# Furry Survey 2012? Yes!



## Klisoura (Jun 19, 2012)

Hey folks!

The old thread referred to a survey now deceased, Furry Survey 2011. Now, for the 2012 model year, I'm proud to introduce the _creatively named_ Furry Survey 2012. Which you should take (unless you have already taken the Furry Survey this year), because it makes you a better person. Furry Survey is a yearly surveying effort that tracks broad demographic questions, psychographic information (behaviours and values) and things like convention attendance and which websites you visit.

Real-time results from some of the questions are posted here. "Full" results from last year are available here. "Full" is in quotes because I have not yet visualized location (being worked on by Makyo) or species (being worked on by... some other illustrious person). 

Frequently Asked Questimoticons! 
Q. I have already taken this, haven't I? ):
A. Yes, probably. But you should take it yearly, like a physical. Seriously, I (and others) use the yearly refreshes of the survey to track yearly changes in the fandom, which means I would really like it if you took it every year. In fact if you see me in person, I will give you a cookie for it.

Q. Am I anonymous? 
A. Sort of. Entries are identified by a unique ID that is a salted hash of your IP address. I make objective data (what you didn't write in) available to other researchers and writers, but I will never share anything you write or that could be used to personally identify you.

Q. You're not a real scientist, are you? >:C
A. Well. I was trained in demographic analysis and I have designed Real Surveys before, for money and everything. Also, it's untrue that I'm not a real scientist; I have a doctorate in Krispology from Kellogg's University.

Q. Why didn't you ask [x]? -_-
A. Either I didn't get around to it or I thought the survey was long enough already. Which it is.

Q. I have another question :<
A. Ask me. My AIM, Skype and phone number are available here.

You guys (that is, furries in general) rock, and you rock for being willing to take the time to take this survey. I get requests for survey data all the time, from journalists, people trying to explain the fandom to their parents or friends, graduate students, people writing papers and, most importantly to me I think, other furries who are just curious about the fandom and want to know a little bit more about it. The people who give me a few minutes or their time to take this are providing invaluable, deeply appreciated assistance, and I'm really happy you do.


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## Randolph (Jun 19, 2012)

I don't even know why I took this.


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## Bipolar Bear (Jun 19, 2012)

Well... *dusts off hands* That's over and done with it.


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## BRN (Jun 19, 2012)

I like how you distinguished between high school and secondary school, and college and university, but here in the UK, High School is called College, while secondary school is below both. It's hard to know what to choose.


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## Dreaming (Jun 19, 2012)

I think I completed this one some time in February? Still, may as well re-do it.

And done.


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## Jaxinc (Jun 20, 2012)

Done for the lulz


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## TreacleFox (Jun 20, 2012)

I did it. Feels good to participate. ^^;


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## Seian Verian (Jun 20, 2012)

Filled it out!

...There were at least one or two answers I probably would have been terrified to give had it not been anonymous...


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## Randolph (Jun 20, 2012)

Seian Verian said:


> Filled it out!
> 
> ...There were at least one or two answers I probably would have been terrified to give had it not been anonymous...


Only one or two?

Damn, you really don't have any shame, do you?


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## Klisoura (Jun 20, 2012)

Randolph said:


> I don't even know why I took this.



We already addressed this. You took it because it makes you a better person >:[

Seriously, here's why: because people aren't as knee-jerk as you think. The fandom has a reputation for having a reputation, because we have our... uh. Our _outrÃ©_ elements, let's put it that way. But we've also convinced ourselves that we're hated _ipso facto_ and that's wrong. The people who use the data range from scientists to authors to curious everyday folks. This data block is what says, "no, actually, we're pretty normal, and here's how. And why. And what we're about."

I understand that the fandom ticks its members off sometimes. We feel embarrassed; we feel like it's a black mark on our proclivities. Sure. But the fandom, writ large, is a lot of cool people. It's people who are creative â€” 96% of furries _create_ in some fashion, be it suiting or writing or drawing or roleplaying. It's people who are active, and engaged with the world, and open to new experiences. And people ought to know that, instead of random crap or the worst dross of a Google search. 

I think, anyway.



SIX said:


> I like how you distinguished between high school and secondary school, and college and university, but here in the UK, High School is called College, while secondary school is below both. It's hard to know what to choose.



Yeah. I'm aware that this is a limitation. It reflects an American bias to the fandom, which is accurate but unfortunate. How would you recommend I resolve it? 



Seian Verian said:


> Filled it out!
> 
> ...There were at least one or two answers I probably would have been terrified to give had it not been anonymous...



No matter what you say, or do, or are interested in, you're not the only one  But the anonymity helps; it's one reason, I suspect, that the numbers for some of the more fringe elements of the fandom are higher than David Rust's in-person surveys â€” and consistent with other surveying efforts.

Theoretically, of course, anonymity also breeds trollishness. But I've been doing this for eight and a half years now, and they're pretty easy to detect. If substantial numbers of people cared (which, of course, they don't).

Also, species percentage breakdowns for 2010 and 2011:

http://collie.su/species_tot.html


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## WarLegalomon (Jul 13, 2012)

Very interesting survey.  Gave me something to do for a few minutes   I'll be sure to check it out again next year!  (Yes, I filled it out.)


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## The Wretched Automatons (Jul 14, 2012)

Well, that was entertaining to give a go at.


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## Psychic Yeti (Jul 14, 2012)

Well, that was a nice Five min. distraction.


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## Furryjones (Jul 15, 2012)

All done, nicely organized survey


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## Neoi (Jul 15, 2012)

Thats a long survey


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## FlynnCoyote (Jul 16, 2012)

Seian Verian said:


> Filled it out!
> 
> ...There were at least one or two answers I probably would have been terrified to give had it not been anonymous...



meh, letting the truth out is surprisingly liberating.


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## Fallowfox (Jul 16, 2012)

To resolve the high school /college issue use a split of 'lower education' and 'higher education'. 'Higher education' universally refers to university- you could even use the word 'university' since that's universal too.


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## Not-a-DJ (Jul 16, 2012)

Eh, why not. Done.


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## Harbinger (Jul 17, 2012)

Wow i didnt realise the furry community was such a sausage fest


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## Ramses (Jul 17, 2012)

And . . . done. Great survey!


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## Fallowfox (Jul 17, 2012)

Harbinger said:


> Wow i didnt realise the furry community was such a sausage fest



Most internet communities are.


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## Harbinger (Jul 17, 2012)

True


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## Fallowfox (Jul 17, 2012)

Harbinger said:


> True



My physics and maths classes had a girl to guy ratio of 1 to 15, which is even lower than the furry fandom, lol, though the ratio is becoming more even in the fandom I believe.


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## Cchytale Murilega (Jul 17, 2012)

I took the one last year. Doing this one now.


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## Vega (Jul 17, 2012)

Aaaannnnnd done.  I was probably a little too negative about myself on some of the questions but whatever.


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## nereza (Jul 19, 2012)

I have now taken part in it  ...


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## Kaiser (Aug 3, 2012)

Clean and done! btw nice survey! It was very organized.


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## Indigo-Mew (Aug 11, 2012)

I think I did this last year,done this one!


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## Ouiji (Aug 12, 2012)

Finished; I remember when I did a statistics class and was required to do some surveys.  It's hard to get responses.


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## Kahoku (Aug 12, 2012)

Going to take it, and should be done shortly when he responds to me..


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## Flareon13 (Aug 16, 2012)

I like taking surveys, and I have to admit, I was pretty damn bored, so I took the survey too.

Of course, now I'm bored again.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 17, 2012)

I feel a little better about myself after answering some of those. Thank you.


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## Fallowfox (Aug 17, 2012)

I feel that those of us who have viewed the ongoing results or results from previous years may have polluted our answers by gaining a bias to exaggerate or play down our own responses.


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## Smelge (Aug 17, 2012)

Ok, time for my annual "why this survey is useless" post.

First off, a furry survey is only going to be relevant or accurate if you surveyed a large percentage of the fandom. Large as in a majority. Looking at around 80% or more. This is impossible because a lot of people don't like taking surveys, can't be bothered, and so on. This is bad because it means that unless, as seems to be the case with a fair few of these responses, it's taken out of boredom, the majority will be people who feel they want to show how much thy are in to whatever part they are in to.

Second, quite often the average people won't bother, meaning you'll get a higher than average number of people who like the extremes answering, seriously skewing your results. Add on to that, the most common troll speaking out against furry tends to be furries themselves, so you're looking at a higher than average number of users deliberately putting extreme answers. On the other side, you'll get the mandatory white-knights who feel they need to defend the fandom by playing down certain aspects in their responses.

Third, it depends on where you post your survey. In fact, all you can do is survey the members of these sites, which means it's a furry site user survey rather than an all-encompassing furry survey. It's a microcosm you're looking at. There's bound to be a lot of furries who don't visit the internet forums or sites. So in the end you're only surveying a certain type of furry that fits your advertising, rather than an accurate cross-section of the fandom.


It's the same problem you see when they do surveys at conventions. You're not getting an accurate portrayal, just a relatively accurate account of con-going furries.


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## Fallowfox (Aug 17, 2012)

Smelge said:


> Ok, time for my annual "why this survey is useless" post.
> 
> First off, a furry survey is only going to be relevant or accurate if you surveyed a large percentage of the fandom. Large as in a majority. Looking at around 80% or more. This is impossible because a lot of people don't like taking surveys, can't be bothered, and so on. This is bad because it means that unless, as seems to be the case with a fair few of these responses, it's taken out of boredom, the majority will be people who feel they want to show how much thy are in to whatever part they are in to.
> 
> ...



*cough* bell curves and other distributions mean you don't have to survey huge numbers of people. Usually 1000 people is considered a valid number of data points. 

I agree with your other points however.


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## PenningtontheSkunk (Aug 23, 2012)

Done it.


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## Rakkaki- (Aug 23, 2012)

What a brilliant way to use up some spare time. Feels good to participate!


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## Tiiria (Aug 24, 2012)

[video=youtube;bBlbPw7WAqM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBlbPw7WAqM[/video]

I find the incredibly male gender ratio surprising.


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## IronDog (Aug 28, 2012)

All done :3


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## theinquirer (Aug 28, 2012)

I can only be stand in admiration of your far superior survey and perhaps this isn't the place to post this; I am a humble under-grad student researching the nature of the online community (not just this one) and i have created a more generalised version of this survey which you can find here.

it would help me loads with my thesis if you would participate!! thanks in advance!


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## Fallowfox (Aug 28, 2012)

It will be interesting to see if theinquirer's results match the other survey.


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## frivbaba57 (Aug 30, 2012)

But  UK, High School is called College, while secondary school is below both. It's hard to know what to choose. !


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## Symlus (Sep 1, 2012)

Done. Reminds me of the "Anonymous" surveys my high school gave me. Where "Anonymous" meant that you were called up to the office if you incorrectly awnsered a question. My poor friend that smoked weed was interrogated.


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## NewYork (Sep 7, 2012)

Sure, I'll give it a shot.


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## horndawg (Sep 8, 2012)

Another year of standing up for the few perverts who are both 1.) Here because of strictly sexual reasons and 2.) Don't take the time to browse the forum and participate in surveys about things they don't have deep feelings about.

Your results will always be skewed in favor of people who are here for more than just masturbating, because the masturbators aren't here for surveys.


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## ExileFox (Sep 9, 2012)

I thought "why not".


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## Bountyhunter (Sep 10, 2012)

is there a link for the survey????
and if anyone wonders where i came from i just new


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## Quidproquo (Sep 10, 2012)

Done. We'll see how much this year's survey deviates from the last one data-wise.


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## WagsWolf (Sep 14, 2012)

Done ^^ Hopefully this will be of use someday 
Liked to get it off my chest though, feel good to participate


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## SurfPenguin (Oct 20, 2012)

Okay, here we go again....

1. Started taking survey
2. Got to question about sexual preference.
3. Realized there was no button for 'Quite frankly, that's none of your goddamn business'
4. stopped taking survey.

...just like every other 'furry survey' I've ever seen.


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## BioWulf (Jan 2, 2013)

Dear lord that took a long time -_-


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## Ixtu (Mar 12, 2013)

I hope this isn't obsolete to take the survey now.
Oh well i'm sure there will be a Furry Survey 2013 soon.

Edit: oh nevermind it's linked to the 2013 one now!


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## TheNewBreed (Mar 25, 2013)

I hope the last ten minutes of my time actually went to something important


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## Tazzu (May 13, 2013)

Don't know why, but I finished the survey!


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## Sweetheartz22 (May 22, 2013)

That was way more detailed than I thought it would be!


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## Zabrina (May 30, 2013)

Well, that took about twelve years.


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