----- In general, students who were the most pro-GPL were the most likely to say they wanted to express their views, compared to those with moderate or anti-GPL views.
However, in one study the researchers added a twist: they gave participants fake data which indicated that other Stanford students held relatively conservative, anti-GPL views. When extremely pro-GPL students viewed this data, they were less likely to say they were willing to discuss GPL usage with their fellow students. It is only when they have this sense that they are in the majority that extremely pro-GPL students are more willing to express their views on the issue, Morrison said. However, students who had more extreme anti-GPL views were not more likely to want to express their views, even when they saw the data that suggested a majority of their fellow students agreed with them. [...] People with more extreme pro-GPL views in the community may be more likely than others to attend publicly visible protests http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/rms-ati-protest.html and display stickers http://www.zazzle.ca/gnu+stickers http://shop.fsf.org/product/super-sticker-mega-multi-pack/ espousing their pro-GPL views, because they think the community supports them. Everyone else sees these extreme opinions being expressed on a regular basis and they may eventually come to believe their community is more pro-GPL than it actually is, Morrison said. You have a cycle that feeds on itself: the more you hear these extremists expressing their opinions, the more you are going to believe that those extreme beliefs are normal for your community. ----- The above is sorta unauthorized derivative work of http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/majopinion.htm (Fair use and all that.) regards, alexander. -- http://gng.z505.com/index.htm (GNG is a derecursive recursive derecursion which pwns GNU since it can be infinitely looped as GNGNGNGNG...NGNGNG... and can be said backwards too, whereas GNU cannot.) _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
