I like to ask my E-Business Secrets readers a simple question once every six months or so. This gives me a type of feedback I might not get from the constant stream of tips on various subjects that I receive the rest of the year.

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I've set up at the end of today's issue one short question. You simply answer one way or the other. Every reader who responds will receive a gift -- a link to a free, downloadable tool that I've recently found to be immensely useful in my own Web design efforts.

When I run a survey such as this one, I like to start by giving you some feedback of my own. In this issue, I list the most popular links I've published in the past half year. This gives you something to reflect upon before you answer the survey question.

Today's issue -- "Best of the 2nd half of 2002" -- covers the E-Business Secrets I published from Aug. 8 through Dec. 11. Measuring a representative sampling of my readers gives me a rough proportion of the links in each issue that were visited the most. Because the Dec. 11 issue has been out for just a week, but other issues have been out for months, I consider only the visits that occur during an issue's first seven days in order to make an "apples to apples" comparison.

Doing these "Best Of" issues has revealed to me how readers like to delve into my greatest hits. To my surprise, some of my most popular topics actually get more visits from a "Best Of" issue than they received when I first published them. For example, I linked in my April 25, 2002, issue to a parody called "Apple releases the iToilet." This turned out to be one of the most-visited links of the year. When I published the link again in my "Best of the 1st half of 2002" rankings, however, it garnered 13 percent more visits in one week than the original had. Here it is, by the way: http://www.electric-chicken.co.uk http://bri.li/eab9

In the following "Best Of" list, a score of 10 means that an item was clicked the same number of times as the average link during the second half of 2002. A score of 50 means the item was clicked five times as much as the average link, and so forth.

Here we go, and don't forget to answer the question at the end of this issue...

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THE TOP 3 TOP STORIES

Score

38 Probability theory finally makes a filter that works: http://www.paulgraham.com http://bri.li/f671

20 DoxDesk displays whether PCs contain secret plug-ins: http://www.doxdesk.com http://bri.li/10229

17 Tiny digital video/still camera and Webcam: http://store.yahoo.com http://bri.li/10de1 (search on "Aiptek PKDV2", including the quotes)

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THE TOP 3 TECH REVIEWS

17 An adapter for every outlet worldwide: http://www.madsonline.com http://bri.li/12168

10 StyleCam Blink, an amazing 2-inch camera for $40: http://www.amazon.com http://bri.li/B0000691LX

07 Imation FlashGo! Reader/Writer:

http://www.tigerdirect.com http://bri.li/12d21

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THE TOP 3 NEWS PICKS

80 Spare me! You simply must try Cat Bowling: http://www.bravozulu.com http://bri.li/138d9

62 Have a go at the "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" Lego video: http://www.lego.com http://bri.li/14491

62 This is award-winning Flash: You've gotta see the "Art Bar": http://www.flash-award.com http://bri.li/15049

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THE TOP 3 WACKY WEB WEEKS

42 Martha Stewart's scary Halloween sounds: http://www.nationallampoon.com http://bri.li/15c01

34 Git along little doggies, um, kitties: http://www.stupidvideos.com http://bri.li/167b9 (set the left pane to "Alphabetical," then select "Cat Herding" and click the "Play Video" button)

34 Be your own presidential speechwriter: http://www.lemonbovril.co.uk http://bri.li/17371

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HERE'S THE SURVEY QUESTION TO GET YOUR FREE GIFT

Simply answer this one question, which will help me dig up the most valuable information for you in the months to come.

Do you want more info about:

a. The ways LARGE e-commerce sites become successful;

b. How SMALL, MOM-AND-POP sites become successful;

c. BOTH;

d. Or some OTHER answer?

To vote, send an e-mail to ONE of the following:

a. mailto:large@secretspro.com

b. mailto:momandpop@secretspro.com

c. mailto:both@secretspro.com

d. mailto:other@secretspro.com

Your e-mail address will never be provided to anyone, ever, and I will never send any future messages to your address, except for one confirmation message that tells you how to get your gift.

You don't need to include a comment -- sending a blank e-mail to vote is fine. But I invite comments and will read all messages that contain them. I'll print the best three comments in the next issue of E-Business Secrets on Jan. 8, 2003. The three winners will receive gift certificates for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice.

To be counted in the vote, you must send your e-mail no later than Sunday, Dec. 29, 2002. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Please accept my best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.

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E-BUSINESS SECRETS: Our mission is to bring you such useful and thought-provoking information about the Web that you actually look forward to reading your e-mail.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: E-Business Secrets is written by InfoWorld contributing editor Brian Livingston: http://SecretsPro.com

Research director is Vickie Stevens. Brian has published 10 books, including:

Windows Me Secrets: http://www.amazon.com http://bri.li/0764534939

Windows 2000 Secrets: http://www.amazon.com http://bri.li/0764534130

You'll receive a gift certificate good for a book, CD, or DVD of your choice if you're the first to send Brian a Top Story or Wacky Web Week he prints. mailto:Brian@SecretsPro.com