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Are you a two percenter?

Rob Beschizza at 7:23 am Fri, Jul 27, 2012

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The Snowden Principle

  • http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

    I DON’T KNOW!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzrDpj6M1ig

    • bothenjs

      I own 3 so that makes up for 3 who don’t know I guess

    • gnp

       I don’t know! (either)

  • http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

    Nothing unusual about that. Maybe they’re not sure if their spouse purchased one and uses it at work (in which case “you” means ‘your family”). Maybe they remember purchasing one a while ago but haven’t seen it in some time. Maybe they just like messing with pollsters.

    • http://twitter.com/snarp Sarah Pin

      Someone gave a guy I know a cheap ebook reader from a tenuously-existent Chinese company, which he calls alternately “the Kindle” or “the bad iPad.” He is aware that the latter appellation is not correct – he also has a good one – but he’s probably not sure whether he owns a Kindle or not.

  • http://twitter.com/AndBobando ando bobando

    That is absolutely hilarious to me. I mean, no one was FORCED to answer the poll. Who reads a poll and thinks “I don’t have enough info to answer that. Oh good, there’s an ‘I don’t know’ option. I’ll just pick that.”

  • http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

    Maybe they don’t know what ‘own’ means.

    • http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

       Maybe they DO know what own means, and are still, not sure.

    • ZikZak

      Maybe they are just being scientifically rigorous.  For example, I owned an Amazon Kindle this morning, and current research suggests that when I return home I will still own it.  However, the limited sample size and lack of a control group means that the data is inconclusive.

      • http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

        The Kindle is not with me, therefore Schrödinger’s Kindle.

        • http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

          Presumably containing the as yet unread manual.

  • nowimnothing

    Just goes to show how random and idiotic online polling is.

    • http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

       Wouldn’t it be great if some widely read blog *cough* were to encourage its readers to vote “Don’t know,” “Not sure,” or “No opinion” on every badly worded online poll that comes along?

  • http://twitter.com/okalrelsrv Lynda Williams

    Unlikely the poll stands up to hard-core statistical validity but I think there’s something real about “don’t know” for a lot of tech-addict era phenomena. We’re so obsessed with being new and trendy we’re overloaded with change.

    • Sagodjur

       After years of providing tech support, I’m inclined to think that there are plenty of people who don’t know what brand or model their ereader is. When you’ve asked the question, “what browser are you using?” and you’ve gotten the responses of “Windows” or “Google” (before Chrome came out) far too many times, you come to realize some people don’t pay attention to or understand the technology they use.

      • Alpha_Geek_Mk2

        “Ok, I need you to log out.” “Shut down?” “No, log out.” “Reboot?” “No… yes, reboot.”

      • Antinous / Moderator

        If you ask them what browser they’re using and they don’t know, don’t you assume AOL?

        • http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

           Um…AOL isn’t a browser. Unless you mean Netscape.

          • Antinous / Moderator

            AOL has a proprietary browser which generally becomes the default for AOL users.

      • http://www.facebook.com/csismeiro Carlos Sismeiro

        I have spoken with people who when questioned what car they drive answer “one of those with a short back, in red with grey seats”.

        Some people just don’t care and are even amazed to find out that specific knowledge is required to use anything properly. With all the different e-readers and all the formats of e-books available it is extra important but many people couldn’t care less.

  • mccrum

    Am I a two percenter?  I don’t know.

  • https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM

    Seems perfectly reasonable that 2% of e-reader owners wouldn’t know if their device was a Kindle or a Nook.  

    Especially those who receive them as gifts.  

    • msbpodcast

      I had to install a wireless network a couple of weeks ago for a guy who’d got a Fire as a gift.

      He’s about as close to a Luddite as you can get but even he knew that it was a Kindle Fire.

      The ad merely reflects the lamentable quality of statistical sampling software which doesn’t have a proper and accurate “Get the fuck out of my way before I shove that clipboard up your ass.” option.

    • Christopher Whelan

      Exactly. And Kindle being a strong brand name, perhaps some said “yes” to owning one but actually own a different brand.

      • http://www.facebook.com/csismeiro Carlos Sismeiro

        It might even happen that the name kindle goes the way of the walkman brand and becomes an unofficial name for all of those electronic reader things

  • http://twitter.com/Idle_Threat Eric Chapman

    I have a Kindle, but it stopped working months ago.. so.. I don’t know how to answer?

    • dioptase

       Can you open it?
      http://makezine.com/04/ownyourown/

  • http://twitter.com/deejayeetee Jesse Tokarz

    Possible sources of confusion: “Does my Fire tablet count as a Kindle?”  ”Was that a Nook or a Kindle that my aunt bought me two Christmases ago and I never really used? I don’t even know what the difference is.” 

  • SomeGuyNamedMark

    I dunno, now that you mention it I don’t feel 100% all there.

  • pltz

    I have a kindle, true, but is it me or amazon who owns it? I don’t know.

  • Doug Nelson

    I haven’t read the EULA. Can anyone actually OWN a Kindle?

    • rausantaella

      Of course you can. You own the Kindle. The content of it, now… that’s another story.

  • Someone else called Mart

    I think I’m one of the 2%… My brother bought me one for my birthday but I haven’t bothered activating it. It’s stuffed in a cupboard…

    • rausantaella

      If it’s not the keyboard, I would grant it a loving home and much years of joy.

  • AnthonyC

    I am the two percent 
    http://www.randomanything.com/2011/11/03/occupy-the-fridge-i-am-the-2-percent/

  • http://twitter.com/dailyrev Brian Donohue

    oh I don’t know, it kind of owns me, in fact…

    • Wreckrob8

      Yeah. Maybe things own (pwn?) us.

  • Gary61

    I feel so orange all of a sudden …..

  • http://illustratorhints.com/ Jesseham

    Works best when read in the voice of Hans Moleman.

  • http://www.facebook.com/justin.sabe Justin Sabe

    I downloaded the free app that can be remotely disabled. Can you own an app or any other form of software or anything else that is just data? I don’t know what the licence and ownership means in this context. 

    Right now my iPad is off so my kindle is in a quantum state until I turn it on and try to load it. 

  • redstarr

    Maybe it was the “Amazon” part that threw some of them.  They know they have a Kindle, but weren’t sure if it was an Amazon Kindle.  If perhaps they bought it somewhere else like in a store like Target or Best Buy rather than through Amazon’s own online shop or if they didn’t buy it for themselves so they don’t know where it came from, they might have been unsure if it was an Amazon one.  Of course, they all are, that’s who makes them, regardless of where you buy it.  But I could see people, especially people who aren’t very techy folks or who get their books for it primarily from someplace other than the Amazon site, being a little confounded by that part of the wording.

  • taras

    Can any of us truly say we own a Kindle?

  • http://www.twitter.com/eselqueso eselqueso

    the best pie chart I ever saw was in USA Today many years ago, asking about how people install their toilet roll- the graph was the side of the toilet roll split perfectly into threes: 33.3% installed it with the end rolling over the top, 33.3% installed it with the end rolling under, and 33.3% had no preference. But, I guess the paper had 9 sq. in. that needed filling.

    • malindrome

      Those USA Today graphics are so ridiculous.  The Onion parodies of them are superb.

  • http://profiles.google.com/alphaminus Adam Kruckenberg

    There is a EULA, so maybe I’m just licensing it. I just don’t know.

  • SHeadius

    I bought an Amazon Kindle in April refurbished for $139. Within a day I rooted, removed the slow Kindle interface, and installed Cyanogenmod 7. Now updated to ICS and testing the Jelly Bean ROMs as they mature.

    Not really a Kindle anymore, it’s actually a quite capable and blazing fast Ice Cream Sandwich 7″ tablet. This likely makes me a 2%er.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Doobie-Brothers/100002826439134 Doobie Brothers

    I am a 98%er! I do whether or not I own a Kindle. So there!

  • TractorEngineer

    2%:  Polls are stupid, so I’m going to mess with this one.  They’re the same people who tell the telemarketers, “Yeah, I like streaks on my windows, what of it?”

  • pervlibertarian

    Its like that yo. I have ~100 Kindle books in my Kindle apps on Android and IOS, but do I have a Kindle? Not according to the Kindle Lending Library… Please don’t assume that means I know.

    I say Kindle looks like a useful collection of books and applications that should constitute a decent platform. Amazon says “Haha Sucker! You’re on the wrong side of our garden’s wall! Hey wait, why did half of everyone inside the wall root their subsidized paperweights!?”

  • DonnyB2

    Could also be guys going through a divorce.  Do you own a car, a house, disposable income?  I don’t know.

  • nachoproblem

    I don’t own a Kindle but I use the Kindle app on my iPhone and computer browser, and buy e-books for it. Does this count? I DON’T KNOW!!!

    • http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo

      Yeah, that.

  • LoneRangler

    These pollsters really need to stop surveying people who live in dumpsters.

  • http://twitter.com/PTDugan Pat Thompson Dugan

    If they want to be able to say “No” with authority and certainty, then they are quite welcome to give me the unidentifiable flat item with a screen that shows magical etch-a-sketch words.

  • JhmL

    Has to be said in a Homer Simpson voice.

  • http://twitter.com/fluff201 Ror

    While I do not specifically own a kindle, I have a kindle app on my droid, and kindle reader on my laptop. The “I don’t know” category works well for me.

  • fight4paece

    There are some well to do techies who buy so many gadgets and crap they they don’t need that they forget things they have bought.