[RESEARCH NEWS] Standford study explains pro-GPL radicals

[Alexander Terekhov]

----- 
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.)