My post about the survey

Thanks to all 213 of you who participated in last week's survey, and to the 99 people who also answered the follow-up questions on the second survey. (The survey was up for less than 4 days; in retrospect, perhaps I should have given it more time. I'll continue to check it for another week)

Here is some of what we learned.

More of my readers are men.
M: 159 (76%)
F:  50 (24%)

I'd like to have more women readers, if only because I think they have a valuable perspective to add to the conversation; unfortunately, the blog's vibe isn't as female-friendly as it could be. I feel a little bad about that - I don't want to make any one uncomfortable; however, the blog is what it is.


They're not as old as I thought they were
20>30:  77 (37%)
30>40: 59 (28%)
40>50:  32 (15%)
>50 33: (16%)
<20 8 (4%)

Honestly, I had no idea so many under-thirties read this blog.

We've got a very diverse crowd, here. I expected this. I encourage this. And I'm happy to see its real.

Fundamentalist 3 (2%)
Charedi 4 (2%)
Hasid 6 (3%)
Yeshiva Guy 11 (6%)
YU Guy 8 (4%)
RW MO 17 (9%)
MO 43 (22%)
LW MO 34 (18%)
Conservative Jew 24 (12%)
Reform Jew 8 (4%)
Skeptic 21 (11%)
Agnostic 10 (5%)
Atheist 5 (3%)

Its been pointed out that I did a lousy job with this list. For starters, I left out non-Jew. Oops. But I also left out other Jewish sub groups, like post-denominational and orthoprax


Most of you read the comments regularly
Religiously 8 (4%)
Frequently 77 (37%)
Occasionally 57 (28%)
Sporadically 31 (15%)
Never 4 (2%)
Depends on the post 29 (14%)

I admit it: Part of me worried that no one reads the best part of the blog.

What sort of posts do you like best?

Jewish Community 173 (88%)
Torah 108 55%)
History 101 (51%)
Politics 97 (49%)
The Parsha 79 (40%)
Jewish holidays 72 (37%)

About what I expected, though I'm a bit disappointed Parsha didn't do better and I was very surprised the stuff from the NYT archive - like the birchas hachama article from 100 years ago - didn't do well.

What sort of posts do you like least?
Politics 66 (50%)
Items from the NYT's archive (Times Treasures) 37 (28%)
The media 29 (22%)
The Parsha 27 (21%)

50 percent of you (by far the highest percentage) don't like the posts on politics; unfortunately 49 percent of you say you like those types of posts best. So, they'll continue. Same as with Times Treasures. 28 percent hate those posts, but 24 percent like them best.

Most of you were too shy to tell me your favorite blog. Here's the complete list of replies:
DovBear
vos iz naies
dovbear.blogspot.com
http://text.rcarabbis.org
XGH
serandez.blogspot.com
http://www.thefirearmblog.com
Tablet
AskShifra
Hirhurim
Ortho Moderndox
dovbear.blogspot.com (for real)
honestlyfrum.blogspot.com
vinnews.com
Harry's Place
kottke.org
dovbear, of course!
http://damomma.com/ Motherhood is not for Wimps
http://www.treppenwitz.com/
http://gtorah.com/
whatever Gideon Slifkin is currently doing
dont have one
Pharyngula http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula
bad4shidduchim/ haemtza
you
otd
In general, Crooked Timber or Marginal Revolution. If just Jewish blogs, a three-way tie between DovBear, Hirhurim, and South Jerusalem.
Dovbear, Treppenwitz, Jameel, Pinky
haemtza.blogspot.com
jewschool.com
zackarysholemberger.blogspot.com
http://deceiver.com/
XGodolHaDor
anti tzemach
failedmessiah.com
emes v'emuna
Alan Brill
Hamekubal
Frum Satire
mahrabu.blogspot.com, jewschool.com, fivethirtyeight.com
DovBear of course!
Failed Messiah
I regularly read DB, Muqata, and Michael Yon's blog - all different no favorite
sardinesociety.blogspot.com
http://haemtza.blogspot.com/
http://haemtza.blogspot.com/
Elana Sztokman at the Forward Sisterhood
Da Momma
Crooks & Liars
GH (obm)
Orthonomics
You're definitely one of my faves!
yours is the first one I check every day
Failed Messiah
fat cyclist
http://www.kinkyjews.com/
failedmessiah
DovBear (!)
Aside from DB, Second Son, 2nd-son.blogspot.com (G*3's blog)
http://hadassahsabo.wordpress.com/
http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com
Modern Orthoprax
parshablog, seforim, hirhurim
dovbear
Just call me Chaviva
talking points memo
DB
Hirhurim
dov bear
you
A Simple Jew
Frumsatire
postsecret
seforim blog (marc shapiro and friends)
My Own
jewzoo.blogspot.com
American Prospect


You were also shy about naming your favorite commenter and guest poster.
Less than 20 percent of you made a selection. I won't say who favorite commenter is, so as not to disappoint or discourage the dozens of extremely worthy and talented commenter who didn't win the popularity contest. E_Fink ran away with favorite guest poster. It wasn't close. Then again, E_Fink is the only current guest poster. Even RafiG hardly posts anymore. I'm in a stage, I guess, where I do the bulk of the posting myself. That's how it was until early 2008, and that's how it is again, I guess. We'll see if that changes.


Hardly any of you seem to have a favorite post of all time
... but among those of you who did, my interview with Rabbi Oren Hayom was the clear winner


Three people think I'm arrogant or full of myself.
Along with all the compliments, were three bits of constructive criticism. All three said I needed to stop being so arrogant. I appreciate the advice, but am sorry to inform you that isn't going to happen.  First, I don't think I'm that arrogant. The blog is full of corrections and apologies, and unlike all the humble blogs I'm constantly soliciting opinions and posts from people who don't agree with me, and even dislike me. When I'm destroyed in the comments, the harsh correction isn't deleted in the style of Cross Currents or Hirhurim. It remains on the thread forever. Second, the blog has been a moderate success, and my tone - however you describe it - is part of the reason. Perhaps on my next blog I'll experiment with peaches and cream, but the DovBear persona is here to stay. 

Anything else you want to know, just ask. Thanks for reading
-DB

PERSONAL NOTES:
To the person who was promised a free book: Email me and I'll take care of it
To the person who said: "KEEP YOUR LIBERAL POLITICS!! More telling it like it is!": You got it brother.
To the person who said he wants the old timers like Shifra and XGH to come back: Me too. Me too.
To the person who complained the book isn't available in England: Huh? I think Lulu delivers to England
To the person who said "What book?": Haha
To the person who called me "a tropical island in a sea of RW Orthodox hypocrisy." Thanks! I like that!
To the fellow who says he skips the blog for a week whenever I ask for a handout: "Hey, hit the donate button right now!" (Same guy thinks visiting the blog affects me revenue. Guess what. It doesn't. )
To the guy who said "This might also be a good place to mention that I decided to convert (in part) due to DovBear.": Great! Welcome. Take THAT Chaim Bray


To all who bought the book: THANKS!