Re: Emacs Survey 2022 - design

[Timothy <tecosaur@gmail.com>]

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Hi Philip,

Thanks for the suggestions!

Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> writes:

> Great to see another survey being organised!  Looking through the
> questions I’d like to note the following:
>
> - Add “College” to who introduced someone to Emacs

I’ve changed “University” to “University/College”. Let me know if you think this
should be two separate options.

> - Add NonGNU ELPA to the package repositories

Done.

> - The list of favourite packages should not mandatory

Hmm, is it not reasonably to assume that everybody has at least a few packages
they think look pretty good? Hmm, it doesn’t seem too bad if we were to just
have a maximum.

> - The built-in themes should be added to the theme list

If we have all the built-in themes, the list gets a bit long. The approach I’m
taking is trying to prioritise the most popular options, and leave the “other”
box for everyone else.

> - The terminal emulator question should be rephrased “how do you use a
>   shell within emacs”, though this is nit-picking

Perhaps. I’m not sure on this.

> - Email clients should also have Rmail, Mew and MH

The previous survey indicated a small fraction of responses for these, is there
a reason why you think the “other” box would not be good enough?

> - Perhaps a question on what spell checking programmes are used

It’s there, I think you might have missed it :)

> - I think adding vundo to the undo package list would be nice

Added!

> (points like these should also be presented with some explanation, because I
>  can imagine a lot of users don’t even know about these packages to begin
>  with)

Hmm. Not a bad idea. I won’t do this right now, but this is worth revisiting
later.

> - A general comment on the “My framework/starter kit’s default”.  Will
>   you be able to infer what they use, from the framework or is this just
>   a vauge option?

Since we ask earlier what framework/starter kit they’re using (if any), yes! In
fact, I’m hoping this will be more informative/accurate in the case of users
that haven’t changed the framework/starter kit default and aren’t exactly sure
what they’re using.

> - Perhaps mention fido-mode in the “selection” package

Is it used enough to be lifted out of the “other” box? I don’t recall seeing it
much in the 2020 survey results.

> - Are the “gender” and “nationality” questions necessary?  I can imagine
>   that the former one can cause a lot of complaints (especially when
>   there is no “I’d prefer not to say”) option.

There’s no “I’d prefer not to say” option as the entire question is optional. If
it seems like adding that is a good idea though, I’m happy to do so.

The 2020 survey asked what people thought of adding demographic questions, and
the response was (IIRC) overwhelmingly “sure, why not”. So these questions are a
response to that.

> - Are the “other” option plain text fields or a kind of “none of the above”?

Text fields :)

All the best,
Timothy