Realistically here people, lets cut through all the b.s and name calling and honestly answer two important questions:1. How bad do you really think y2k will be(minor disruptions to Mad Max's TEOTWAWKI) and 2. How long are you preparing for(two weeks? two years?). We haven't had an honest opionin poll in a while, and it would be a good chance to see where everyone else is and what they think. C'mon, lets hear from everyone here!

-- Honest opinion poll (please@answer.com), February 15, 1999

Answers

I've been preparing for 8 months, since last May. Bought a rural property, the whole nine yards. Its gonna be real baaaaad. Get a gun for peace of mind. But don't shoot anyone OK?

Don

-- Shadow (foo@foo.com), February 15, 1999.

I think its gona be a 2. I bought 2 extra boxes of Super Sugar Crisp and a box of dry milk to weather the storm. Now the economy is a different story. I think its gona be a 10. I bought 10000 ozs of silver and 100 ozs of gold.

-- The Silver Bull (silver@silver.com), February 15, 1999.

I think it will be somewhere between an 8 and a 10 on the severity scale and I am preparing for at least two years of desperate times followed by a decade of rebuilding.

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), February 15, 1999.

8-10+

JUST found a rural house today, 8 acres, 6 wooded, wood burning furnace, should put an offer in tomorrow, hope to move by 4-1-99.

I want two years of basic foods, even if it is only wheat and corn from the feed store, and rice and beans and oil and salt and sugar. By next summer, the garden will be kicking in, so can easily stretch that much more.

Don't forget rabbits and goats...... I'm not that great a hunter.

-- Jon Williamson (pssomerville@sprintmail.com), February 15, 1999.

Like Ed Yourdon said....One year of disruptions and ten years of depression! I already have over 5 years supply of food for me and my wife and I'm planning to get more! I remember my parents scrounging for food everyday during the second world war in Europe. I don't want to go through that again! EVER!!!!

-- Freddie the Freeloader (freddie@aol.com), February 15, 1999.

Good grief! We just had a poll a week ago. It's filed under misc down below.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), February 15, 1999.

Well, before I answer the poll, how do I know who is being honest or dishonest? And if I answer the poll, how do you know that I am being honest or dishonest? As we saw from the Bill Clinton impeachment trial, the polls said that everyone loves Bill! So, to confuse you even more, it really doesn't matter what I think because what will be will be, Cassarah, Surrah, what will be will be.

-- Cassarah (Cassarah@whatwillbe.com), February 16, 1999.

The problem with this sort of poll is that the electorate is self- selected, so you can't draw any meaningful conclusion from the replies you get. Yes, it would also be easy to lie, though I can't imagine why anyone will bother (apart from trolls, who probably have more fun starting threads! )

-- Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), February 16, 1999.

I have elderly parents & no children, so re-locating wasn't really an option. We're stuck in the 'burbs. However, my mom had an interesting thought on the subject of preparing: Aim for three months. If disruptions last longer than that, something else will almost certainly kill us (violent neighbors, disease, contaminated water, etc.). I suspect that disruptions WILL last longer & that something probably WILL kill us. Expecting 8-10. We're trying to enjoy good times while they last.

So yes, I'm preparing, but not particularly optimistic, & just hoping that I'm completely wrong about the whole thing.

-- little miss (doom@and.gloom), February 16, 1999.

That would be "Que Sera, Sera."

-- Vic (Roadrunner@compliant.com), February 16, 1999.

Vic--

I was just going to say that.... :>)

Jerry--

Well, so what if we just had a poll...it only takes a minute to answer. :>)

Little miss--

I, too, have elderly to care for--as well as a six year old daughter. We're stuck in the "burbs", but we've decided to scout out some rural acreage just in case. I don't like the thought of not having a "Plan C".

As to how bad it will be, I agree with Ed Yourdon on this. The evidence is too overwhelmingly negative for me to draw a more optimistic conclusion. I wish someone could PROVE me wrong....

-- Scarlett (ohara@tara.net), February 16, 1999.