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So the recent elections where I live got me thinking, and I feel like it's been too long since we last did this.

https://www.politicalcompass.org/

 

I don't think I really realized how much this test sucks until now...

https://www.politicalcompass.org/yourpoliticalcompass?ec=7.88&soc=-6.41

 

Yea, a year is definitely too long.

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Can't believe this thing still works: http://ermarian.net/...ics/compass/map

 

(I don't even want to read the code in that page.)

 

Eco: -6.38

Soc: -8.56

 

Edit: Link fixed, missing a part of the URL.

 

Edit2: Seven years after writing the code for that ellipse thing, I finally realize what's wrong with it. By aligning it with the axis instead of rotating it, I'm treating the coordinates as independent even though they're clearly pretty correlated.

 

map?community=Spiderweb%202015-03&name=&img=1&width=800

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I looked at some of the questions and decided not to take the test. I would probably call myself, economically somewhat to the right, socially way to the left with the exception of second amendment type things.

 

I realize it's just an internet quiz but I feel like my answers are going to be "well it depends..." - some of these questions even seem a bit loaded toward one side or the other. I guess you'll have that since a quiz form can't really grade open-ended responses.

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It's been a while since I've taken this. Based on my test answers, which included an awful lot of non-"strongly" answers, I'm surprised I wasn't closer to the middle. Based on how I tend to think about my views, I'm surprised I wasn't further from it.

 

Economic Left/Right: -8.38

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.79

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I'm curious what you mean by the other "second amendment type" things, Hogan. I'm guessing you have a specific type of thing in mind but I'm not quite sure what.

Well, I suppose I generalised in a rather broad way with that remark. Economically I'd say I'm a touch right of centre but socially, I seem to mostly be a big ol' lefty with that being the most prominent of exceptions. I'll elaborate a little:

 

I am an LGBT ally, do work with disability rights and gender equality movements, I am extremely pro-marijuana legalisation, I consider diversity a good thing, I am agnostic and while I am not adverse to religion, I am very adverse to politicised religion... and my own career is in community nutrition, having done volunteer work even with WIC and Meals on Wheels... I'm a proponent of services such as midwifery, fair trade, local foods, pesticide-free lawns...

 

So most people would think it unusual that you could also correctly call me a card-carrying NRA member - I feel gun-free zones are counterproductive, and I believe the citizenry should not only be armed and trained (stress on the trained... not enough of that going around), but better so than our government. I support open carry (not brandishing mind you, but appropriately holstered and secured) and I actually feel safer if there are more guns around, not fewer.

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Honestly, there's a number of these that I would have preferred a neutral option to, or at least more questions for a better reading. I've taken this test twice and there was a marked movement just between some basic weighting (even if the ultimate decision was the same). For the number of questions asked, I guess I should be surprised.

 

First test:

Economic Left/Right: -7.88

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08

 

Second test:

Economic Left/Right: -8.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.18

 

 

The midpoint between these two is -8.07, -6.13, so I guess I'll go with that.

chart?ec=-8.07&soc=-6.13

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Woah, you're in second place for the largest jump in consecutive polls:

 

map?name=Excalibur,VCH&img=1&width=300

 

[/creepy-archivist]

 

sources:

 

2005: http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/topic/1/2586

2008: [data presumably lost]

2007: http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/topic/1/4515/p1

2010: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/13708-political-compass-reborn/

2011: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/16037-where-do-you-fall-on-the-political-compass/

2012: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/17947-political-compass-round-infinity/

2014: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/20508-its-that-time-again/

 

Edit: Wait no, I was just missing like a bunch of threads between 2008 and now (2010, 2012, 2014).

 

Edit2: I can't believe that my map also got saved by the web archive - including all combinations of groups I've tried so far, which could be up to 2^11.

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It's also one of the few things on the site I've never thrown out and rewritten (both that page and the GD-based plotting library). At this point the code is so horrible it's weirdly beautiful.

 

As for the test: I can't list the questions from memory, but I recognize them and I'm pretty sure they were all there when I first took the test. One thing that changed was the statement "It's all right to be open about sex, but these days it's gone too far" getting amended to "These days openness about sex has gone too far" some years back, which makes sense because the original was kind of ambiguous. They might consider doing something similar to "The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes". The "plant genetic resources" is also one weird over-specific statement.

 

I always did wonder why there was no question on gun control, alt med or vaccination - surely those issues were already around when the test was made, and if they were included, I (and a ton of other liberals, presumably) would score much higher on the authoritarian scale.

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https://www.politica...-7.88&soc=-6.77

 

Economic Left/Right: -7.88

Social Liberterian/Authoritarian: -6.77

 

For whatever that's worth. My answers on some things would skew more authoritarian by the standards of a multiple-choice test. To be honest, that is in part from observing my own lack of scruples at times; I think I'd be doing more good in the world if I were mandated to, rather than just on-and-off encouraged. And likewise, less ill if some of my worse habits were actually illegal.

 

(Not an excuse, mind. But.)

 

[Edit: for some reason I find it amusing, given the above, that my current forum title is "Mercenary."]

 

Oh, and on a different and rather depressing note:

 

https://www.politica...-7.88&soc=-6.77

 

I'd heard the UK's left kind of imploded last year (and read all about it on a very acerbic blog), but... wow.

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The first time I took it this year I forgot to fill some of the questions and ended up getting -12 on the Economic axis. (Think my Social axis was about -3.5 )

 

Second time I took it with all answers filled in my scores were:

Economic Left/Right: -8.0

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.9

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The webform also doesn't allow you to proceed to the next page unless all questions are answered on your current page.

 

So either that didn't happen or you took a different test somewhere else.

 

That may be the reason how I got the -12 score. When it griped at me for leaving some of the questions blank my guess was that maybe the answers were counted twice, one for when some were blank, and again after it made me fill in the questions that were missing. This only happened once though and I have not been able to reproduce so maybe it's been fixed. Either way I sent an email to the site to let them know anyway.

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Economic: -8.0

Social: -7.59

 

k8qktfs.png

I don't remember my exact score from last time, but I don't think it's changed much.

 

Edit: Oh hey, I'm more libertarian than I was. Thanks for linkies, Aran!

Edited by Jerakeen
Unable to spell the word "edit" correctly after two tries.
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