I’ve never had any trouble forming an opinion of my own, but often times I wonder how the rest of the world sees things. Anyone who has ever spent time with me can tell you that I tend to ask a lot of random questions that don’t really have any significant meaning behind them. This could range from asking someone what they think the area code in Detroit is or it could be something deeper like would you really want to be immortal if it meant you could never die?
While most are good sports about these things, I’ve received my fair share of puzzled looks in my time, so imagine my delight when I came across a website called Ask500 where you can pose these questions to a global audience. The site is set up where anyone can ask a question and if it receives enough votes, then they’ll leave it at the top of their main page until 500 people have viewed it. Over the last year, I’ve been ducking in and out of the site and since I’ve enjoyed it so much I thought that I’d share some of what I’ve learned. While these results aren’t necessarily scientific, I did find a few of them surprising.
-Considering that it costs more to make a penny than the actual monetary value, I thought it was interesting that people were split 50/50 when asked if it would bother them if we retired the penny.
-On the creepier side of things, 64% of respondents said that they wouldn’t break up with their significant other, if they found out that they were a relative.
-While nearly all of the Ask500 audience has tried chicken, only 41% has tasted rabbit.
-If forced to choose, 81% of people would rather go a day without the internet than a day without water. When forced to choose between the internet and TV, 81% would rather go online.
-When I asked how many cats it takes before it officially gets weird, 16% of the audience said it would take more than 6.
-In a sad commentary on the times that we live in, 48% of people responded that they would run out of money in less than a month, if they lost their job.
-Only 28% of us have owned a pager in our lifetime.
-51% said that they’ve called 911 at least once in their life.
-65% said that they wouldn’t travel back in time, if they knew that they couldn’t come back.
-Surprisingly, 72% of the Ask500 audience said that if their best friend’s spouse made a pass at them, they’d leave their friend in the dark about it.
-When asked if they’d ever be willing to pay more than $10 to download a movie, 88% of the audience said no.
-30% of respondents said that they’ve signed up for an internet dating site at least once in their life. When looking at the gender breakdown, women were almost twice as likely to have said yes compared to their male counterparts. Perhaps even more interesting was that 25% said that they’ve come across someone they’ve known while surfing an internet dating site.
-37% of you have engaged in an office romance
-Only 8% of the replies said that they had a bumper sticker on their car.
-74% of the audience agreed that revenge is a dish best served cold.
-Only 36% said that they’d want to know the exact date of their death if it was available to them.
-35% said that they believed there was at least one fact or opinion that 100% of the global population could agree upon.
-64% of people said that they had been living at their current residence for longer than 3 years.
-46% said that they’d break up with someone if there wasn’t a ring on their finger after 5 years.
-When asked what type of milk you buy, 20% said whole milk, 22% went with non-fat and 22% said light (1%), and 36% went with reduced fat (2%)
-67% said that they’ve owned a dog at least once in their life.
-66% of respondents said that they had their first kiss between the ages of 12 – 19.
-41% have lived dangerously by hitchhiking at least once.
If you’d like to view all of the questions that I’ve asked, you can see them here. If you haven’t checked out the site yet, I’d encourage you sign up because it offers all kinds of wacky entertainment. If you’re a business and are interested in crowd sourcing some of your market research, Ask500 has a sponsorship program where you can get instant feedback on ideas.
#1 by snarkolepsy on March 15, 2010 - 4:21 pm
I still have my old pager. I don’t know why.
It’s the color blue.
#2 by Davis on March 15, 2010 - 5:41 pm
Snarkolepsy you’re too funny. I’m actually not all that surprised that you still have it. I bet you’re garage is filled with all kinds of cool relics from the past. Just hang onto them for another 20 years and they might be worth something.
#3 by snarkolepsy on March 16, 2010 - 11:47 am
Naaa. Not really. I do have a couple oddities like the first xm moble handheld. But, most of the computer stuff I actually get rid of within a few years. Garages are for wood. Not computers.
I don’t know why I still have the pager.
#4 by snarkolepsy on March 19, 2010 - 3:41 pm
P.S. – I’ve been loving that site.
No – I didn’t sign up.