Well, I thought the "study" to be ridiculous from the start...
Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
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Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#22Journalism lives and dies by SEO. And if they take their time to carefully check their sources on every story before posting it, then they'll find themselves on the 6th page of Google b/c everybody has already beaten them to the punch. Speed and verification of sources are in total conflict with each other - it's a tough business.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#23Even if it wasn't a hoax, it's still fairly meaningless. It doesn't seem unlikely that more intelligent users would be more likely to look for other options rather than using the OS-provided default. For the sake of illustration lets simplify: Users with an IQ over 100 look for alternatives, below 100 and they do not. Even if 80% of the higher IQ users ultimately choose Internet Explorer (which would indicate that it…
While I agree that people should look for alternatives, I do not necessarily agree with your analysis. I do research in Physics at the University of Sydney, and the proliferation of Internet Explorer is quite high within the research staff, and I can assure you that the IQ's there are not low...
My analysis wasn't meant to be correct in the "this is how things are" sense. I was trying to demonstrate that, given the data "IE users have lower IQs on average" you cannot actually conclude anything about IE, as there are multiple factors that could drive that result. I was just providing one example, showing that a situation where IE is the best browser but still has lower IQ users on average could potentially exist.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#24I'll probably get downvoted to oblivion for this, but here goes...
I think there may be some truth to this rumor. I do a lot of advertising on TrafficVance which is basically pop-up advertising on computers with adware. One thing I noticed regarding the traffic I received to my landing pages was that a disproportionately high number of my visitors were using Internet Explorer. The percentages were so disproportionate that some of the advertisers I was working with flagged it as "suspicious." (This was thankfully cleared up when I explained to them how I get my traffic.)
For whatever reason, it seems like more Internet Explorer users have adware on their computer than users of other browsers. To me this shows that users of other browsers are more technologically literate than IE users, as you wouldn't expect a technologically literate person to have adware on his/her computer.
Does technological literacy correlate with intelligence? I don't know, that's not really for me to say, but I don't think we should be so hasty to dispel this notion simply because a study was faked.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#25"...had invited 100,000 web users to take IQ tests..." Besides the hoax, someone forgot about: "Voluntary response data are worthless." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2772603 Because of that, this should have never even been published.
So are you saying that no response data ever should be published, or people should be forced to take surveys and what not?
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#26Even ignoring the obvious problems with the study as described, it was likely to be a hoax just based on how pat the conclusion was and how it fed into the prejudices of those of us who must deal with IE6 on a daily basis.
It does make for an interesting study as a weaponised meme though; and it's exposure as a hoax is not likely to hobble it's effectiveness in spreading the idea that people who use IE are drooling idiots barely able to finger a computer. As a piece of agitprop it's quite effective, and although it's being called out as a hoax the velocity and intensity of the debunking is much less than that of the original.
I think I speak for more than a few of us if I say that it's veracity is completely irrelevant if it manages to embarrass a company director or two into decreeing upgrades. And it's a damn good prank.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#27OT: Did Bill Gates fixed BBC?
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#28However IE and IQ are connected, I can't get how this kind of articles are of interest to the Hacker News community. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean any offense, it's only that I see this kind of "news" quite unworthy. - "Cool guys wear Nike" - "Powerful men drive Mercedes" - "Independent women buy Prada" etc..
The subtext of the story is insulting, and easily disproven: we're supposed to think that choice of browser somehow reflects on a person's intelligence. It is ridiculous that HN picked it up in the first place. In other words, even if it was true, what can we do with this knowledge? Oh, right: continue to judge people for their choice in a trivial matter. The tech industry really needs to get over itself.
We also really need to get rid of IE. Especially IE6.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#29However IE and IQ are connected, I can't get how this kind of articles are of interest to the Hacker News community. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean any offense, it's only that I see this kind of "news" quite unworthy. - "Cool guys wear Nike" - "Powerful men drive Mercedes" - "Independent women buy Prada" etc..
The subtext of the story is insulting, and easily disproven: we're supposed to think that choice of browser somehow reflects on a person's intelligence. It is ridiculous that HN picked it up in the first place. In other words, even if it was true, what can we do with this knowledge? Oh, right: continue to judge people for their choice in a trivial matter. The tech industry really needs to get over itself.
If it were true that stupid people prefer X, then yes: your preference for X would suggest that you were stupid. Preferring X, however, wouldn't _make_ you stupid if you weren't, just as your IQ won't leak out to 'fill the vacuum' were you to attend a Stupidity Convention.
It's just statistics; it's not black magic. Assertions about groups are not assertions about individuals, so don't just treat one as the other.
> In other words, even if it was true, what can we do with this knowledge?
Advertise differently.
> Oh, right: continue to judge[!]
Falsehoods won't do anything to stop that.
Re: Update: Internet Explorer IQ story was bogus
#30So, after all the stories, all the submissions, and all the hype, perhaps the whole thing was a hoax after all. Also interestingly, it looks like the BBC have changed the text on the referenced page. Originally it reported the story, but now it claims it's a hoax. Can anyone get the original text? I've not been able to get it from the Google cache. Here are some of the submissions of the story: http://news.ycombinato…
Can anyone get the original text? It is a bit annoying how the BBC non-transparently correct their articles. The old version is cached here: http://www.webcitation.org/60evsCAry
We run a web content monitoring service, every media organisation changes their articles as they get new info. No reference is ever made to these changes. It's actually really interesting seeing how stories get updated.