This week's poll is a repeat, suggested by Erratic-Hopper. We haven't done this in a decade, but I'm assuming the results will be pretty similar

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Where do you enjoy shopping the most?
Choices:
Malls - votes: 246 (12.3%)
Department stores - votes: 76 (3.8%)
Regular brick and mortar stores - votes: 125 (6.3%)
Flea Markets or garage sales - votes: 103 (5.2%)
Online shopping - votes: 625 (31.3%)
Niche or hobby Shops - votes: 245 (12.3%)
Farmers' markets - votes: 51 (2.6%)
Custom, made-to-order goods - votes: 15 (0.8%)
I don't like shopping - votes: 511 (25.6%)
There were 1997 total votes.
The poll ended: September 16th, 2023 2:47pm PDT

The convenience of online shopping is too great for us introverts

This week's poll was suggested by docdesanta. Do you like shopping? Where do you prefer? Or you the money-saving type?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Which school life setting do you prefer the most for a series?
Choices:
Preschool / kindergarten - votes: 30 (1.2%)
Primary school / elementary school - votes: 32 (1.3%)
Middle school - votes: 83 (3.3%)
High school - votes: 803 (32.3%)
Undergrad university years - votes: 684 (27.5%)
Grad school university years - votes: 236 (9.5%)
Trade school - votes: 42 (1.7%)
I'm too cool for school - votes: 579 (23.3%)
There were 2489 total votes.
The poll ended: September 9th, 2023 11:43am PDT

Ah, high school romance...

This week's poll was suggested by Karonhioktha. What school setting do you prefer?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Question: How long are the series that you mostly read?
Choices:
I mostly read oneshots - votes: 50 (2%)
Short (less than 50 chapters) - votes: 527 (21%)
Medium (something like 100-200 chapters) - votes: 1467 (58.4%)
Long (multiple hundreds or thousands of chapters) - votes: 470 (18.7%)
There were 2514 total votes.
The poll ended: September 2nd, 2023 12:40pm PDT

I've never read One Piece, but apparently the new live action show on Netflix is decent

This week's poll was suggested by articowl. How long are the series that you mostly read?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Favorite type of animal girl (or boy)
Choices:
Cat - votes: 1027 (38%)
Dog - votes: 219 (8.1%)
Wolf - votes: 417 (15.4%)
Bunny - votes: 264 (9.8%)
Fox - votes: 547 (20.2%)
Horse - votes: 58 (2.1%)
Other - votes: 170 (6.3%)
There were 2702 total votes.
The poll ended: August 26th, 2023 10:43am PDT

Cat people tend to be cuter than dog people

Our user MelonnBreadd suggested that we do a poll on your favorite type of animal person.

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: How many series do you follow or keep up with?
Choices:
Less than 10 - votes: 456 (18.7%)
10-50 - votes: 781 (31.9%)
51-100 - votes: 399 (16.3%)
101-500 - votes: 492 (20.1%)
501-1000 - votes: 161 (6.6%)
1001-2000 - votes: 64 (2.6%)
2000+ - votes: 92 (3.8%)
There were 2445 total votes.
The poll ended: August 19th, 2023 10:09am PDT

Those people with 2000+ are crazy

This week's poll was suggested by Afiaki. How many series do you actually try to keep up with?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: What do you mostly tend to in your garden?
Choices:
Just grass - votes: 179 (8.4%)
Indoor houseplants - votes: 264 (12.4%)
Outdoor potted plants - votes: 132 (6.2%)
Hedges - votes: 21 (1%)
Trees - votes: 32 (1.5%)
Fruits - votes: 70 (3.3%)
Vegetables - votes: 160 (7.5%)
Herbs - votes: 70 (3.3%)
Flowers - votes: 101 (4.7%)
I live on a farm - votes: 51 (2.4%)
I don't take care of any plants - votes: 994 (46.7%)
Other - votes: 55 (2.6%)
There were 2129 total votes.
The poll ended: August 12th, 2023 11:18am PDT

We're mostly introverted people who stay indoors and read or play video games 😛

This week's poll was suggested by Afiaki. You got a green thumb?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: You prefer digital or physical for reading novels or regular books?
Choices:
Physical (i.e., paper) - votes: 1115 (49.8%)
Digital - votes: 1125 (50.2%)
There were 2240 total votes.
The poll ended: August 5th, 2023 7:45pm PDT

Another close poll!

A couple of weeks ago, we did this poll but for manga. Does it make a difference if you're reading something without pictures? I own a Kindle Paperwhite from 2011, and it works great! Light and contains tons of books. And no need to worry about sweaty hands damaging the pages.

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Where do you usually buy your physical manga?
Choices:
New from online retailer (Amazon, Right Stuf, etc) - votes: 604 (24.7%)
Used from online retailer (Ebay, etc) - votes: 84 (3.4%)
New from local retailer or book store - votes: 616 (25.2%)
Used from local retailer or book store - votes: 99 (4%)
I don't buy physical manga - votes: 1045 (42.7%)
There were 2448 total votes.
The poll ended: July 29th, 2023 4:21pm PDT

A rising number of us don't read physical manga. Myself included, actually...

ForeignerChan suggested that we dive deeper into the question about physical manga. So where do you get yours?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: You prefer digital or physical for reading manga, manhwa, manhua?
Choices:
Physical (i.e., paper) - votes: 848 (30.9%)
Digital - votes: 1900 (69.2%)
There were 2747 total votes.
The poll ended: July 22nd, 2023 2:35pm PDT

I wonder if this poll would be different if we were talking about novels with physical books vs eBooks

In the past 19 years, the Internet has changed. Creating a website is more accessible, but most people don't do it. It's much easier to stay close to one of the major platforms where the people are. It seems everyone recently discovered that websites can't exist on ad revenue alone and that tech workers cost a lot of money. Will this continue to centralize content and reduce diversity?

Content itself has changed as well. In order to attract people, we've reverted to emotional tactics. Everyone is stuck in personalization echo chambers. Deceptive headlines grab people's attention and most article text is about instilling a reaction. This has filtered down into how we react with each other in comments as well. It's more common to find personal expressions of rage rather than interesting contributions to topics. You also can't trust if a comment thread reflects the actual sentiment of the population due to the fact that most of the comments might be fake due to bots. We need to gauge ourselves continuously against the unfiltered and unpersonalized sentiment of the world in order to make effective personal decisions, and it is becoming much more difficult to find a reliable source for that information. Where will this information come from in the next 19 years?

At the same time though, new AI technologies like stable diffusion (like midjourney) and large language models (like ChatGPT) have made it much easier for more people to express themselves. I feel like most of our problems come from people's inability to communicate effectively with each other and simultaneously understand whether they are being influenced, and these tools show a lot of promise at changing that. We are at the cusp of having oracle machines and automated assistants. These personal companions, kind of like a fiduciary, will care about us at our most vulnerable and malleable stages in life and help us navigate the world without the threat of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous grifters and malicious actors. To have someone (or something) deeply care about each of our circumstances will be game changing for mental health and personal empowerment. That is a future I want to subscribe to. 👍

Thank you everyone for your continued patronage. The world has changed significantly in that time and websites have come and gone. I'm happy that we have been able to last this long. I hope to see you all in another year!