Whiteox writes:
"Well folks, the results of the Slashdot Questionnaire formulated by the City University of Hong Kong have been posted to the 310 lucky Slashdot participants. It was a study to try "to understand the popularity of Slashdot".
They asked 3 questions in late October last year:
Question 1:
In your opinion, what (if so) makes Slashdot special among online discussion sites? Is it the content, the group of people it draws in, the discussion engine (e.g., content rating and filters), or possibly other factors?
Question 2:
Compared with other discussion sites you know or/and have used, do you consider Slashdot's technology platform to be better? In other words, does it encourage (a) more sense of community or (b) more active participation? (In answering please also feel free to mention the other discussion site or sites you might be comparing to)
Question 3:
As a unique user in slashdot, could you please rate your own reciprocity by assessing what you get from the community compared with what you contribute to it?(you can give an answer such as: i think i get more or i contribute more,of course we would be very appreciative for your explanation of detail)
Results are in an emailed PDF and I'm not going to host it cause I don't want my servers to go down.
Here's some of the results:
1. Reason To Communicate
Slashdot participants enjoyed
communicating with like-minded
individuals and generated net positive
value from their participation.
2. Community Centered Design
The majority of users felt the
Slashdot engine was community-
enhancing.
3. Usability (good)
Half of the respondents
commented positively on the
technology.
4. Registration
Moderation (appropriate and responsible)
Participants commented on the value of anonymous
commenting. Further, some responses
were made about moderation and meta-
moderation
5. Moderation
The moderation system was
considered positive. The rating system
was described as fair, trustworthy, and
quality enhancing.
6. And Epic Fail on the 'Nature of Distributed Resources'
Evidently Slashdot doesn't have any.
Here's their conclusion:
"Thus it remains to explore, among other issues, whether
community members balance the reason to communicate with
the effort to communicate and ultimately place their resources
into communities accordingly. If community success could be
determined based on this trade-off, it would provide a great
impetus for the design of highly efficient community
information and coordination portals, so as to not only achieve
sustainability, but sustained growth."
Yep. I don't understand it either."