Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

Since this is a general survey rather than a focused inquiry, some of
my plans don't apply.  A multiple choice answer-taker would
be usable in principel for these questions.  But it needs to
meet our ethical criteria -- not sending nonfree JS code to the
browser.

Also, each question should offer a way to answer "none of the above"
or "I'm a strange case".

Your questions seem pretty good overall for a survey.  Here are a few specific
critiques.

  > ** What OS do you primary use?
  >      - Linux

Linux is a kernel, not an operating system.  So it should say,
"GNU/Linux."  See https://gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html and
https://gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html, plus the history in
https://gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html.

  > ** How do you use Emacs?
  >      - GUI
  >      - Terminal (TUI)

Some people will not know those terms, so let's use names that anyone
will understand.

  > ** Which completion/selection framework do you use?

Is it correct to assume a person uses only one?

  > ** Have you ever contributed to Melpa package?

If it mentions Melpa, it must explain the ethical reason we cannot
recommend anything about Melpa.

I would rather not mention that name at all.

  > ** can you recall any difficulties you faced initially learning Emacs?

Add, "Please be as specific and concrete as your memories permit."

  > ** If there is another survey in 2021, would you be opposed to it
  > containing optional & general demographics questions?
  >     It could include age backets, gender, country or language

Let's not ask that.  We should not invite people to make difficulties
for us.

  > ** Do you have a preferred platform for filling out the survey in the
  > future?

That question would be useless -- people would recommend unjust
platforms based on practical convenience.

Let's add a short test: we could offer multiple choice answers for
each of these.  For some questions the user should be able to select
multiple answers, and should select all that are valid.

  > What is GNU?

  > What is GNU/Linux?

  > How does GNU Emacs related to GNU?

  > What is free software (libre software)?

  > Which of these are free liceenses?

  > How does GNU relate to free software?

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)