gonna go with affinity bias on this one until thereās a poll to prove it 
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Bass strings started off as ALL Flats, because that is what they are on classical Basses, aka Double basses, or Upright basses.
Somewhere along the line (I donāt claim to know too much the history), that they invented a round wound for electric bass, giving is a stronger more bright sound that some players of the day must have been looking for.
But to answer your question, and I could be totally wrong, and or biased, but I think Bass Buzz is a great breeding ground for up and coming bass players, and when starting out, many people complain about the strings hurting their fingers, AND the scratchy noise.
First, the scratchy noise can be dealt with by learning better technique, and you can eq it out of your amp sound while learning.
But the pain to play on round wound string, there is nothing you can do, but play thru the pain, until the pain is gone.
I would think a HIGH percent of players here, when first joining and talking about strings to anybody that has big opinion on strings, will follow the advice and give flat wound a try. Being new, and loving the feel of the flatwounds, and how they can slide with ease, and they lose alot of the noise and scratches caused by rounds, they just learn to love it an stick to it.
I am opposite, I loved making my fingers bleed before they calloused up (exaggerating a bit) and I loved the scratchy that gave me a very measurable tool to see when I was getting better, along with I just flat out much prefer the feel of round strings under my fingertips.
I feel flats are so slippery, I feel like they will pop out from under my fingers at times when playing quickly over them, and it has happened where I just get the note, but it slips up cuz it was not grabby enough for my finger to catch.
Now, that too could be pointed back at me, saying if I practiced technique for more accurate fingering, then I wouldnāt have that problem with flat wounds. I agree, adn I have a flat wound bass, but I still am reluctant to play it becaus of the flats, and I just do not like how they feel under my fingers.
As far as sound goes, many claim the love for a deep sounding flat, and others profess love for the bride tone of a round.
Maybe my ears are just shitty, but I donāt often notice HOW dull orHOW brite something is when playing, I focus on playing the notes correctly, for the right length of time per the score of music.
I may not be the best to weigh in on this topic, as I am biased to the Put up or shut up attigude to, just get callouded hands and it wonāt matter what strings you play, plus, I do, eventho I donāt always pay attention to it, I do prefer the brite sound of the rounds for sure.
My trade off on a couple basses, much for looks, but I have come to really like the sound and feel is Coated Strings by DR. Like the neon Orange set I havev on my EBMM Stingray BFR SLO Special, and my LTD Slayer Bass, Tom Araya Signature series.
I have one flats on a bass that I had Plekād and I wish I used rounds, buecuase I am not sure how much I was able to judge the PLEK as opposed to just feeling weird flats on that bass, that wat the one I as going to give it a try on.
And yes, that bass is up for sale, so IDK, maybe I put rounds back on it and keep it, IDK
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Yeah, I would be much surprised if it was anywhere above 70%.
I do beleive there are more flat users, and I also think that new people coming in, and turned onto flats right away, and they see it as EASIER to play on their fingers and prevents the need for big callouses like I have.
I mean, I have callouses that are such, that I use my plucking hand to unlock my iPhone with finger prints.
And am DAMN proud of it
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Nononoā¦ thatās far too sensibleā¦ lets stay with basing it on the vocal minority
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playing guitar for five minutes will change everyoneās opinion about bass finger pain
TMOT
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Not looking so good for flats so far 
Flats currently at 30%. Of course only 10 votes so far, so too soon to conclude anything.
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Yes, and we wouldnāt want to bias the voting in any way - that wouldnāt be good scientific practice 
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That is WAY true, but more so for the fretting hand than plucking hand. Those tiny strings really dig in though! I play both (but guitar barely passable in simple things).
There is preference, but there is also application. Playing modern metal, Prog, or slap bass just lends itself more to rounds, while Motown, RnB, Soul, Gospel, maybe some variations of Reggae will be better on flats. Not to say no cross over is possibleā¦itās just when you get into tone hunting the smallest most subtle differences start mattering.
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Root sound made the first rounds.
Reading the history of bass in āThe Bass Bookā now.
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I think a lot of beginners might like them here for 2 reasons, or one of the twoā¦
- Less feet noise so you think you are a better bassist.
- A lot of us are 40-60s and have enough ties to older music where they were used more.
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Itās turning out to be ~30-40% with flats, which is actually higher than I expected. And I think higher than the world in general.
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Now thatās funny!
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John Entwistle was the catalyst for rounds. He actually went to Rotosound and had them engineer the first rounds. Prior to that the world was flat, now itās round. But there are still those of us who live in the flat world. We are the resistance fighters. We shall conquer the oppression of the imperial round empire.
May the flats be with you
John Entwistle & James How of Rotosound
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Hold on. Surely āUndecidedā and āOtherā goes to flats right? That makes it about 50/50.
Time for a recount!
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I made the Darth Vadar one 
(I just added the caption)
The Entwistle one I found.
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)Yeah, I realized that after I posted.
(Note to self: no posting before the second cuppa coffee)
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