Every Cura Survey is Flawed.

[zBeeble 2]

It's entirely possible that I'm not a normal 3D printer user.  I've been curious about the technology for some years, but I"d been to busy to really invest.  Some of you might balk at that statement, but I stand by it --- my very nature is to treat every opportunity as a learning experience.

 

When I finally had time, I researched things on the internet, ordered things on eBay and set about building my printer from scratch.  Along the way, I learned about many things.  I'm fairly happy with my first effort.  And by that I'm not talking about the first thing I printed, but my first printer.  I definitely plan to build a more sophisticated printer in the future.

 

And before I get into the meat of the post, I'd like to say that I fully appreciate Ultimaker/Cura for releasing their slicer to the open source community and this post is not IN ANY WAY trying to pour rain on that effort.

 

That-all-said, the surveys are getting to me.  The choices are not good.  Education _or_ personal _or_ work.  Fairly, I would say all three.  In my short time as a 3D printer owner, I've made prototypes for work, learned much about how 3D printers work and made some birthday presents.  Similarly, I'm asked to choose among prototyping, production, .... and a bunch of things I forget as for what I'm making.  I want to honestly chose about 80% of the answers, not one.

 

I don't have any problem at all with your survey-on-download approach, I'm just bummed by your survey.  I'm forced to pick random answers that don't really reflect what I'm doing...

 

[gr5 2,003]

@SandervG - First of all did you know there is also a @s.vangeelen ?  Who is that?  Also please read post above.  Poor guy wants to check most of the options - not just one in your survey.

[SandervG 1,518]

4 hours ago, gr5 said:

@SandervG - First of all did you know there is also a @s.vangeelen ?  Who is that?  Also please read post above.  Poor guy wants to check most of the options - not just one in your survey.

That is also me, but a test account I made a long time ago. Never deleted it. 

Fun fact, this account is registered on my email address from back when we were small enough we could just use our first names. That account has my 'official' email address. Never wanted to say goodbye to that first email address, it is like an ancient artifact ?

 

But thanks for the feedback @zBeeble . I see where you are coming from. If we would enable users to select more fields, there is a fair chance this would ruin most of the collected data. For instance, 10 people would have downloaded Cura from which there are 8 professionals, 6 home users and 9 educators. That is 23 'persona's' from 10 downloads. So instead we hope you'll pick the answer which defines you most. If you have a 3D printer at work (from company budget), but you also use it to print an occasional desk ornament or a present, does not make you less of a professional user. We all learn things along the way, but that doesn't make us an educator or teacher (educational use). It doesn't have to be that black and white, not 100% is not automatically 0%. Hopefully this helps. 

 

Finally, if you feel you still can't select any of the options because they would do you unjust or would make you feel uncomfortable, there is a 4th option; 'I don't want to share any information'. 

[kmanstudios 1,120]

10 hours ago, zBeeble said:

my very nature is to treat every opportunity as a learning experience.

That is my personal motto......Soooooo no balking here ?

 

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by kmanstudios

[zBeeble 2]

12 hours ago, SandervG said:

That is also me, but a test account I made a long time ago. Never deleted it. 

Fun fact, this account is registered on my email address from back when we were small enough we could just use our first names. That account has my 'official' email address. Never wanted to say goodbye to that first email address, it is like an ancient artifact ?

 

But thanks for the feedback @zBeeble . I see where you are coming from. If we would enable users to select more fields, there is a fair chance this would ruin most of the collected data. For instance, 10 people would have downloaded Cura from which there are 8 professionals, 6 home users and 9 educators. That is 23 'persona's' from 10 downloads. So instead we hope you'll pick the answer which defines you most. If you have a 3D printer at work (from company budget), but you also use it to print an occasional desk ornament or a present, does not make you less of a professional user. We all learn things along the way, but that doesn't make us an educator or teacher (educational use). It doesn't have to be that black and white, not 100% is not automatically 0%. Hopefully this helps. 

 

Doesn't my education count?  Really.  I learned, for instance, what a PID controller is... and how they're quite common in our lives.  A fascinating diversion is how PID controllers were originally constructed as pressurized air devices and used to hold a heading on ships.  See... learning... thus I was educated (allbeit by myself, the internet and the practical experiment of building something that works).

 

I don't recall all the items in the list on your survey, but I remember thinking that some would imply the others.  That it wouldn't make sense, say, to say you were prototyping without saying you were designing your own things.  Maybe you need people to "rank" their uses.  I'm actually in favour of you guys getting _more_ information.

 

12 hours ago, SandervG said:

 

Finally, if you feel you still can't select any of the options because they would do you unjust or would make you feel uncomfortable, there is a 4th option; 'I don't want to share any information'. 

 

Yeah... sometimes I do.  I've downloaded it multiple times and I'm not sure how many times you want my information.  Sometimes I even want to download it without the use of a browser.  In general, I like to live by the rule that I only answer surveys when I receive some value in kind.  Good news is that you've already qualified in my mind.  Your application is well-done and useful.... easily worth a few surveys and some information.

 

[zBeeble 2]

Actually, reading this again, I have more to add.

 

On 8/17/2018 at 4:28 AM, SandervG said:

But thanks for the feedback @zBeeble . I see where you are coming from. If we would enable users to select more fields, there is a fair chance this would ruin most of the collected data. For instance, 10 people would have downloaded Cura from which there are 8 professionals, 6 home users and 9 educators. That is 23 'persona's' from 10 downloads. So instead we hope you'll pick the answer which defines you most. If you have a 3D printer at work (from company budget), but you also use it to print an occasional desk ornament or a present, does not make you less of a professional user. We all learn things along the way, but that doesn't make us an educator or teacher (educational use). It doesn't have to be that black and white, not 100% is not automatically 0%. Hopefully this helps.

 

So... if you have 10 downloads, maybe you have 2 professional-home-educators, 3 home-professionals, 2 home-educators, and 3 plain professionals.  You're asking people to self identify in 2018 ... which means, like sex (where there are a _lot_ more than 2 kinds now), people do all kinds of wonderful things with their printers.  Once could say your trinary pigeon holes are antiquated and looking at your question as a set of axis is more appropriate for the times.

 

[Smithy 1,135]

Wish I had your problems...

 

[kmanstudios 1,120]

51 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Wish I had your problems...

 

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