The Cleveland Plain Dealer conducted a reader survey about Y2K, posing the question: "Do you believe there will be a Y2K problem? What, if anything, are you doing to prepare?" The Plain Dealer just published some of the responses they received. One reader said, "Shakespeare wrote a play about Y2K some 400 years ago. Much Ado About Nothing. Another reader wrote, "At most, maybe my cable company will lose computer service and not bill me on time. Oh, wait, they already do that. So, no big deal." One reader said, "The Y2K scare is hype used by the computer industry to gouge us even more than we are being gouged in every aspect of our daily lives." A really witty reader sent in this response, "Consider this: The Amish are 100 percent Y2K compliant." Another reader said, "Y2K is mass hysteria fueled by mass media". The Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, Gary Suhadolnik, wrote, "as director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, I realize that my money is safest in an insured deposit account rather than hidden away at home. I will only be withdrawing enough money to enjoy a long holiday weekend and to pay my Plain Dealer carrier." No one seemed very concerned about Y2K, in fact, the PD article about the responses to the survey is entitled, "Can't Get Excited About Y2K." 98 days to go and this is the public's level of awareness. Pretty scary, huh?

-- Ohio Bob (ohiobob@noway.com), September 24, 1999

Answers

Maybe. Maybe not.

People lie. People spin. Could be, all those folks are prepared to the hilt, but won't admit it. Could be, most of the respondants are scared, but the paper won't print that, for fear of causing bank runs. Who knows? I suspect that a WHOLE lot of lyin' is going on.

-- but only if their (lips@are.moving), September 24, 1999.

If people ask me if I am preparing I tell them "No, but I will do something in November or December". I am well prepped for 3-4 months of bad stuff but I dont tell anyone including friends and distant relatives.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), September 24, 1999.

I'd like to think that lots of folks here in northeast Ohio are quietly preparing, but I have yet to see the evidence. You can still purchase firewood, a generator, camping equipment, and other items. The local K-Mart's camping goods department would be decimated if even a tiny percentage of people around here were preparing, but that's just not the case. I'm betting they all wait until the week after Christmas to do anything. The only shortage I've noticed so far is bottled water at a nearby supermarket. The store employees I talked with thought it was Y2K-related. But the canned goods are still plentiful. So, are sigificant numbers of people in northeast Ohio secretly preparing? I don't think so.

-- Ohio Bob (ohiobob@noway.com), September 24, 1999.

Bob, I'm from the Cleveland area and absolutely agree that no one cares. There is no responsible media in cleveland. Did you hear the derisive radio bit about y2k on wtam? I want to tell my neighbors to prepare, but I would be considered "weird", because that is the only way the media represents those who understand the problem. I don't want anyone to know that I'm prepared.. what I have is for my loved ones. BTW, did you see the article on the business page relating the earthquakes in Taiwan and Turkey to local business? They can understand how 3 plants in 2 cities affect us, but are too short-sighted to imagine how hundreds of outages world wide will affect us in the year 2000. I'm very frustrated to live here!

-- cmd0903 (cmd0903@aol.com), September 24, 1999.

I have a sister in southern CA (who should know better because she was there during the Northridge quake) who finally recently said she was going to get some things "later this fall". Who knows what that means.

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), September 24, 1999.

Nah, Cleveburg's MAJOR concern for Y2K is making the celebration biger than the Bicentenial Birthday Bash.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 24, 1999.

Ohio Bob wrote:

I'd like to think that lots of folks here in northeast Ohio are quietly preparing, but I have yet to see the evidence. You can still purchase firewood, a generator, camping equipment, and other items. The local K-Mart's camping goods department would be decimated if even a tiny percentage of people around here were preparing, but that's just not the case. I'm betting they all wait until the week after Christmas to do anything.

My personal yardstick of general awareness and preparation is this: when the parking lot at Sam's Club is busier than the parking lot of the Super Walmart next door, then people are preparing. Until then, it's bidness as usual, even though our Sam's is now selling Baygen Freeplay radios. The people in North Carolina got hit by Dennis and then, a month later, by Floyd. Did get hitting hit by Dennis make them more prepared for Floyd? Nope. Folks won't get serious about preparations until they are told to do so unequivocally on tv by someone in authority, like Billy Graham or Bill Clinton or Pope John Paul. Til then, everybody's gonna keep on keepin' on. spend spend spend (on trinkets and nonsense), buy buy buy.

-- Kurt Ayau (Ayau@iwinet.com), September 24, 1999.

The report from northwestern OH is not good. There is a dense popul

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 24, 1999.

The report from northwestern OH is not good. There is a dense population of ostriches, and they do NOT want to hear ANY bad news.

There are many hunters sniffing the breezes and locating their targets...

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 24, 1999.

Go north to Detroit and it is the same....

Ignorance is bliss.

These surveys NEVER ask just what the survey takers known about Y2K.

Sample Questions:

Who is John Koskinen?

Does the Year 2000 Problem effect PeeCees?

Is there a difference between Y2K-compliance and Y2K-ready status?

What branch of the armed services conducted a readiness survey utilties serving bases that was recently obtained by Y2K expert Jim Lord claiming widespread utility problems are posssible?

Name the first federal agency that claimed Y2K-compliance as stated by President Clinton?

The results of this survey should be published side-by-side with the "brain-dead" surveys that we are constantly exposed to showing their REAL validity.....

-- PJC (Y2Kworried@gi.com), September 24, 1999.