X-Message-Number: 9683
From: "den Otter" <>
Subject: Re: The Growth Issue
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 11:44:36 +0200

----------
> Message #9681
> From: "Scott Badger" <>
> Subject: The Growth Issue
> Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 00:18:06 -0500

> The main issue I wanted to address regards the conversations on why people
> don't sign up for cryonics services.  While I believe it has been very
> valuable to toss around hypotheses for explaining slow membership growth in
> cryonics, ultimately these questions can only be answered by conducting an
> actual survey.  I keep waiting for someone to make a reference to some
> previous survey which addressed this issue but I haven't noticed any such
> references.  Well, if it hasn't been done it needs to be.  It wouldn't be
> that expensive if we used the internet and did a bulk e-mailing describing
> the study and directing the subject to a web page where s/he could complete
> a questionaire designed to measure attitudes and opinions.  Then we could
> more or less settle this on-going debate.  I think we would get a lot of
> individuals who would respond because they'd think it would be interesting
> to do so.  We can use many of the proposed *reasons* in recent postings to
> develop survey items.  And I realize that people using the internet are not
> representative of the general population but it's getting more
> representative than it used to be.  Besides, a survey such as the one I'm
> conceiving of would likely pique the interest of many and may even result in
> some sales.
> 
> I have a Ph.D. in Psychology, an MBA in Marketing, and have worked enough
> with HTML to come up with some rough ideas.  It wouldn't be until later this
> summer though.
> 
> Comments?

Incidentally, I had a more or less related idea yesterday: use bulk email to 
newsgroups, mailing lists and maybe private addresses to increase public
awareness regarding cryonics. I'm sure there are at least a couple of 
thousand people out there that would like the idea almost instantly, just
like many of us did when we first heard of it, but don't know about the
procedure yet (or don't know that you can actually sign up). 

A survey would be a good excuse to do some large-scale (yet cheap) 
promoting, and might generate some interesting data too. Indeed it
would be practical to direct interested folks to a special website, with
the full survey, but also a list of cryonics organizations, some other
cryonics links and a FAQ. Basically a simplified version of the CryoNet
homepage. It could be set up on one of those free websites provided
by organizations like Geocities, thus making it free and disposable. 

I'd be glad to help in any way I can with such a project, though my (HTML)
skills are limited. Btw, I'll be gone for approx two weeks (starting today),
so I can't help out right away. 

P.s: wasn't there a "Humorous Cryonics Survey" some time ago? Whatever
became of that, any positive results?

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