magic at 4:45 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I left turkey off because the question was for foods you eat regularly.

I said I did eat turkey regularly. Once a year, Dec 25th. Like clockwork.
posted by biffa at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2015

Anyone who votes "Bae" in the unpleasant words list is a racist and uncool.

You realise you are imposing the significance you attach to the word on people who might attach different significance to it? You are essentially suggesting your interpretation has more value than others.
posted by biffa at 6:09 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Turkey isn't a separate food group, its freakishly large chickens!

It's a proven lie. They're pigeons.
posted by Namlit at 6:37 AM on September 16, 2015

And why aren't raisins on the food list? I can't be the only one who dislikes zombie grapes.
posted by Kattullus at 7:06 AM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

Raisin' from the dead. Why aren't they called risens?
posted by Namlit at 8:03 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

They're really more mummy grapes.
posted by maryr at 8:29 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

The real question isn't in nomenclature but in how raisins somehow manage to be so awful when every other dried fruit is awesome. Raisins are terrible. They're the grape's worst of all possible timelines.
posted by phunniemee at 8:41 AM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

Now, now, golden raisins (aka sultanas) are delicious.
posted by maryr at 8:47 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Raisins are terrible.

What madness is this? Raisins are the BEST version of grapes.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:02 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

If by raisins you mean wine.
posted by biffa at 9:16 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Wine is tummy grapes.
posted by Namlit at 10:35 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's a proven lie. They're pigeons.

Hahaha Namlit, that link is awesome, thank you!

so much is clearer now
posted by kitten magic at 4:31 PM on September 16, 2015

Well, the whole animal world is like that, isn't it?

I learned in school that among medium-sized land animals, there are, for example, [european] hedgehogs [=subfamily Erinaceinae, order Erinaceomorpha], ferrets, badgers etc. [mustelidae], raccoons [procyonidae] and all sorts of squirrels, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and porcupines [rodents].

Not so. My in-house expert has successfully convinced me that there are only two kinds:

Hedgehogs = spiky small-to-medium animals.

Rodents = fluffy small-to-medium animals.

Cats, isn't it obvious, being both spiky and fluffy, are a cross-breed between rodents and hedgehogs. Dogs? Big rodents. Pigs? Bald hedgehogs. Other large land animals are likely horses or cartoon characters of some kind.
posted by Namlit at 5:12 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

But that doesn't include seagulls and pigeons, Namlit.
posted by solarion at 6:32 AM on September 17, 2015

Well, we're actually differentiating between walking and flapping animals over here.

Amsterdam makes yet another distinction, sijsje and drijfsijsje; birds and buoyant birds. I guess the bottom line is: context matters.

[Now slugs...]
posted by Namlit at 6:50 AM on September 17, 2015

The response rate has slowed to a trickle, so I will officially close the survey on Friday the 25th. If you want to get in on the survey, do so before then! Again, if you'd like to see the data, please email [e-mail] to make sure I see your request.

I will take a look at the data myself, try to wrangle it to the best of my ability, and then make one final MetaTalk post about the results, probably around October 1st I'd guess, or maybe one of the other datawranglers will post it.

We've got over 800 responses, and all sorts of sweet, sweet data to dig into. Thanks again to everyone who participated.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:52 AM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

Upon submitting my responses to the Slightly Weirder MeFi Survey: "Congatulations! You have answered some questions and created others! You are 6% dolphin, 8% pie, 2% spider, 72% spider pie, and 12% orangutang."

Congatulations?

72% spider pie explains a lot, though.
posted by Devika at 2:59 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm sidebarring this now so people will see it's the last day. (So do keep it open til tonight at least, please.) Thanks for putting this whole thing together, Rock Steady.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:34 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed taking the survey (thanks for sidebarring it, LobsterMitten). It's a bit late now, but for possible future surveys, make sure that it's always possible to distinguish between "none of the above"-type answers and "I choose not to answer this question"-type answers. For example, if someone doesn't check any boxes on the substance use question, there's no way to tell if that's because they don't want to reveal their drug use or because they're total straight-edgers. I would suggest making blank answers default to "I choose not to answer this question", and making "none of the above" into a separate option that people would have to actively select. You did a good job implementing "none of the above"s into the radio-button questions; they just seem to be missing from a lot of the checkbox questions.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 5:54 AM on September 25, 2015

LobsterMitten: "I'm sidebarring this now so people will see it's the last day."

Thanks, LM! I assume that was you posting it on Twitter and Facebook, too? It's made a significant blip in the number of responses - we are almost at 1000 now - so I will leave it open until sometime earlyish Saturday morning, Eastern US time.

J.K. Seazer: "For example, if someone doesn't check any boxes on the substance use question, there's no way to tell if that's because they don't want to reveal their drug use or because they're total straight-edgers."

Yeah, that's a good point. I'd love to see folks with more expertise in questionsmithing take a crack at it in the future, if there is interest in making this an annual (or at least semi-regular) tradition.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:10 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think it goes automagically to Twitter and Facebook from the sidebar. But I'm really glad to hear it's boosted the numbers, that's great!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:26 PM on September 25, 2015

Three of the six pets are hermit crabs and the other three are fish.
posted by Area Man at 4:46 PM on September 25, 2015

dammit, I missed it and I love long weird surveys
posted by exceptinsects at 1:30 PM on September 28, 2015

Oh, was on vacation & totally missed it. Could you have a version that we could "answer" even though you don't use our results? I'd love to answer, even just for myself.
posted by Laura in Canada at 10:14 AM on September 29, 2015

I don't actually see a big problem in keeping the survey open on a rolling basis, since as long as people only participate once, you're not going to fuck your data that much, you'd just be pulling snapshots.
posted by klangklangston at 1:39 PM on September 29, 2015

AUGH I can not believe I missed this!!!! *endless frowny faces* I'm so good about reading MetaTalk, too.
Well, looking forward to all the fun conclusions, nonetheless.
posted by missmary6 at 5:28 PM on September 29, 2015

klangklangston: "I don't actually see a big problem in keeping the survey open on a rolling basis"

Yeah, I suppose you are right. I've re-opened it to responses. I would just say that your responses after this point will not be included in the data I distribute to interested parties, unless they specifically want the up-to-the-minute responses.

stoneweaver: "Please do make the data just open? Is there any reason to not make it public?"

I think just from a privacy standpoint I feel better about sending out the data only to people who request it. It's probably pointless "security theater" type behavior on my part, but I'm sensitive to the privacy issues here, and I'm not an expert, so I'm going to err on the side of caution. If I (or others) want to do this again at some point, I would probably state from the beginning that the data would be open and post it publically once the survey was done.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:49 AM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

While I appreciate erring on the side of caution, I'm also a bit confused. I guess I expected the data would be put into graphs or at least enumerated for our collective amusement? Plus, what of the witty answers? I EXPECTED TO READ WITTY ANSWERS! ;)

Unless you're referring to only providing graphs, but not the raw data?
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:45 AM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

we all want witty answers *banging with fists on desk*
posted by Namlit at 10:49 AM on September 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Do not, my friends, become addicted to witty answers. They will take hold of you, and you will resent their absence!

*THROWS GIANT LEVER THAT MAKES WITTY ANSWERS FLOW FROM A GIANT SKULL HEAD IN THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN*

Yes, early next week (I hope) I will put together some rudimentary graphs/charts/quotes and make a new MeTa about it. I will also distribute the raw data to anyone that asks (very few have so far, FWIW), and I would hope they will add additional fancy pitchers to the MeTa thread.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:22 AM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

why do we even have that lever
posted by poffin boffin at 11:27 AM on September 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

It's a legacy thing.
posted by nubs at 12:07 PM on September 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

I knew that Matt should have thought twice before building MetaFiler on the ruins of the ArchNecromancer's tower....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:00 PM on September 30, 2015

This thread closes tomorrow when do I get to see how many of you losers don't like cilantro.
posted by phunniemee at 8:21 AM on October 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Well, I'm hoping to put up a MeTa with some results in the next day or two. Turns out it's a bit tricky getting the data out of Google Forms, particularly for the checkbox questions and freeform answers. Just this guy, y'know has been helping to parse it a bit, so I should have something soon.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:27 AM on October 13, 2015 [2 favorites]