Ars Technica opens 2026 reader survey after nearly four years

Ars Technica has launched a site-wide reader survey for 2026, asking its audience to weigh in on what works and what could improve. Editor-in-chief Ken Fisher said the feedback will help the publication judge whether it is serving readers well.

Fisher said the survey is the first broad reader check-in of its kind for Ars Technica in almost four years. The previous large survey drew several thousand responses, which he described as valuable information for the staff.

The questionnaire is open to readers regardless of how long they have followed the site. Fisher said Ars wants responses from new visitors, longtime forum users, front-page commenters, system administrators, executives and others across its audience.

Ars said the survey consists of a small set of targeted questions and includes some text fields. Fisher said staff members will read the written responses submitted there.

The publication said it is using SurveyMonkey as the survey platform, as it has done for past reader surveys. The survey is available at SurveyMonkey.

Ars said it is not collecting personally identifying information through the questionnaire. According to Fisher, responses will be reviewed in aggregate, and the data will not be analyzed by anyone outside Ars.

Fisher also said the publication will not sell the survey data or distribute it outside the company. That assurance is aimed at readers who may be wary of giving feedback through a third-party survey tool.

The request is part audience research and part editorial check-in. Fisher framed the survey as a way for readers to tell Ars what they value about its work and where they think it can do better.

Fisher closed the announcement by thanking readers for taking part. He also added a joking incentive: if the survey receives more than 10,000 responses, Ars staffer Lee Hutchinson has agreed, subject to availability, to sing a song of thanks to respondents.

This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.