Since there was so much outcry when I did a 2007 con survey, is anyone willing to help me set up a 2008 con survey, so i can have it ready to go by july?

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If you are willing to listen to feedback, specifically from people with experience taking surveys, I will help. Last time you were extremely stubborn, unfortunately, and ultimately ended up with pointless data based on unfounded assumptions. I am worried you will be wasting your time doing the same thing this year.

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i can listen to feedback, but not blind hatred. a lot of people who just plain hate mastercollector was slamming the survey, mainly because they disagreed witht he results, and not giving any feedback at all. I say thins only because the only resistance I was getting was here, and not on other boards.

but yes, pm me about any specific catagorioes or areas, and I will send you the draft I have.

plus, since Im not flying in until thursday, I will miss Alyosha's seminar.

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I was one of the people who didn't like the way you came up with your "results" and the conclusions you made from them. It had nothing to do with hating the club. I'm glad you were able to find some constructive criticism here.

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I was one of the people that saw problems with you handling of the survey, but at the same time, I really like a lot of what the Club does and consider myself an avid supporter of it.

As for this board being the majority of the criticisms, it could have something to do with the fact that as customizers, most members here are used to exchanging critiques and working as a community. I would view such input as a boon to doing a survey. Sure, there are some that are more vocal than others, but that's all the more reason to make your survey more reliable.

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I'm not trying to be smart when I ask this, just asking to know:

Why are you doing this? Is this something official? After the ration of butthurt tossed around last time, if it isn't, I really wonder why you would bother doing it again.

I have no idea what this means, but it does make me laugh. '

- R

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butthurt?


as to why I do a survey,..? the same reason why I root fot the Red Sox and Patriots; the same reason why I post a Black History month thread every year,...

I love G.I.joe


if in some way my survey makes the con better. (considering it got a lot of feedback in all forums, particularly the collectors club, Joebattlelines, and joesightings) I noticed that the club sometimes ignores feedback, but it DEFINETLY ignores blind hatred. so I ask around, and do surveys in order to gague the actual interests of the collectors, and although some people disapprove of my methods,.. they do get results.

and example: A recent poll shows that Big Lob is probably the most unpopular unreleased character. yet when I talk to people, a large group say the dislike Big Lob,... BUT, would still buy the figure if it came out, even if it was just to complete a collection, or for customizing.

...this skews the poll results that a Big Lob figure wouldn't sell. surprisingly, it would. Especially if it came with a Movie dvd.

...but I digress.....

the same results were obtained at the con by talking to people at the con, and afterwards. the people who complained about the dinner,... still enjoyed themselves. i think I only found maybe one or two people who were negative across the board.

yes i could do a standard straw poll... but usually the polls really don't get to the escessence of how people feel.. usually its a yes or no question (probably one of the reasons why the club has essay questions) and even then,.. sometimes polls don't ask the right questions:

Do you like Big Lob (yes or no questions)

would you likely buy a big lob figure if hasbro put one out, knowing that other characters from the movie are also comming?
(slightly more open qustion)

what Do you or dont you like about big lob? (Open question)

i mean, if the club and convention sucks,.. why do people keep going. and I find it hard to believe the joebros is the only answer. thats like going to McDonalds just for the fries,.. and nothing else.

that being said. I did listen to a lot of what was posted last year, both positive and negative. what I didnt like wasnt the negative critisizm, but the criticizm without alternatives. I notice when people critique customs, if they don like the custom, they offer advice as to how to do it differently. one one person offered that in this case.

so,.. THAT being said, I am going to do the survey again this year, probably the same way, but I would like input as to enhance it, and even change it with the data collecting and processing that YOU think would work. Or write up your own survey, PM it to me,.. and I will use it as a guide to adapt mine.

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im sure big lob would be sold simply because hes a gijoe figure, not specifically because its big lob.

im sure pythona would be made first, a figure and character liked by a majority of fans.

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Okay, I can see that. I just rememembered how rough the argument got last time, and on this board with this bunch, that's saying something. it was said in a another thread that the folks here are generally more laid back, and I agree; it's why this is my primary joe board. If the bile rose so high here, I, myself, wouldn't start it again.

I'm not saying don't do it. I'm actually impressed that you feel it's important enough to deal with the work and aggravation in order to provide an asset that will hopefully improve the cons for all of us.

OK here's an idea. Instead of getting new info why not just use ZG's two threads on the whats good about MC and what MC needs to do better for your survey. Saves a lot of research when its already there.

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three things:

1) again, its biased. its only the opinions of a few people on one board. it doesnt include other boards, people who dont post, or new people who havent attended a con, or are even members.

2) its also way too random, it reads like the angry ramblings of a few people, and the thankful praise of the same. there are a lot of avenues and points about the club that it doesnt address.

3) The con hasnt even happened yet, so we have no idea if The colector's club changed anything from last year, or improved any of the things we have complained about.

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Yeah, if that's how you ascertained "results", count me out. I don't want to live with the frustration. I don't think Big Lob is "the most unpopular unreleased character" and I don't know what "recent poll shows" this, but you squeeze a variety of answers to force out the results you want. If your "results" spoke for themselves, great. When you start telling us what your results mean, that's when people start arguing with you.

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here is a perfect example of the negativity Im talking about. you didnt bother to look at the recent poll that someone made about the characters not made, and because the results didnt go YOUR way, you reject them. I didnt squeeze the results, thats how they showed up, dispite my love for Big Lob, the poll showed that he was umpopular ACROSS ALL BOARDS, this poll was on her, JBL, Joecustoms, Hisstank and even the Collectors club, and they ALL stated that Big lob was the least wanted figure.

THAT IS A FACT!

However, the poll DIDNT reflect the general feeling on Big Lob, it just asked a "pick the fiure you want the most/least" peopel stll stated thsat they would buy the figure, and people Ive talked to even still support him. Its the same thing where Polls say that a political figure is popular, yet the general population cant stand him....

the results DO speak for themselves, you just chose not to believe them....

also, why the hostility? you repremanded people in another thread about personal attacks, yet youre throwing one at me? Your comments dont seem aimed at the poll, but at me.

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I think one thing that may be affecting your effectiveness of a possible survey is that you need to establish the perception that any such survey would be unbiased. You may already realize this, but using the Big Lob situation as a test poll and then an example of your methods does not really serve your cause all that well. Most of us here already know of your affinity for the character. This creates the impression that you've presupposed a position, and now you're fishing to find results to support it; a cardinal sin of data collection.

Going forward, I believe the best way to present yourself as an objective gatherer of information would be to make your methods and data compilation as transparent as possible, and in addition, find a few other board members willing to check the results, to provide more legitimacy. I realize that this thread is about you asking for help; I'm merely suggesting how to use such help.

Also, I again question the usefulness of such a survey. The Club already conducts a survey of every attending member of the Con each year, provided they fill out the survey form. Its highly doubtful they're going to put stock into anything else given to them, unless of course, it had very transparent information gathering, along with widespread fan participation, as suggested above.

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