============================================= BOARDWATCH 100 READER'S CHOICE CONTEST UPDATE ============================================= Ballots continue to pour in for the Boardwatch 100 Reader's Choice BBS Contest. As of the first week in February, some 3652 ballots have been received. The contest allows callers to nominate bulletin boards as their favorite by sending in a ballot via fax or mail. The winners will be announced at the Online Networking Exposition and BBS Convention (ONE BBSCON) scheduled for August 25-29th at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs Colorado. Some 2000 BBS enthusiasts are expected at the event. The top 10 bulletin boards will be awarded trophies at a special ceremony and the list of the top 100 bulletin boards in the country will be unveiled at that time. Additionally, six random ballots will be drawn for modem prizes. ZyXEL USA has contributed two U-1496 modems to the contest. Additionally, Hayes Microcomputer Products has contributed two Hayes Optima 144+Fax models and U.S. Robotics has contributed two Courier Dual Standard models to the contest. Six ballots will be drawn in a random drawing from all valid ballots received and the modems awarded at that time. Voters need not be present at the convention to win. Last year's contest resulted in 11,152 ballots. A number of statistical questions were asked on the ballot and some interesting results are appearing as we now have a base of some 3652 ballots to look at. The accompanying table summarizes current statistical results. One of the questions asked how many calls the voter made to bulletin boards per month. On average, callers claim to make some 76 calls to bulletin boards per month - more than twice per day. Callers in the 20-29 age group were highest with some 112 calls per month. It was apparent in every age group that the people voting in this contest are not just casual bulletin board users, but do it with some enthusiasm. We also asked how long they had BEEN calling bulletin boards. Again, the results were surprising. On average callers made their first call online some 51 months ago. Some 31.3% of voters were in the 30 to 39 age group. Some 55% of callers use Microsoft Windows. Some 35.6% of callers have installed a second telephone line for data communications. The one thing that holds continuously constant is the percentage of male to female callers. BBS dialing continues to appear to be a male sport with 87% of callers claiming that gender, with 13% female. Of females online, the largest percentage of them appear to be age 30-39 as well. Given the distribution curve of ballots received last year, it would appear our estimate of 30,000 ballots in this year's contest is quite on track. There have been some oddities already. We are now receiving some 3-4 ballots per day now by registered or certified mail. Haven't a clue as to why but it allows someone in the office to chat a bit with the mailman each day. Since our mail man is a mail woman, this is not entirely unpleasant, we just don't know why people are mailing ballots at the expense of registered or certified mail.