Chit Chat Awards 2012 - Survey

[RedAnarchist]

Age

The forum membership has always been mostly dominated by the young, and this is reflected in the ages shown below. 26 people answered this question.

Age Number of people within age group
20 or under 12
21-30 11
31-40 1
41-50 2
51-60 0
61+ 0

[RedAnarchist]

Biological Sex

As is common on Internet forums, the majority of members are male, and this was strongly and depressingly reflected in the results. Only one female member sent in nominations, which is probably the lowest we’ve ever had, and this is a reflection of the declining number of active female members on the forum. 25 people answered this question. Hopefully by this time next year we will see an increase not only in female members, but also active female members.

Biological Sex Number
Male 24
Female 1
Intersex 0

[RedAnarchist]

Gender Identity

This was a write-in question that I introduced for last years Awards. Most of the members who sent in their nominations identity as cisgender. 24 people answered this question, and there was little diversity within the identities given.

Gender Identity Number
Male 20
Female 2
Androgynous 1
Gender neutral 1

[RedAnarchist]

Sexuality

Another member write-in question, this was another question where one group had a massive majority, which is reflective of society. 25 people answered this question.

Sexuality Number
Heterosexual 18
Homosexual 1
Bisexual 3
Pansexual 2
Unsure 1

[RedAnarchist]

Country of Birth

This question and the question asking about current country of residence usually have very similar answers, and both questions usually show the massive American/Anglophone majority on the forum. In fact, no country other than the USA had more than one nomination, and unsurprisingly, all of the nominations bar one came from either North America or Northern Europe. 25 people answered this question.

Country of Birth Number
USA 18
UK 1
Netherlands 1
Canada 1
Former USSR 1
Faroe Islands 1
Sweden 1
Finland 1

[RedAnarchist]

Country of R esidence

This question is usually very similar to the one for country of birth, but tends to be slightly more diverse. However, this time around it was almost identical. Again, 25 people answered this question.

Country of Residence Number
USA 18
UK 2
Netherlands 1
Canada 1
Sweden 2
Denmark 1

[RedAnarchist]

Mother Tongue

Unsurprisingly, English was by far the most common mother tongue amongst the nominations. 25 people answered this question.

Mother Tongue Number
English 19
Dutch 1
Chechen/Russian 1
Faroese 1
Finnish 2
Kurdish 1

[RedAnarchist]

Languages Spoken

Although those who answered this question put the actual languages they spoke, I am showing the results as number of languages spoken per nomination. I’ve included any that they have mentioned (even if they are not fluent as I think mentioning the language shows that they know enough to at least say they know some of the language), and the number includes their native tongue. If they didn’t answer this question, I have considered them to be monolingual. 26 people answered this question, the most common languages being spoken were English, Spanish and Esperanto.

Languages Spoken Number
1 11
2 7
3 4
4 2
5 2

[RedAnarchist]

Ideology

Although we are all revolutionary leftists, there are many ideologies which fall under such a description, and this forum hosts leftists from many of them. 26 people answered this question, with a large majority identifying their views as Marxist in some form.

Ideology Number
Anarchist Communism 2
Communism 5
Marxist-Leninism 2
Bolshevik-Leninism 1
Orthodox Marxism 2
Left Communism 3
Marxism 4
Non-Doctrinaire Communism 2
Bordigism 1
Progressivism 1
Trotskyism (Orthodox Marxism) 1
Socialism 1
On the one hand, we want to live communism; on the other, to spread anarchy 1

[RedAnarchist]

Religion or Lack Of

Although the revolutionary left tends to be atheistic, there are some religious forum members, and some of them sent in nominations. However, atheists are a massive majority both on the forum and in the nominations. 26 people answered this question.

Religion/Lack of Number
Atheist 10
Skeptic 1
Non-Religious 1
Norse Paganism 1
Atheism/Historical Materialism 1
Lack of 2
Agnostic Theist 1
Humanism 1
Nope 1
None 1
Anti-theist 1

[RedAnarchist]

Occupation

Not surprisingly given the young age of most members of the forum, there are a lot of students, as well as students with part-time jobs. 23 people answered this question.

Occupation Number
Student 7
Systems Administrator 1
Unemployed 3
Student/Barista 1
Student/Freelancer 1
Fisherman 1
Information Architect 1
Grad Student 1
Union Organiser 1
Student/Dishwasher 1
Local Government 1
Service Sector 1
Pharmacy Technician 1
Student/Communications Worker 1
Body modification 1

[RedAnarchist]

Drinking, Smoking, Drugs

Unsuprisingly, many more members said they drunk alcohol than those who smoked or used other drugs. Smoking was mostly something that those who sent in nominations didn’t do, whilst taking drugs was even. If someone put answers other than yes or no, I put those who never do them as no, and the rest as yes. 26 people answered all three questions.

Alcohol Number
Yes 18
No 8


Smoking Number
Yes 9
No 17


Other Drugs Number
Yes 13
No 13

[RedAnarchist]

Preferred food source

The vast majority were omnivores, eating both plants and animals. 25 people answered this question.

Preferred Food Source Number
Vegan 1
Vegetarian 1
Omnivore 23

[RedAnarchist]

Year Joined Revleft

The vast majority of nominations sent in were from members who joined after 2009, mainly because there are few members still left from the early days of the forum.

Year Joined Number
2002 0
2003 2
2004 0
2005 1
2006 0
2007 2
2008 1
2009 3
2010 3
2011 7
2012 7