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!

We haven't done this specific topic in many years, but AUOdere suggested we do it again. Since then, there's been a huge uptick in manhwa and manhua, which usually is only in digital. What's your preference?

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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: I would choose to be the
Choices:
Hero - votes: 1536 (50.1%)
Villain - votes: 1527 (49.9%)
There were 3063 total votes.
The poll ended: July 15th, 2023 11:47am PDT

This is probably our closest poll ever

This week's poll was suggested by Midlife_otaku. Isn't it just a matter of perspective whether you're the hero or the villain?

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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: If you could somehow go back in time and repeat your life (or try to change it), which point in time would you choose?
Choices:
Newborn - votes: 343 (11.1%)
Infant / toddler - votes: 456 (14.7%)
Elementary school age - votes: 1072 (34.6%)
Adolescent / teenage - votes: 845 (27.2%)
College age - votes: 270 (8.7%)
Young adult - votes: 82 (2.6%)
Mid-age - votes: 13 (0.4%)
Elderly or more - votes: 20 (0.6%)
There were 3101 total votes.
The poll ended: July 8th, 2023 10:52am PDT

Maybe we wish we treated other kids better when we were younger

This week's poll was suggested by our member mallika23. It's the classic time travel question about your own life.

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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: What is your favorite pre-2006 planet (except Earth)?
Choices:
Mercury - votes: 75 (3.3%)
Venus - votes: 177 (7.7%)
Mars - votes: 306 (13.3%)
Jupiter - votes: 299 (13%)
Saturn - votes: 491 (21.4%)
Uranus - votes: 199 (8.7%)
Neptune - votes: 228 (9.9%)
Pluto - votes: 520 (22.7%)
There were 2295 total votes.
The poll ended: July 1st, 2023 11:12am PDT

To the person who wondered why I didn't include other dwarf planets: Because I never considered those planets in my lifetime. Too bad

This week's poll was suggested by Afiaki. I'm surprised this was never suggested before. For the purposes of this, Pluto is included, even though it's not considered a planet anymore.

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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: What sector / industry creates the best or most memorable advertisements?
Choices:
Medical - votes: 31 (1.9%)
Automotive - votes: 118 (7.4%)
Food - votes: 595 (37.1%)
Military - votes: 44 (2.7%)
Government - votes: 19 (1.2%)
Entertainment - votes: 285 (17.8%)
Charity - votes: 19 (1.2%)
Scam - votes: 292 (18.2%)
Personal Health - votes: 30 (1.9%)
Insurance - votes: 142 (8.9%)
House / Garden - votes: 27 (1.7%)
There were 1602 total votes.
The poll ended: June 24th, 2023 10:49pm PDT

I remember seeing behind-the-scenes of how food commercials are made, and it was fascinating!

This week's poll was suggested by LazyReviewer. What's the best ad or commercial that you've seen?

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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: An older manga set in modern times is being newly adapted into anime. What time period should the anime be set in?
Choices:
Same as the manga's original setting - votes: 2164 (83.7%)
Same as the anime's release year (i.e., flip phones in manga are now smartphones in anime) - votes: 420 (16.3%)
There were 2584 total votes.
The poll ended: June 17th, 2023 9:56am PDT

Keep it the way it was!

This week's interesting poll was suggested by 8-3. I like their examples, so I'm just gonna quote them here:


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

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Where are you from?
Choices:
North Africa - votes: 133 (4.1%)
South Africa - votes: 27 (0.8%)
East Asia - votes: 75 (2.3%)
South Asia - votes: 115 (3.5%)
Southeast Asia - votes: 271 (8.4%)
Central America - votes: 28 (0.9%)
North America - votes: 999 (30.8%)
South America - votes: 333 (10.3%)
Eastern Europe - votes: 342 (10.5%)
Western Europe - votes: 709 (21.8%)
Middle East - votes: 102 (3.1%)
Oceania - votes: 111 (3.4%)
There were 3245 total votes.
The poll ended: June 10th, 2023 8:11am PDT

English speaking countries, no surprise there