Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey - io9 Comments

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

SalisburyGaze — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:14:22 PST

Not to be a complete creeper or anything, and I do recognize that this is a long shot to top all long shots, but would it be possible for me to get the results of the survey? Or at the the basic age/gender/financial level stuff? I'm writing a paper comparing the demographics and marketing strategies of science fiction versus literary fiction and I am *not* finding any hard data out there. Just a lot of stereotypes. Grr.

SalisburyGaze

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Katana_Mind — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:35:01 PST

One would have though that advertisers targeting special sub-cultural hangouts like Io9 would be a little more specific in their questionaire.
Either they believe that the average net-sawy user is comparable to the average consumer [they would be mistaken] or, they understand that most of their ads will be totally ignored, in which case they're basically handing Gawker some money, which is nice.

I need to start myself a blog. Get that cash flow.
Hmm...what would my theme be?
Hot, nekkid people rocking out on guitars in showers?...nah, that's been done.

Katana_Mind

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Jamie — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:22:18 PST

I don't mind the survery, but it's pretty superficial. I mean... Age and gender. Bleh.

For the record, I am 31. I am a male-to-female, post-op transsexual. Umm. I'm a mostly lesbian bisexual. I generally block ads, but if they aren't horribly annoying, I don't usually bother. But I've never seen anything in an ad on a weblog that was even remotely interesting; I guess the answer is 'As a gamer geek lesbian sci-fi fan, I don't match your advertising demographic'... Which is odd on a site about sci-fi. ;)

Jamie

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

katsmeow — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:20:07 PST

@zeppelined: Was thinking the same thing.

I never click on ads - ones that I can see, that is :) I don't think advertising works on me.

katsmeow

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

simmo — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:48:17 PST

adblock plus baby :D
But I did take the survey, it took but a moment of my time.

simmo

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

cde — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:34:34 PST

Over on Consumerist (My regular haunt) and Jezebel (My irregular haunt), the only ads I ever noticed and cared for was Guanabee, cause its like Jezebel but more Spanishy :P

How bout you guys get MakeZine or Oriely to advertise here.

cde

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

MercuryPDX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:21:46 PST

@zeppelined: I think the only unblocked ones I see are when they take over the masthead and integrate the ad into the site design.

MercuryPDX

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Ed Grabianowski — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:01:46 PST

Wait, are there ads in io9 now? I don't see any, ever. Is that because of my Firefox plugins? Am I missing out on some good ads?

Ed Grabianowski

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

MercuryPDX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:41:56 PST

@Annalee: No disrespect intended. :)

MercuryPDX

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

MercuryPDX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:40:50 PST

@lizhenry: If the same survey done on Consumerist is any indication, I wouldn't expect it.

MercuryPDX

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:29:13 PST

@lizhenry: I'll see what I can do! I wish they'd given us more than two options for gender because I can never figure out what genders "floop" and "zappa" are.

Annalee Newitz

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Liz Henry — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:59:24 PST

I hope you report the demographics to us, too! It'd be interesting.

Liz Henry

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

7Zark7 Iz In Ur Internetz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:26:37 PST

I hope my response contribute to ads for hot babes in unitards. Not that I ever shop at American Apparel, but they're nice to look at.

7Zark7 Iz In Ur Internetz

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Jack — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:15:44 PST

Given all the build up, I expected a heck of a lot more than 4 questions. Submission complete, you may now assimilate me ;-)

Jack

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

braak — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:58:33 PST

@braak: ??? What the hell does kno't mean?

braak

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

zenpoet — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:40:06 PST

@tetracycloide: :)

zenpoet

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

strider_mt2k — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:37:43 PST

@Annalee: Ahh yes, transport mechanisms in everything!
Interesting era!

strider_mt2k

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

braak — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:28:18 PST

@Annalee: No, no. You're thinking of "Betamax." They kno't make those any more, either, though.

braak

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

tetracycloide — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:18:36 PST

@Annalee: apparently i'm not very funny

tetracycloide

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:13:12 PST

@tetracycloide: An acronym for "video home system," it is a primitive magnetic storage technology popular in the late twentieth century for preserving audiovisual media. In the early twenty-first century, it fell out of use but became popular among a small subset of users who lionized it for a lack of "digital restriction management," a primitive form of copy protection . . .

Annalee Newitz

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

tetracycloide — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:06:18 PST

@Annalee: what's a vhs?

tetracycloide

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Mathmos — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:01:02 PST

Brief and quite possibly painless. But I suspect there will be some "creative" responses.

Mathmos

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:57:46 PST

@92BuickLeSabre: I buy things I see in ads too -- but usually only when they're pretty targeted. Like: I'm looking for a VHS to DVD converter, I search online, I see an ad for a good one, I buy it.

Speaking of which, anybody have good recommendations for a VHS to DVD converter?

Annalee Newitz

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

aubreyAubrey — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:56:18 PST

I click on things all the time! I buy stuff on impulse! I am your demographic!
(io9, I love you. I hope those few ad-nay-sayers will at least put on a pretty face for the sake of keeping you alive.)

aubreyAubrey

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

El_Bandito — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:48:47 PST

If the ads on the site advertise something sciencey or fictiony (or ideally a mixture of both) they might get my attention. However if it's just getting a bigger penis, hormones to attract women or an animated gif conveying something rather daft and uninteresting... meh. I'll scroll past and read the meat of the article.

El_Bandito

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

SVreader — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:47:10 PST

Can all the ads feature Hugo Weaving?

SVreader

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

braak — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:34:22 PST

@92BuickLeSabre: Thank god for you!

If it weren't for people like you, advertisers wouldn't put banner ads up at all, and the rest of us would have to pay to read this site.

Do not be ashamed! You are like a river to your people!

braak

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

92BuickLeSabre — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:28:22 PST

I apologize everyone. I buy things that I see in ads. I download songs that I first hear in ads (although not Feist, I'm not that bad.) I'm a sucker. You tag "New & Improved" or "X-treme New Flava" on there and I succumb. (Mojito Mint Orbitz? Redundant...yet intriguing!)

You tell me about a double-cheeseburger on the $1 menu until Thursday using stupid gossiping flirtatious food? I'm there before Thursday (and I'll buy a milkshake too, because hell, the burger was just $1!!!!)

All this crap you're stuck with around you? It's because of me and my ilk.

So, yeah, I filled out the survey, and I'll see the ads too. And then I'll buy, buy, buy....

*hangs head in shame*

92BuickLeSabre

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:28:00 PST

@BBanzai: Argh -- will get this fixed. Sorry!

Annalee Newitz

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

strider_mt2k — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:14:58 PST

Gawker has some entertaining sites!

Happy to help by taking the survey in return, and you are welcome to my many many clicks...but I'm not shutting off my ad blockers, sorry about that.

strider_mt2k

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Horselover Fat — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:09:22 PST

gawker sites are always littered with gawker artist ads, that and they love intra-gawker links and roundups.

Horselover Fat

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Seth L — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:04:48 PST

My demographic keeps creeping up. I don't think I'm in a desierable age bracket anymore.

*sniffles*

Seth L

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Ghede — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:04:13 PST

I sometimes look at ads. It depends. I usually only block the animated ones with the flashing colors, because it is annoying. I can ignore a simple animation or a static image if it doesn't interest me. If it is the kind that starts playing noise as soon as its loaded, I also block it.

Just for fun, I shuffled the sentences around. (Actually, I'm too lazy to change it to flow better.)

Ghede

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

Jeff-Minor — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:59:13 PST

Once in while I'll notice an ad, if it has a crazy monkey in it. And sometimes I just click an ad because I like to support the site and know they have ads that are click-dependant. Otherwise I have developed an ad filter--I just ignore them.

Jeff-Minor

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

BBanzai — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:55:43 PST

Done button at the end of the survey does not let out back into io9 like it says it does, but goes to a commercial site for SurveyMonkey with no way to get out of it. Boo, io9!!! Boo!!!

BBanzai

Let the Machine Overlords Hear Your Cry in Our Demographic Survey

NefariousNewt — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:55:14 PST

Truth be told, I don't look at the ads. I don't look at ads on web sites, in magazines, and I watch them on TV only when I find them humorous. I've never bought anything because of an advertisement.

If the advertisers want to know the most important demographic, here it is: the readers of io9 like science fiction. There. Not too hard is it?

NefariousNewt