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I was going to do this, but someone said that 23andme also takes a survey of family history, health, and demographic information—which is then used for actual research. I don't want to pollute data used for scientific research!

How recently did you do this, and was there any information collection like that?

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I did this a few months ago, but I'm pretty sure the survey you mentioned is optional, at least I don't remember doing it, so you don't necessarily have to "pollute data".

Sweet!

And does the kit have any sort of identifier with it? If so, I was considering some sort of 23andme kit remixing service, where people pool funds to buy a bunch of kits, and then randomly select a kit from the shipment. :-)

Just get it from Amazon, the packaging doesn't have any unique identifiers like serial number, so if you register with fake name/email on 23andme - you're totally anonymous.

By choosing to not get a DNA test at all due to privacy concerns, didn't you also pollute the data, albeit in a different way? 23andme data will vastly under-represent people with strong privacy concerns which might have a future impact, especially if scientists using this data forget to take it into account.

I'm not worried that they'll somehow fail to find the curmudgeon gene due to my inaction.

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