Home Office: Surveys, Hoaxes, and a Late April Fool's
Sad that April Fool's Day comes only once a year? Me too...
Steve Bass
I need a little help. Yes, I'm talking to you, not my editor. I want to know what you think of my newsletter and I'm going to use a Web-based survey program to find out. Here's the quid pro quo: I get feedback from you, and you get to experience SurveyMonkey, a product I think you'll want to try yourself. (You'll read about it later in my Home Office magazine column.)
You can play around with the free version of SurveyMonkey provided you limit your survey to no more than 10 questions and 100 responses--that's more than enough to do quick, spur-of-the-moment surveys.
My survey won't take you more than 5 minutes. And don't worry about your privacy: SurveyMonkey lets me collect your responses, but the site collects only the minimal amount of data, and it sets a benign cookie. You can read SurveyMonkey's privacy statement if you'd like, before you take the survey.
BTW, believe it when I say we PC World editors are concerned about what our readers think--and how their opinions are formed. Our Michael Gowan did some digging and will tell you whether you can rely on real-world reviews, the stuff you see on spots such as Epinions and Amazon.com. Read the revealing story, "Public Opinions: Inside User Reviews."
No, No, It's a Hoax
New hoaxes pop up every few week, and some are more popular than others. I found three I thought you'd like to know about.
The Columbia hoax is generating lots of e-mail. Are those pictures floating around the Web really those of the Columbia Shuttle blowing up? I'll save you some time (and maybe prevent you from passing along those e-mails)--while stunning, the pictures are a hoax.
You heard the one about not buying gas from Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, and Mobil? Like it's supposed to stop money from getting in the hands of terrorists. Yep, also a hoax.
A buddy sent me a dazzling photo of sunset supposedly taken over Africa by the space shuttle. I'll admit that I was taken in by it; tell me what you thought at first glance.
Dig This: Air Hockey is a perfect way to dodge a deadline, project, or annoying task. [Note from editor: No doubt, this really is deadly for deadlines.]
April Fool's Leftovers
I love a good gag and have a few left over from April Fool's day. But first take a look at some of our favorites from this year at "Play Pranks On Your Friends and Coworkers."
It might not seem obvious, but April Fool jokes aren't new. And some are so good, it's easy to fall for 'em. Try the April Fool's Day Quiz; then check out a favorite of mine, the San Serriffe Islands gag.
Scott Spanbauer, a PCW columnist buddy, e-mailed a "free beer" notice to me months ago. I fell for it, all right; heck, I dove in with both feet. Then I saved it and tried it on over 2200 people on my private lists. Nearly everyone got nailed because it's subtle, insidious, and almost undetectable. Use it any time you want to zing someone. Click this link, then copy and paste the text you find into an e-mail message. Leave the formatting just like it is--it makes it look authentic.
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