Sorry for taking so long to get these results out. Of course, life had a hand in this, but I also ran into some problems in the process of separating usenet-based responders from web-based responders (read "the rest of the world"). As a result there will be a total of 6 different results files, as I explain below.

At first, I thought I managed to do a rough split of the data using question H1 ("how often do you at least READ rec.arts.anime newsgroups"), but I think some folks didn't realize that "rec.arts.anime news group" includes rec.arts.anime.misc, etc and so I had about 3% of folks who answered "never" subsequently saying they read rec.arts.anime.misc. Similarly, I had folks who said they read rec.arts.anime news groups subsequently answer they didn't read rec.arts.anime newsgroups in other questions, somewhere around 1-5% of them. That is, it isn't ideal. It gets worse.

Then I got a bit suspicious of the final usenet-based tally of 167. By the time the web announcement came out, a few weeks after the first raam announcement, I had about 75 returns. That means I got another 90ish after the web announcement, which is contrary to past experience: 1/2 - 2/3 of all returns are supposed to be due to the first announcement, and 2/3 to 3/4 from the 2nd. On the otherhand, I so botched up the announcment schedule this year that the web announcement may have effectively been the 2nd announcement. I also saw many more lurkers responded this year than in the past (H2). I hoped that was due to the web form not requiring e-mail. But there were a number of inconsistencies from previous years' results, sudden jumps which at first I thought may have been real.

Then I decided to look at just the 75 returns from before the web announcment, just to be sure. Sure enough those inconsistencies existed for concurrently, so they weren't real. So I cut the data in several different ways, and the conclusions always came out the same: there's a difference between 1) the population that make newsgroups home (but use the web), 2) the population that don't have much to do with newsgroups, and 3) a population that makes the web home (but uses newsgroups, which I'm calling "Mixed"). The latter threw me for a loop, until I saw a cluster of really obvious distinctions in the posting frequency. Aha, these are infrequent visitors to usenet, probably past regulars who've moved on carrying some of the characteristics of usenet readers and picking up some web reader characteristics. Then I had to recode my software (yet again!) to accomodate the necessary cuts (gone are the days of simple bean counting).

So, I've split up the subtallies into 3 files (one for each group, Usenet, Web, and "Mixed"), and done three comparisons in three more files (group 1 vs group 2, group 1 vs group 3, group 2 vs group 3). If I have the time I may tabulate those two groups of three in a pair of files for easier comparisons.

I have to think about how to get better separation next year; I'm going to have to be clearer in discriminating these forums, and maybe running two separate surveys is the only way to do this (but I have to work at minimizing repeat responses). It could be that by luck my delaying the web announcement was actually the way to go.

Usenet comparison from previous survey

Many of the questions that I've asked in the past have experienced little change. For example, what we want from companies (Section D) is unremarkably similar (we want everything). So I have tried to pick out stuff that caught my eye.

• We seem to have picked up 10% more "rabid" fans, with a drop of 10% moderates. Similarly, the otakus went up 10%. Whether that was due to last year's deniers finally admitting their failing, I won't speculate. Regardless, I got a bit twitchy on discovering that.
• TV broadcasts jumped from 40% to 50% as the way folks have been introduced to anime. For the past few years the number has been around or under 40%. Similarly, TV as a means of getting the first look at an anime title went up nearly 10%. Gee, I wonder if CN has had an impact?
• Recordability on DVD has had a resurgence. After wallowing in the 1-5% regime, it's up to almost 15%. I don't suppose that's because of digital fansub?
• Anime rental outlets are finally starting to stock significant quantities of DVD. They have to, if they want to get the latest titles, but it's remarkable how long it has taken to get 50% of the shops with 50% DVD stocks considering how early anime adopted the format.
• Interest in everything anime (related products) has gone up significantly in general, manga, CDs, games, magazines... since last year, indicating last year's drop from previous years was indeed a hiccup.
• Here's one of the things that have me worried about how well I split the responses. The number of people that use a web browser to read newsgroups jumped (i.e. the number that use a newsreader plummeted). It went from 10% to over 35%. Now, Google does allow people to read news with their web browser, but it isn't really ideal for the job. I don't know what to make of this given the similarity in the results for other newsgroup related questions. What's funny is that the number of people that don't know that ROT13 is jumped, too, which supports the web browser observation.
• fewer people care if "for sale" type messages appear outside of rec.arts.anime.marketplace. There's still a simple majority, but not an overwhelming majority. Most of the move went to "don't care" and "undecided", so the support for going outside isn't there either.
• web forums are starting to get more support. Most of the move has been from "undecided" and "dislike" categories.
• in case you are wondering where the "Antarctican" is, the person is actually a Russian as far as I can tell. From what I've heard of both climates, I don't blame him for not knowing the difference.

Difference between Usenet and Web readerships

As noted in the results, only the quantities that are 2 or more error bars (standard deviations) are noteworthy, so I point only those out here. What we find is that there is a general similarity. The question is are the expected differences there?

• There are more old fans on Usenet (10%), both in terms of how long they have been a fan and how old they are. Go figure. The newsgroups outdate most web forums. This is also reflected in the usenet readership having more people that have seen more anime, and having more higher educated people. Guess who has more laserdisc players?
• Web based readership have more acquaintances they consider anime fans.
• Usenet based readership tends to read more anime web mags and news sites (not "more readers" read web mags, rather, "more mags"). Not sure what to make of that. Could it be that web based reader tend to stick to one or two sites?
• There does seem to be somewhat more more dub support from the Web-based readership. Early analyses suggested otherwise, but that was believed to be caused by a failure to adequately identify usenet readers. The difference is not huge, and is more of a "one notch" shift away from "sub only". There does seem to be more desire to see dub cast interviews.
• More usenet readers seem to watch raw anime (i.e. untranslated).
• Web based readership are less uptight about singing anime theme songs; more of them sing, and they don't need to know the meaning.
• There tends to be more computer video files in the web based readership. I assume that means there are more downloaders in that group. However, it isn't the prefered format. Web readers do tend to watch more fansubs.
• Web based readers tend not to be as finicky about whether or not a series will be completed by distributers. Fansubs don't cost anything, so that may account for this relaxed approach.
• more Usenet readers collect anime-related books and office products. More web readers want wall scrolls, toys, and clothes.
• Quite a bit more web based readers than usenet based ones think trading sound files is ok (and conversely more usenet readers think it's "outright piracy").
• More usenet based reader tend to order their anime, while the web readers tend to buy off the shelf a lot more.
• Web based readers tend to web browse very frequently. Usenet readers seem to do it quite a bit less frequently.
• More of the European readers are usenet readers than web-based readers
• More of the usenet based readers pay for their net access.
• More of the usenet based reader participate in mailing lists.

If you have any other comments or questions regarding this survey e-mail me at 'ru dot igarashi at usask dot ca'.