tFS v3 Survey Results
May 18th, 2008 by AlexAlmost one month ago, we created and posted the tFS v3 Survey with the idea of learning more about what our readers like and applying that knowledge to the next version of theFreshScent.
So far, the responses have been great. We’ve gotten some funny ones, some weird ones and some reassuring ones. Turns out we’re doing a thing or two right as it stands, but we can definitely improve in other areas.
Let’s start off with something simple that I doubt will surprise anyone…
Yep, mind blowing right? A nice, round 100% of you think it is Ok to use marijuana for recreational use, with a slight caveat of 13% choosing the ‘It Depends’ option. Exactly zero people chose ‘No’ on this one. A real eye-opener right?
The next mixture of questions was designed to get your opinions on both features and content.
Let’s start with features, we created two major parts of the site - the tFS Headshop Locator and Feed Valley. We called them ‘Feature Elements’ and put them right below categories in the sidebar.
Turns out we either didn’t build them well enough or no one can find them, because the majority of responses were on the negative side. A whopping 14% of people use Feed Valley to grab news from other sites and an equally massive 22% of viewers used the tFS Headshop Locator (when it was still functional and not mangled by our hosting providers).
The amount of ‘Don’t Know What It Is‘ responses (54% for Feed Valley and 38% for tFSHL) really opened our eyes to how important navigation is and making it easy for all of you to spot the larger projects that we work on. You can bet the next featured aspects of tFS aren’t going to be as easy to miss. Count on it.
Next we wanted to get some ideas about our content. Asking which category you read the most was a no-brainer and the responses pretty much followed what our site stats show - you all love looking at Medical Marijuana. The MMJ category posted a 46% total, which is an impressive 20% difference between the next closest choice, News, clocking in at 20% of our responses.
Funnily enough, those responses totally contradicted how you felt about the next question - Marc Emery or Tommy Chong? Marc Emery is heavily involved with the legalization movement and seed cultivation. This would translate into readers being more interested with the deeper aspects of marijuana, both legal and structural. Tommy Chong, well known from his comedy movies, represents the lighter side of pot. Jokes, taking life easy and making fun of a few people or places along the way.
You guys favored Tommy by a pretty sizable margin - 65% to 35% - over Marc Emery. What does this mean to us? We’ll keep the news and strain info coming, but you also want to see some more humor and things to make you laugh. No problem, we can handle that.
There were some questions hard for us to put into graph form, but don’t worry, we’re paying attention to every one equally. The one consistent, major complaint has been over the lack of updates since the site last went down. We know you want to see more from us on the content front, and that won’t be an issue when we re-launch. Until then we have to keep quiet on the details.
So sit tight, know that we’re on top of it, and we look forward to dropping some development news in the coming week.
San Diego State Drug Bust: Theta Chi Interview
May 6th, 2008 by Alex
San Diego State just became home to one of the largest school-related drug busts in recent history. The final toll? Around 100 people were arrested, 75 of them students. The police confiscated 4 pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of weed, 350 ecstasy pills, 4 guns and $60,000 in cash.
Considering this is front page news almost everywhere, this article going to be a simple news recap. Instead, we wanted to take a different angle, and talk to someone on the ground. It’s so easy to have an opinion made up by reading a single AP news article, but there are always other sides to a story.
Through a contact, we were able to interview an alumni from the most prominent fraternity involved in the drug sales - Theta Chi - and get a feel for what the local response is to this drug bust.
Let’s get on with it…
theFreshScent: This seems like an extremely serious issue and could possibly affect Theta Chi’s charter. Were these drug dealings completely common knowledge among house members, as the AP news article suggests?
Theta Chi Alumni: It would be safe to say that most brothers in a chapter know what the other brothers are up to, especially brothers who live at the fraternity house. If it is found to be true that drugs were sold on the premises, there is no doubt that their charter will be revoked. Theta Chi holds a strict no tolerance policy on drugs. Even alcohol is not allowed on chapter premises.
To see the rest of this interview, read on…
