Kiwiblog survey results

Thanks to the 1,500 readers who took part in the readers survey.  Some of the results are:

Age

• Under 30: 18%
• 31 – 45: 27%
• 46 – 60: 31%
• 61+: 28%

Gender

• Female 31%
• Male 69%

Area

• Auckland 28%
• Wellington 26%
• Christchurch 9%
• Dunedin 3%
• Other Cities 11%
• Towns 6%
• Rural 8%
• Overseas 8%

Readership of types of posts (on a 0 to 100 weighted scale)

• NZ political stories 87%
• Critiquing the media 80%
• Nanny state/political correctness stories 76%
• Original research posts 75%
• Polls 75%
• Law & order 72%
• Local Government 70%
• Overseas Politics 65%
• Humour 63%
• Posts on bills/debates in Parliament 58%
• Cartoons 54%
• Internet issues 53%
• Travel 47%
• Today in Parliament 46%
• Photos of the Week 46%
• General Debate 41%
• Review Posts 41%
• Caption Contests 40%

Note that even those scoring lower still have significant numbers interested.  For example 53% say they read the travel posts at least occasionally and 32% say they are very interested in them. What it shows is the politics, media and nanny state posts have near universal appeal,and other posts have broad but less universal appeal.

Party Vote

No surprise here. In order they are:

• National 74%
• ACT 9%
• Greens 3.7%
• Not Vote 3.7%
• Labour 3.7%
• Conservatives 3.2%
• Maori Party 1.2%
• NZ First 0.7%
• United Future 0.2%
• Internet MANA 0.2%

Note that this was not a scientific poll of readers. It was a self-selecting survey.

Comments

236 people made comments.  I’ve included the full comments below. Not yet had time to analyse them fully to see any trends in frequent requests.

– New interface?
“Occasionally” has one s
A bit less of the Maori bashing. I am one and do find it quite offensive. I agree not all of my people are good citizens but there is no need for out and out Maori bashing.
A bit more on business, maybe?
a bit more straight policy analysis – insights on public policy issues (regardless of whether they are currently political issues). Links to others posting interesting policy and data analysis.
A focus on defence force matters. Mainstream media neglects this.
A ‘medIawatch’ type posting that reveals bias and or (lack of) consistency
A Penny Bright Post so that we can skip her ramblings on the general debate!
A separate page for the constant religious debates. Oh and one for Penny.
All is OK by me.
Always interested in analysis of issues with more depth or insight. Facts and data. I also like the political strategy party positioning type posts.
An absence of ‘the Publicwatchdog’
“An end to the comment voting system.

I also liked the Religious Debate thread experiment a few years ago, but that’s probably mostly just me.”
Any posts containing less religion, much less personal abuse and complete absence of Penelope M Bright
Any posts that doesn’t have Penny Bright commenting in them.
Anything that shafts Labour and the left wing generally!
As I am interested in most sports, occasional posts on top level contests/controversy would be welcome. My favourites (in order) are horse racing, rugby and cricket.
bad language in some `general debates` doesn`t help
Better comments section like TDB, The Standard or WOBH, utilising response/quote features and so forth.
Better reply to comments capability (such as with disqus, Facebook etc)
Between the positive and negative votes, a button with which you can indicate for any troll that you do not wish to read that ‘I did not read this’ so that person can be informed how irrelevant their attempts to disrupt discussions are. Then, people need not engage them, thus suggesting to them, they are more relevant than they are to the debate. If they get more than ‘x’ number, They go in the sin-bin for one hour, and can;t comment.
Business
Business and economic discussion
By the way, what exactly do you mean by the terms political correctness/nanny state? In the interest of balance and intellectual rigor (which I believe you support) I wonder if you could also bring into your dialogue an equivalent phrase of similar social understanding and impact – “All mouth and trousers” or perhaps “B.S. Artist”? They are two sides of the same coin – ignorance. Cheers.
Can you do some more types of posts on Global Trends, I really enjoy posts looking at the states of laws/ social issues around the world. The post the other day on social issues in the USA over time are the type I really enjoy
can’t think of any
can’t think of any….
“Commenting from a mobile phone iOS is difficult.
Can the mobile client allow commenting?”
Comments arising from question time.
Court decisions / sentences
data and economics stuff like Eric Crampton’s blog
data data data. love your stats
David I love reading the blog for its insight. As we are still early on in the parliamentary term, I’d be interested in your views on what the parties should be focussing on this year and next in order to get momentum into the next general election. Media is always interested in the day to day tactical plays and scandals, but what should or could parties be doing from a strategic perspective to plan out the next 2 years?
Deeper coverage of personal finance issues within macro economic context.
Defence
Dissent of the Day type post
Easier method to comment on someones post so that you can copy part of their post that you are commenting on and that it is highlighted as a reply to a comment.
Economic analysis, global political issues, analysis of other countries.
Economic and fiscal issues
“economics
economic development and “”productivity”””
“Educational posts. HIghlighting issues that Friedrech Hayek, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Econtalk, Lawtalk etc discuss or have discussed.

American politics, links to Charles Krauthammer, Jonah Goldberg, George Will articles and links to interesting videos such as Real Clear Politics, Fox News Special Report, Fox News Red Eye”
“Evidence of climate change
in depth analysis of who controls what in our fishing industry
general trends in tax evasion but real examples”
Features about intelligent modern writers eg Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens and like if relevant?
“Financial management (personal)
Video interviews”
Financial testers generally – perhaps picking a cue from NBR stories which dovetail with ‘Extremely Interested’ criteria above – or as expressed by others
Fisking media bias.
Follow up to Today in Parliament posts-what happened? Who won votes etc.
Forecasts and subsequent commentary on weekend sports results from the LGBT community. Reverence for the environment and promotion of the necessity of conservation so that human dominion does not lead to the rise of the headless horseman.
Fuel price justification each time it changes
General debate tends to be hijacked by a few people, which lessens its usefulness
General political system discussion comparing (for example) uk, NZ, and USA. (I guess this could be considered an educational section)
Global finance.
global warming
Goat Pr0n.
Good at present
“Good news NZ stories (more of).
Guest posts from pollies (don’t care from what side of the house)?”
Good range already. I mainly read for news, seeing that Stuff and Herald are becoming more like magazines with soft news. Kiwiblog filters out the good stpries for me.
Google sign in for commenting
“Guest opinion pieces
Balanced Climate change pieces”
Guest opinions
guest posts
“Guest posts are usually excellent. Would be happy to see opposing points of view. Kiwi in america is always good value. Could Rodney Hide or Chris Trotter be persuaded to do a regular guest post?

Maybe the occasional theme over multiple posts and time. Along the lines of the WO islamist position.
”
Guest posts from more varied people/backgrounds
“Guest posts that challenge what seem to be majority views of most Kiwiblogger ‘commenters’?

To help really TEST the commitment of Kiwibloggers to ‘freedom of expression’ ?”
Guest posts.
Happy with the mix
Happy with what is there.
Historical context for current political issues
History pieces
Hmm
“I always enjoy this blog, particularly at election time. The travel blogs have also been a great treat. Thank you for providing it 🙂
”
I always like the analysis stuff that is a step back from the day to day hot political items. Such as looking at long term strategies of parties.
I am rural with a feel for the Heartland and recognise that your space and views lean towards Wellington/urban centric but would love to see the odd post from the provinces through provincial eyes.
I don’t think so. It’s necessary to read widely so if you had more I would spend too much time reading this one and not the others!
I feel like one of Kiwiblog’s strengths is the ability to take a balanced and informed view of current issues, so seeing more of them wold be great 🙂
I find DPF comments on Christian matters relatively uninformed. Could validate some of your statements a bit more.
I know you must be mates with John Stringer but oh god his posts and cartoons are SO BAD
I kow it is very time consuming, but more original research. I’ve always found this very good. Possibly up your graphics/design game (maybe team up with a designer) for infogrpahics, etc and you’re on to a winner.
I like guest posts, particularly from parliamentarians from opposing/different points of view.
I like kiwiblog, it’s a nice balance of current events and personal events. I wish newspapers published such considered views
“I read KB as it caters to my right conservative opinions.

I believe that the DPF posts overall are well considered with the analysis of numbers on any topic providing great information.

I would like to see the ability to comment on a thread below the principle comment (much like on WO) removing the necessity to get past the climate fascists without losing interest because they can go on and on and on and on and on and . . . .

A great blog, keep up the excellent work!; do a T shirt and hat and I am yours forever!”
“I read mainly for the political comment/discussions etc.
I like your blog but think some house cleaning such as WOBH did to curb bad and insulting comments/ behaviour, plus also too many use the comments section for personal attacks on each other which makes the section unreadable.”
I read your posts but I almost never read any comments
I think some posts on comparative economic performance between New Zealand and other countries, and what drives economic success. The MSM is hopeless on this.
I think you mislabeled the list above David. You have a very good blog, but “humorous” posts simply aren’t your strong suit. You’re sense of what is funny is just terrible.
I use your blog links as a directory, could you add a handful more perhaps?
I wish we had a hierarchical comments system like disqus, where you could see which comments were replies to other comments.
I would like to attend a Kiwiblog bar evening, where people like me would come out from under our pseudonyms
i would like to see climate change discussed without all the dog whistle nonsense that comes with it.
I would like to see Kiwiblog posts shown in order of last first, as on Whaleoil. As I go into Kiwiblog several times a day it is disappointing (particularly on a tablet or mobile phone) to have to scroll down past all the posts I have already read under that heading, to get to the latest 10 or so postings. Would be much easier to see the most recent ones first.
“I would like to see regular “”TransTasman”” like reports which refer to Australian activities as they effect NZ from the NZer’s point of view..
(People/ Politics/ Polls/ League/ Finance/ Macro economics are already well covered..
I was looking for more of the “”Why is this change occurring”” in things like, immigration from the immigrants point of view, like technology- patents- new forward thinking as seen by the Os, like internal migration by Australians within Australia, like impact of Islam on Os at a personal level, like how the normal Australian is/will react to Islam, like how the coal/ minerals hole will be filled, like why Tasmania is so different from West Australia, like how well does local body finance/ rating work in the various States of Australia, like which states have visible arms and why, which way is that going.. etc)
”
I’d like to see more media critique/fact-checking. Quality of newspaper reporting (at least what I can see online) is atrocious, poorly researched, badly written and inaccurate. This really needs to be continuously highlighted.
I’d like to see some more posts looking at Māori issues from a ‘Tory’ perspective. I appreciate this may not appeal to the wider market, however when you have commented on Māori issues, I have enjoyed your analysis.
If you had map of the day, todays trivia, and daily round up then I would not need to read whale oil!
I’m a dairy farmer and would love to see positive stories (accurate of course) which would balance the bile that comes fro the msm and the greens. There are other industries that pollute far far more than dairying and are doing very little (nothing?) about it (unlike dairying). The Avon river in Christchurch is one area. Posts about which industries keep our economy going and who suffers when the payout is low (i.e. everybody!). And how long and hard dairy workers work. Sorry – I’m starting to rant.
I’m always interested in background information related to political issues, and life in New Zealand in general. I would be interested in information about NZ economic and social development and performance; NZ international relations; factual data behind current local and central government issues – the fiskings are always interesting.
insight from your NZ political history knowledge – I’m very aware that you don’t often have to go back more than a decade to see history repeated or someone behaving in the opposite/hypocritical manner when compared to the past.
Interesting video clips, book reviews (Liked the way you got stuck into Wilkinson and Pickett’s book “The Spirit Level” but havent seen much about Picketty – is his data OK David?), profile of any new MP’s that the MSM doesn’t feature (e.g. Shane Reti), follow up items not covered by MSM (e.g. what has happened in legal sense over the ponytail controversy)
International affairs particularly Canada, US and Europe.
Invited posts from left wing politicians or figures, who are willing to stick around and answer the reasonable concerns raised about their logic and fact.
It can be hard to follow comments on posts, as answers are posted by timeline rather than comment-rply basis
It’s excellent. It would probably take too much time, but a summary (index only) of some of the current hotter topics on other right-wing and centre-right blogs would be readable.
It’s fine just as it is.
Just keep doing what you are doing. I like the variation.
Just keep up the good work. I do not agree with you on social issues but I respect your integrity.
Just more of them!
Just want to emphasise that you should do many more posts critiquing media errors, and demanding higher standards for journalists (i.e. actually investigating political/public interest stories, not just parroting press releases spliced with editorial opinion).
Keep the pressure on the media.
Keeping record of Labour/ Green hypocrisy with real examples easy to refer to
Law and Order posts
Left-Right counterpoint
Less supporting the tobacco industry
like your economics posts
Links to a particular comment rather than having to wade through seeking a reply.
Local body/regional politics put into a national perspective. eg I liked the post re the number of councillors in ChCh compared to other regions. In other words are we out of sync or within reasonableness.
Love the blog David, you do a terrific job.
Loved the posts on Chile – visited a couple of months after you and had a brilliant experience.
Maybe more links to detailed analysis of issues. Your tables for government performance at election time were excellent
Maybe some features on members of parliament (especially around members day when they’ve got a bill on the order paper due for debate) or something on how certain parliamentary offices operate
Maybe some more in-depth analysis/investigation of the banking sector and apparently excessive profiteering.
Monetary policy
More about the Taxpayers Association
More analysis on the economy and how NZ can be improved. There are some very smart contributors, such as Kiwi in America, who could do some guest posts. Crowd sourcing ideas to improve NZ is where the best ideas will come from. I like guest posters who provide detailed analysis and reason to their subjects of expertise.
More analytical posts on overseas political issues such as USA, Canada, UK, Europe and Argentine as ther is generally plenty on Asian countries
More comment on political commentary and not just ones that are cherry picked to support a particular argument that you might be putting forward. e.g the Dominion Post are relentlessly negative toward the government – I would love you to highlight this more often
More critique of other blogs/fact checking of other blogs
more detailed commentary on the day’s issues rather than just 1-2 liners (sorry to be greedy!)
“more discussion on privacy issues particularly secondary uses of “”anonymised”” PII.
Exploitation of ones “”digital exhaust”””
More economic and business features
More economics/commercial sector stories: e.g. what Xero’s US strategy is doing. Not from a govt angle but from the business itself.
More fisking of media stories
“More guest posts – not from anyone but from people relevant to current issues. EG if Campbell Live, The Herald etc did one of their usual hitjobs, give a right of reply.
Or insights from people where MSM are making factual errors in how things are presented. EG I dont really like Sir bruce fergusson, but he did give helpful insight into how the spy agencies really operate, not the conspiracy theory garbage we were fed by the usual suspects,”
More guest posts might be good but there isn’t much I would change. I also like the format where two people with different views on an issue post side by side.
More in depth opinion, rather than bit-by-bit commentary on quoted news items
More International Trade
More investigations about excessive regulations, and in particular the massive gulf between what the government says (that they’ll cut red tape) and what they do (they increase it)
More links to intelligent commentary on social, political and economic issues from home and abroad
more local government issues in regional new zealand.
More local government true policy plans/issues
More on miscarriages of justice
More opposition and journalists held to account.
More political stories, how the opposition is doing etc. Also is it possible to use a format that is being used in Whaleoil which allows to respond to other posts?
More politics analysis
More positive postings about NZ First and the Greens
More posts showing up bad journalism and blatant lies by msm
More respect for NZ’s Judeo-Christian heritage
More thought pieces – slightly more in depth commentary or analysis, as opposed to a few lines after a quoted media article. Be good to have these slightly more often.
Mostly covered
n
n/a
n/a
N/A
n/a
N/A
Nah
Name the MSM biased reporters who always put the boot into the Nats,and never ever be positive towards them ,
Nationally important Maori news, your thoughts on major NZ sport as you did with Black Caps earlier this year
Nested comments
nil
NO
no
No
No
No
No
no
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No – you are doing fine. In fact concentrate more on New Zealand politics is my preference!
No – your coverage is pretty encompassing.
NO but GD is totally hijacked by the same people and no longer enjoyable at all
no change – has a broad appeal
No I think KB is fine the way it is.
No, a good range of topics.
No, but to provide some positive feedback, I read kiwiblog because it’s the closest I get to being able to read about NZ news. Everything important that happens in NZ is usually summarised, and it it isn’t filled with the BS fluff that you otherwise get in stuff or Herald. I use kiwiblog effectively as an executive summary of what’s happening in NZ. Great stuff David.
No, but will probably read anything that you do post.
No, don’t think so
No, love it as it is.
No, quite happy thanks.
No. Great blog
Nope
Nope
Nope
Nope its good
Nope. Keep up the good work DPF
Not a fucking map of the day. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.
Not in particular
Not interested in guest posts
not really
Not really as opinion and comment covers the subjects in which I have an interest.
not really, I find Kiwiblog an eminently balanced blog
Not that I can think of
Not that I can think of.
Not that I can think of.
NZ Sports
Overall I enjoy the more intellectual approach to issues from the perspective of the “right” than say Whale which has its own appeal but much more at the street fighter end of the scale. Id be interested in perspectives on what politics in NZ might look like in 10-20 years time which necessarily will traverse issues about the future of different parties and the overall impact of the internet generation growing up etc.
Page 3 girls
Perfect
Perhaps a bit more on sport
Perhaps more Guest Posts from people you think have something useful to say.
Picking apart stories that appear in the media, ie if journalists or other politicians say xyz or claim abc, is that true or is it just rubbish? Akin to fact checking.
“Please bring the blogroll back, was a great compilation

Would be interesting to see more posts on your knowledge of and relationship with the people involved in politics from outside the political parties e.g. public servants, bloggers and political scientists such as Raymond Miller – as their roles in the political process are largely hidden (and less transparent) compared to party members and MPs

Rights of reply responses from the above-mentioned groups to your posts (understand that the obvious limitation is people may choose not to respond)

Posts on Auckland issues (which do have an indirect effect on the rest of NZ in terms of spending)

Posts on community and sport organisations (including at the local and community sport level), particularly in relation to governance and political processes e.g. commentary on the Law Commission proposals around a reform of the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 would have been very helpful (and future commentary on proposed legislative amendments would still be very interesting)

Kiwiblog online panel discussions on various topics with potential interaction from readers

None of the above is intended as criticism, just potential further things to offer which are entirely at your discretion since you blog for our benefit. You do a great job already! Also appreciate the usual tone of your posts as WhaleOil is prone to overly emotional and hyperbolic outbursts”
Please change the formatting of guest posts so they are left-aligned instead of justified. It will make them much easier to read -especially as many of them are LNG and have long blocks of text.
Please get rid of John Stringer, most of his posts reference genitals or gay sex in some way. As much as I am a fan of both genitals and gay sex, it is not enjoyable to read.
“Please institute greater proof-reading checks at Kiwiblog, there are errors often enough to be noticeable e.g. this poll, where it asks who did you vote for, one option is ‘Did note vote’.

Perhaps there should be more front-footing of debate on issues, pick an issue weekly that should matter to New Zealanders to state an opinion on. Lets hear what Kiwiblog thinks rather than be reactive to media stories. Lets make Kiwiblog a voice to be heard on the issues.”
Political insight
Politician of the day
Politics – not the current affairs stuff
Post exposing poor quality press reporting
Posting visibility linked to proportion of net downticks to moderate out trolls – and posting size limit of perhaps 20 lines as well as daily posting limit (perhaps 10) so some posters like Penny Bright would be less prominent.
Posts critiquing the ideologies of climate change fanatics, social justice zealots, their allies and enablers and so on. Posts educating readers why our values are important in the first place, and why they must be protected from the scores of organisations who fight against them.
“Posts on major feature stories in “”Consumer”” magazine.
Highlights from PM’s post-Cabinet interviews.
NZ politician of the month.
International politician of the month.”
“Posts on Public Servants Performance e.g who is
effective and who is not”
“Posts on the future of education, health and pensions.
Posts on Politics in China/Asia + USA + Europe”
Posts where the single post includes guest posts from both side of the argument.
“Profile backgrounds on MP’s
Former MP’s current activities
Australian politics
Policy analysis – NZ compared to other countries and outcomes”
Profiles on lesser known politicians – what they have done since being elected etc
reall stuff
references to other blogs
Regular posts from a Left-leaning commentator providing a viewpoint that contrasts with Kiwiblog’s usual positions.
Religion
“Reply directly to posts. Very hard to follow a thread.
Able to filter out commentators or follow a commentators (some add a lot of valuable contributions) others not so much.
Guest commentators can be very insightful eg Kiwi in America..
Maybe ask other commentators for posts as long as you can filter these before postered ”
restaurant reviews, theatre reviews, film reviews, etc
“Restraining the more rabid of the posters…..the quality of debate is often depressing….if i read many of the regular contributors i realise how small-minded and bitter they are…..
”
Restrictions on long winded posters who hijack threads for their own purpses.
Rugby League Warriors/ Kiwis
Rugby. I know just the person to be your special correspondent at RWC2015.
Rules on submitting comments firmed up,so there can be a reduction in some of the rants esp. in General Debate
Separate post for generally religious debate
Showing hypocrisy of Left
“Some background information on people in the news.
Success stories from the regions that are currently getting bad press.”
Some in depth analysis of Auckland local politics
Some more humour to lighten up some of the more intense political blogs. Other than that the blog is top notch.
sport
Sport
Sport
Sport.
Spotlights on MP’s
Stuff from the taxpayers Union. Local government including outside of auckland
Taxpayers Union
Tech
tech reviews
Technology
“Technology in non-techie terms.
The buying a macbook post (or not…) was a good example”
The thing I most value Kiwiblog for is analysis. I don’t have time to get across every issue and I often cheat by skimming the complex detail of a story but carefully reading DF’s reasoned reaction to it. I can form a ‘most likely’ view this way on things that are of some interest but do not merit the intense effort to become an expert on them.
Tiered comments with the ability to reply.
Tits and ass
Top news story posts e.g. Nepal, Ukraine and Iraq/ISIS
TV critiques
TV programme reviews
Unlike most blogs, it’s just fine
Views on economic issues, national and international eg Greek crisis etc
Whaleoil
What has happened to the new Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency ( WREDA). This was promoted as the answer to all of Wellington’s economic, business, tourism, events, arts yet seems to have completely disappeared.
“Where the media got it wrong – impact of event and impact
of correction”
Which MPs relly earn their keep and who is just taking up space…
With 120+ MPs I find the listing of politicians in the ‘today in Parliament’ often difficult to follow (excepting the front bench of each party, of course). A simple (but very helpful) addition would be to follow each politician’s name with (N) for National, (L) for Labour, (NZF) for NZ First etc so that the reader can quickly and easily follow which party is asking which question.
World news.
Would be good to see a little more on politics in other countries, and not just Anglosphere.
Would be good to to able to follow a line of comments easier than ar present. Is difficult to follow discussion at times
would like to see comment threads rather than the plain old list you have now. like the commenting threads on, dare i say it, the strandard,
“Would like to see more lengthy and thoughtful guest posts as per Kiwi In America.
Would be good if you could restrict comments somehow to those who make a thoughtful contribution.”
Yes, how about anecdotes from the “corridors of power”?
Yes.
You are doing fine
you do a Great Job David >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Keep it up !!
Your blog is excellent.
Your travel blogs (your photos etc) are really great.
You’re doing well!