2015 Membership Survey

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Demographics

Survey Participants

Survey Respondents
Aes Sedai/Gaidin: 113
Accepted/Soldier: 23
Novice/Recruit: 9
Citizen: 12
Prefer Not To Answer: 8
Active Members: 382

Survey Response Rate 43.19%
Survey Completion Rate 33.77%

How long have you been a member of the site? 6 months - 1 year 1 - 2 years 3 - 4 years 5+ years
Aes Sedai/Gaidin: 0 3 17 73
Accepted/Soldier: 2 2 4 8
Novice/Recruit: 1 2 1 3
Citizen: 3 0 3 1
Prefer Not To Answer: 0 0 0 1
Ajah/Company Breakdown (Includes aspirants)
Blue Ajah: 14
Brown Ajah: 12
Green Ajah: 15
Gray Ajah: 8
Red Ajah: 9
White Ajah: 14
Yellow Ajah: 10
Black Ajah RAFO
Dai M'Hael: 5
Mahdi'in d'ma Dieb: 4
San d'ma Shadar: 11
Val'Cueran: 6

Additional Demographics

In which state do you reside?
IL UT MD MO VI OR CA AL CT MN NC FL WA CO GA WI PA KY TX IN KS AK NJ MI TN NE NY OH MA AZ
3 4 3 4 5 1 7 1 2 2 6 2 4 2 4 4 4 2 6 2 3 1 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1
In which province do you reside?
Saskatchewan Ontario British Columbia Alberta
2 6 2 1
What is your ethnicity?
White (Not Hispanic or Latino) American Indian or Alaska Native Hispanic or Latino Asian
75 1 1 1
What is your highest level of education?
Doctorate or Professional School Degree 10
Masters Degree 20
Bachelors Degree 41
Associate's Degree 15
Some College 30
High School/Sixth Form/GED equivalent 11
Other 4
What is your field of work?
Financial 5
Other 16
Administrative 9
Health Care 8
Engineering 5
Communications 2
Agricultural 2
Retail 8
Stay at home Parent 4
Government 7
Student 10
Entertainment/Performing Arts 1
Education 13
Not Employed 7
Science Services 1
Housing Industry 1
Information Technology 17
Manufacturing 3
Research 3
Food 4

Executive Branch

How familiar are you with the organizational leadership, should you need to escalate an issue? Have you applied for a position at TarValon.Net in the past year?
Very Familiar 73% Yes 48%
Somewhat Familiar 23% No 49%
Somewhat Unfamiliar 2% Unsure 3%
Very Unfamiliar 2% If yes, to which type of position did you apply?
How accessible is the Executive Branch? Staff 60%
Very Accessible 58% Administrative 30%
Somewhat Accessible 29% Executive 7%
Somewhat Inaccessible 3% Officer 3%
Neutral 9% How simple is the application process?
Very Inaccessible 1% Very Simple 59%
How well do you feel the Executive Branch performs? Somewhat Simple 28%
Exceeds Expectations 41% Neutral 6%
Meets Expectations 48% Somewhat Difficult 7%
Neutral 8% From 1 – 10, with 10 being highest, how would you rate the application process?
Needs Improvement 3% 1 0%
How responsive is the Executive Branch to provide feedback regarding questions, complaints, etc.? 2 0%
Very Responsive 58% 3 2%
Somewhat Responsive 29% 4 2%
Neutral 9% 5 7%
Somewhat Unresponsive 3% 6 5%
Very Unresponsive 1% 7 13%
How quickly does the Executive Branch respond to questions, complaints, etc.? 8 30%
Very Quickly 39% 9 20%
Somewhat Quickly 35% 10 21%
Neutral 21% Additional comments about the Executive Branch
Somewhat Slowly 3% Satisfied with Branch 10
Very Slowly 2% Slow response time 2
No experience with Branch 2

Community Outreach

How often do you participate in free weeks when they appear? Have you ever made a financial donation to TarValon.Net?
Frequently 54 Yes 55%
Rarely 39 No 27%
Never 13 No Answer 18%
How important are free weeks to your membership? If yes, how many times have you donated?
Very important 8% 1-2 37%
Somewhat important 30% 3-4 30%
Neutral 29% 5-6 16%
Somewhat unimportant 11% 7+ 17%
Very unimportant 22% How confident are you that donations will be used appropriately?
What would encourage you to be more involved with the free weeks? Very Confident 71%
Less “Real Life” interference 9 Somewhat Confident 22%
More advanced notice 7 Somewhat Not Confident 4%
No changes 6 Very Not Confident 1%
More events 5 Neutral 2%
Events last longer 5 Did you donate to Real Life Community Outreach aspects of any official Tower Parties in 2015?
Liking group’s theme 3 Yes 20%
Less spam 2 No Answer 26%
Merit badge opportunities 1 No 54%
What type of free week events are not currently run that you’d like to see added? Would you consider donating to Real Life Community Outreach in the future?
Variety of events/games 8 Yes 67%
No recommendations 6 N/A 29%
Feast of Lights or Feast of Fools 2 No 4%
What are your favorite types of events during free weeks? Are you aware that TarValon.Net, Inc. annually awards the Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship?
Match Up Events 20 Yes 79%
Group Theme Competitions 58 No 1%
Games/Puzzles 30 No Answer 20%
Story Rounds 14 Are you familiar with the selection process for the recipients of the Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship?
Large Group Competition 14 Yes 61%
Ajah/Company run games 34 No 18%
Chat events 21 No Answer 21%
Do you participate in the birthday list and receive cards? How important to your membership is the Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship?
Yes 48 Very Important 16%
No 31 Somewhat Important 17%
Unsure 12 Neutral 39%
Unaware of List 21 Somewhat Unimportant 10%
How important to your membership are our philanthropic endeavors? Very Unimportant 18%
Very Important 20% Why did you donate or not to Real Life Community Outreach aspects at any official Tower Parties in the past year?
Somewhat Important 47% Didn’t attend events 32
Neutral 20% Like to donate 15
Somewhat Unimportant 2% Financial constraints 13
Very Unimportant 11% Other 2

Other comments or suggestions about free weeks:
“I don't think it's entirely fair that everything is selfvoting. A group theme could be utter crap, but if enough members of the group vote for themselves, they win.”
“It's too spammy and moves too fast to keep up with over time zones. And I don't necessarily have the energy to deal with all the silliness. “
“They are always so much fun!! I really appreciate all the work that goes into them!!” How do you feel the Department of Community Outreach could improve in any of the above areas?

Top Responses
  1. Better visibility/announcements
  2. More opportunities for charity
  3. Avoid the appearance of nepotism (scholarship)
  4. Better visibility of how money raised is spent

Events

How many official events and/or conferences did you attend in 2015? Would you be more likely to attend North American Anniversary if we had a fixed location instead of a new location each year?
None 65% Yes 13%
1-2 33% No 42%
3-5 2% Unsure 45%
Do you feel official events are a valuable part of your membership at TarValon.Net? Do you find you have to choose between attending JordanCon or the North American Anniversary event?
Yes 73% Yes 31%
No 10% No 33%
Unsure 17% No Answer 36%
Do you plan to attend an official event or conference in the future? If yes, which event do you choose to attend?
Yes 78% JordanCon 31%
No 2% NA Anniversary 33%
Unsure 20% Depends 36%
How many official events and conferences have you attended in the last 5 years? If you choose between JordanCon and North American Anniversary, what motivates your decision?
1-2 12 Other Attendees 33
3-5 16 Location 30
6-10 9 Notice of dates/location 21
11-15 2 Programming/Tracks 13
16-20 2 Other 11
In your opinion, what month(s) are best to hold our North American Anniversary event? Do you like the floating date structure for B&I and Euro party?
Jan 8 Yes 41%
Feb 17 No 5%
Mar 46 Unsure 54%
Apr 46 For International Events, do you prefer retreat style events with our own programming or tourist style events in a hotel?
May 38 Tourist 29%
Jun 31 Retreat 71%
Jul 27 Do you feel our International Events are a good value for the money?
Aug 25 Yes 22%
Sep 22 No 2%
Oct 28 Unsure 76%
Nov 11 Please tell us any and all activities you enjoy at events
Dec 8 Socializing (toasts, hanging out) 26
There has been some interest in a week long summer camp event. The event would be better as: Games (tournament, trivia, board games) 20
NA Anniversary Add-on 28% Ceremonies (raisings, bondings, first siblings) 6
Standalone Event 21% Free time/downtime 6
Would Attend Either Option 30% Any and all activities 6
Not Interested in Event 21% Social drinking 4

Please tell us any and all activities you do not enjoy at events

Top Responses
  1. Excessive drinking
  2. Hotel-style events that split people up
  3. Paying for outside events
  4. The Amyrlin’s Tournament
  5. Games (mafia, chess)
Additional Event Comments

“I feel like they have gotten out of control and amorphous. Stop trying to best the last event and doing so much.”
“International Events are not limited to Tourist or Retreat. There are some that have combined the two but on an unofficial capacity. Also it feels as if International Events are not given enough focus in comparison to American parties. No Execs or Directors attend these events regularly, they do not get a lot of attention in general during planning or execution.”
“I haven't been to any WoT event in a long time, but it did bother me when I had to choose between JCon and Anni before.”

Marketing

Do you read the Tar Valon Times (TVT)? Do you follow TarValon.Net on the platforms you chose?
Regularly 24% Yes 57%
Sometimes 61% No 14%
No 15% N/A 29%
What types of articles are you most interested in reading? In addition to TarValon.Net news, would you be interested in other Wheel of Time, Tor or fandom news through social media?
Member Spotlights 56 Yes 43%
Other 24 No 18%
Comics 41 N/A 39%
Book Reviews 38 If yes, what new would appeal to you most?
If other, please provide additional information Wheel of Time/General fantasy 22
General interest 6 Book releases/reviews 12
Specialty articles 5 Brandon Sanderson news 11
Fiction 4 All of the above 4
Recipes 3 Are there site-based products that you would be interested in having accessible?
Game reviews 1 Yes 13%
Travelogues 1 No 28%
Would you be interested in receiving notifications when the TVT is published? N/A 59%
Yes 29% Would you be interested in submitting your own work for official events, the store, TVT or Marketing in general?
No Opinion 35% Yes 21%
No 36% No 35%
In what type of medium would you prefer to receive notification? Unsure 44%
Forum Announcement 29% Would you be interested in participating in contests or other events like the logo contests hosted by Marketing?
Email 40% Yes 24%
Social Media 30% No 46%
Other 1% Unsure 30%
Are you satisfied with the availability of the TarValon.Net news via social media channels? If yes, please state the products that interest you most
Yes 46% Business cards 6
No 3% Flyers/posters 5
N/A 51% More men’s wearables 2
What types of social media do you frequent? Bookmarks 1
Facebook 98 License plates 1
Tumblr 16
Twitter 34
None 11
Pinterest 29
Other 3
Instagram 27
Additional Marketing Comments

“I'd really like to see copies of the TVT given out at places like JordanCon, maybe special editions as like a "Best of the TVT" that we can give out as introductions to the site.”
“Provide more membership/activity related things via social media - what are the membership groups up to? The latest trend/meme floating around the Tower? Not just official things. “
“I'm a bit hesitant to submit my work for Marketing or contests at the moment. That may eventually change. Again, nothing TV.net has done to cause this.”
“The social media outreach has improved greatly this past year!”

Membership

How comfortable are you about contacting you membership administrator about any issue? How do you socialize with members outside of the site? (Check all that apply)
Very Comfortable 72% Call/Text 67
Somewhat Comfortable 20% In Person 46
Neutral 6% FB/Twitter/G+ 87
Somewhat Uncomfortable 2% Google Hangouts 45
Very Uncomfortable 0% Email 40
Have you had to contact your membership administrator in the past? How frequently do you interact with TarValon.Net members outside of the official forums?
Yes 44% More than on the site, including chat 37%
No 31% As much as on the site, including chat 26%
Prefer Not To Answer 25% Occasionally 37%
How would you rate your membership administrator's performance? Please elaborate on why you socialize more offsite than onsite
Exceeds Expectations 57% Ease of (mobile) use 11
Meets Expectations 32% More private circle 9
Neutral 9% Not on boards often 6
Needs Improvement 2% Less restricted/moderated 3
Have you served in the Hall before? Different membership groups 3
Yes 46% Live with/near others 3
No 34% Do you believe the current bonding process should change?
Prefer Not To Answer 20% Yes 21%
Do you interact with TarValon.Net members outside of the official forums? No 31%
Yes 71% No Opinion 48%
No 7% If yes, how do you believe the process should change?
Prefer Not To Answer 22% Companies choose how many bonds they get 39%
Senior members of the same path should be able to bond 46%
Other 15%
“How do you believe the bonding process should change?” comments

“There are many more AS then Gaidin, especially when you consider those that are active and unbonded. It only makes sense that Gaidin should be able to choose whether they want a second bond or not. “I think it's silly that due to lore, reds have to struggle so hard just to get one bond. The bar is so very very high just for one bond.” “There is some precedent for male and female channelers to bond, at least going by the books...” “The thought that people shouldn't be able to bond because there are members already Bondless is demeaning to the relationship and to people who choose not to bond.” “It should be up to the people involved if they want to bond, it shouldn't have to be approved.” “Lift restrictions on bonding among senior members entirely.”

Please provide any additional comments about the Department of Membership

“Our strict rules on bonding are hurting recruitment, and don't serve a valuable purpose. Most of our potential members are already members of other WoT communities, and telling them that they can't form the same relationships at TV.net that they already have elsewhere is a barrier to recruitment & retention.”
“Arbitrary requirements set by Ajahs towards Raising can be extremely frustrating. Some Ajahs will raise demotees in the matter of weeks while others wait almost a year before considering it. It is a quick way to force members to lose interest in the site and the group.”
“I do not like the idea of bonding changing to a free for all. Bonding currently serves as a bridge across Tower companies and ajahs. If bonding were to be allowed between Gaidin or Aes Sedai, it would not do so. It would instead act as a bonding agent between ajahs and companies, but I do not know that I would enjoy that line blurring.”
“TarValon.Net takes itself way too seriously. Who gives a crap if an Aes Sedai wants to bond an Aes Sedai? It's happened in the books, there's precedence, so stop getting in a tizzy.”

Moderators

How important are the message boards to your membership? How frequently do you play Mafia?
Very Important 77% Frequently 9
Somewhat Important 19% Occasionally 11
Neutral 3% Rarely 17
Somewhat Unimportant 1% Never 72
Very Unimportant 0% Are the Mafia admins fair in carrying out their duties?
How often do you use the message boards? Yes 19%
Daily 60% No 1%
Weekly 31% No Answer 80%
Monthly 6% How can the Mafia experience be improved?
Rarely 2% Remember it’s just a game 2
Never 1% Standardize activity levels 2
Please indicate your top 3 (three) FAVORITE forums Don’t discount RL during game 1
Membership Public Room 78 Limit certain players 1
Membership Private Room 41 How often do you use chat?
Olde Warder & Hen 30 Daily 8%
General 23 Weekly 6%
Please indicate your top 3 (three) LEAST favorite forums Monthly 11%
Current Events 45 Rarely 50%
Mafia 33 Never 25%
Sports Fanatics 26 How important are the chatrooms to your membership?
Frivolous Fun 19 Very Important 10%
Have you had any professional interaction with a Moderator in the past two (2) years? Somewhat Important 16%
Yes 13% Neutral 27%
No 59% Somewhat Unimportant 21%
No Answer 28% Very Unimportant 26%
How would you rate the moderator’s performance? Select which chatroom(s) you frequent most
Exceeds Expectations 44% #wheel 60
Meets Expectations 31% #wanderingwoman 8
Neutral 6% #oldewarderandhen 10
Needs Improvement 19% Rank chatroom 6
Affiliate chatroom 37
None 32
Please indicate the moderation level of the official chatrooms
Adequate 92%
Too Little 7%
Too Much 1%
Do you have any suggestions about how Mafia activity could be boosted?

“Maybe have periodic ‘newbie-friendly’ (small, no weird mechanics or roles) games that are advertised in General to attract new players? It took me a long time to venture into the mafia forum when I first joined just because I didn't know what mafia was, and an even longer time to work up the courage to join a game.“
“People don't use the boards anymore, maybe game announcements should be posted on other social media.”

Please provide comments regarding the message boards and chatrooms

“It does not feel comfortable to be there, which has driven me away. Both public and private fora.”
“My participation in chat has decreased because while there are plenty of people in there, no one is talking. Or rarely talk…I don't know if the chat mods would be interested in naming a topic or starting some sort of discussion to get things going. “

Records & Research

How often do you visit the Classroom? How often do you use the Library?
Weekly 5% Very Often 16% 16%
Monthly 6% Often 24% 24%
Quarterly 8% Rarely 21% 21%
Rarely 46% Never 3% 3%
Never 35% Sometimes 36%
What kind of classes would you like to see offered? Rate the ease of finding things in the Library:
Any 6 Very Easy 29%
Crafts/skills 2 Somewhat Easy 55%
Wheel of Time related 1 Neutral 12%
Brandon Sanderson’s books 1 Somewhat Difficult 3%
How often do you visit Who’s Who? Very Difficult 1%
Very Often 12% 12% How often do you visit the Ajah/Company pages?
Often 25% 25% Very Often 9%
Rarely 23% 23% Often 13%
Never 2% 2% Sometimes 42%
Sometimes 38% 38% Rarely 29%
What other information should be included in the Who’s Who? Never 7%
Personal information 3 How valuable is the information in the Annual Report?
Updated information 2 Very Valuable 20%
Alphabetical list of members 1 Somewhat Valuable 55%
Link to PM member 1 Neutral 21%
Ajah/Company mentor/mentee 1 Not Valuable At All 4%
Tower sponsorship 1 Is this your first time taking the Membership Survey?
Free Week avatars 1 Yes 8%
No 68%
No Answer 24%
What prevented you from taking the survey previously?
New to community 9
Unaware of previous surveys 1
Not active during survey 1
Rejoined after last survey 1
List additional information needed for the Library/Manual

Top Responses:

  1. Integration updates to the Membership Manual
  2. Key words too specific for searches
  3. More disambiguation pages

Technology

How often do you access TarValon.Net from: Computer Smartphone Tablet Other
Very often 68 40 14 0
Often 23 18 6 0
Occasionally 15 32 25 1
Never 0 15 35 30
N/A 0 0 17 31
If you access TarValon.Net via mobile, do you use the mobile or the full site theme? Do you notice delays with email notifications
Full Site 48% Yes 7%
Mobile 35% No 45%
Both 17% No Answer 48%
Do you currently serve in a position with moderator or administrative functions? How often does it happen?
Yes 23% Very Often 30%
No 54% Often 30%
No Answer 23% Occasionally 40%
How do you rate that functionality? How long is the delay?
Easy to Understand 59% Minutes 4
Somewhat Easy 35% Hours 2
Neutral 6% More than a day 2
Which specific functions do you feel are hard to use?

Moderation of threads from phone/tablet

Please provide any additional comments about the Department of Technology

“Do we still require usernames to be two parts (first name, last name) for tech reasons? There was a move we did like 6-7 years ago that forced me into taking a last name- that was tacked on against my will. I believe it was because we were using drupal? I don't believe that we use this anymore?”
“BRING BACK THE ABILITY TO USE THE ‘SUBSCRIBED THREADS’ ON MY PHONE, DAMMIT”
“Mendo's a pretty cool guy.”