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Comments by ReasonToBeCheerful


1. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175277 by ReasonToBeCheerful on May 5, 2008 at 4:51 am


Sam, I think it was a bad idea to warn people that there would be a lot more of Survey 1 respondents if they don't do it random. People have a tendency to pick Survey 3 when they do it random.


As the system is currently set up, I'm not sure what viable alternative there would have been. By saying nothing, he'd get too many 1s, but by asking for a random number, he would get more 3s and fewer 1s, but there'd still be some people who'd choose 2 or 4. In my case, knowing that 3 is a psychologically pleasing 'random' number, I made a point of not choosing it.

Perhaps a better way would be to keep track of the numbers of each survey completed and then provide a 'Choose survey at random' button which would check which survey had the least replies so far and serve that. Additionally, a cookie could be used to ensure that a duplicate survey wasn't served to the same user on subsequent visits.

2. Student's 'Be Happy, Not Gay' t-shirt ok

Comment #168538 by ReasonToBeCheerful on April 25, 2008 at 7:36 am


... Christian group's "Day of Truth" ...


Now, there's an oxymoron if ever I saw one.



The school, while stressing its neutrality, barred Mr Neuxoll from wearing a t-shirt saying "Be Happy, Not Gay'' on the grounds that it was insulting.

But he said that was an affront to his freedom of expression and the federal appeals court agrees.


Being gay is no more a personal choice than being black, female, short, etc. Can you imagine the uproar that would likely be caused if the slogan had read, 'Be Happy, Not Black'?