[oscar51]

I have updated the data in my TSG Report #4 to reflect the status of 'TSG Member Activity' as of 31 December 2007. Here are a few highlights from that report:

1. 100,777 members (30.6% of the total membership) have never made a post.

2. 502 members (0.2% of the posting membership) have made more than 1000 posts. These members have contributed 58.1% of the total number of posts.

3. The longest elapsed time from the date a member joined to the date that member made a post was 7 years, 357 days. Note that there has not yet been a reply to that member's first post.
http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/6...s-hp-533w.html

4. About 32% of the total number of posts have gone to the Community Forums.

5. The number of new members who joined during each month in 2007 was

Jan  4,018
Feb  3,542
Mar  4,414
Apr  7,739
May  7,451
Jun  6,919
Jul  9,332
Aug 10,681
Sep 10,005
Oct 11,209
Nov  6,703
Dec  3,664

11,209 new members in one month is a new high. Perhaps someone can comment on the reason(s) for the surge in new members during July - October 2007 -- or point me to the thread where that topic was discussed.

The complete report may be viewed at http://mysite.verizon.net/pcredin/tsg/tsgrpt4.html

[JohnWill]

Thanks, always interesting to see what's going on.

[aarhus2004]

Originally Posted by oscar51

I have updated the data in my TSG Report #4 to reflect the status of 'TSG Member Activity' as of 31 December 2007. Here are a few highlights from that report:

11,209 new members in one month is a new high. Perhaps someone can comment on the reason(s) for the surge in new members during July - October 2007 -- or point me to the thread where that topic was discussed.

The complete report may be viewed at http://mysite.verizon.net/pcredin/tsg/tsgrpt4.html

Hello Oscar,

I, for one, find your reports most interesting. Thank-you for preparing them.

The loss of a much-loved member, angelize56 (see announcement here) possibly accounts for the surge you ask about.

Best wishes.

Ben.

[hewee]

Highest Average Daily Posting Rates
I knew Dotty was posting a lot.
Wow angelize56 still had 39.47 post per day when she not here almost 1/2 the year.

[oscar51]

Marlene's numbers will keep her name in those top-ten lists for quite some time. Of course, her "numbers" are not why we remember her; her "profile" as revealed in her posts is what we remember. Our written words reveal a great deal about who and what we are as persons. In cyberspace, this "revelation-via-words" is very one-dimensional and therefore incomplete, but it is "something" rather than "nothing" and over time we tend to create relationships with our "virtual cyber friends". Fascinating isn't it?

[Jason]

Nice to know all that.

But I`m sure "Tech Guy" uses google analytics to get all this information.

Regards Jason

[aarhus2004]

Originally Posted by oscar51

Marlene's numbers will keep her name in those top-ten lists for quite some time. Of course, her "numbers" are not why we remember her; her "profile" as revealed in her posts is what we remember. Our written words reveal a great deal about who and what we are as persons. In cyberspace, this "revelation-via-words" is very one-dimensional and therefore incomplete, but it is "something" rather than "nothing" and over time we tend to create relationships with our "virtual cyber friends". Fascinating isn't it?

Hello Oscar,

I recommend to TSG members who maybe curious about you that they look at your posts via your profile.

I would like to enlarge on my last post in this thread primarily to suggest some of the reasons why I think Marlene's death may have accounted for the surge in membership - July through October, 2007.

I believe what happened was possibly unique in this world of "cyberspace" forums of all types. I use 'possibly' advisedly. Many of our members have experience of other forums, and an unknowable number are active in other forums. I doubt any other forum can match the out-pouring of grief experienced in TSG, or offer comparable examples of the real world responses in terms of outreaching in a deeply meaningful and intensely
practical way.

I think that the cynics amongst us, the pragmatists, the realists and even the marginally committed were, to one degree or another, swept-up by events. Were impacted by them. And at least were made very aware.

On a personal level I was astonished and probably changed in subtle ways. Such was the strength of the impression experienced I felt the need to communicate something of it to others in my 'real' world.

In this way the TSG Forum reached out to the world. A beacon which attracted and drew in those who believe, consciously or unconsciously, in values beyond those of input and outtake, and look for, in a puzzling age called the technological, something desirably and intrinsically human at base.

Fascinating, Oscar? Yes indeed. "Deus ex machina".

Cheers.

Ben.

[oscar51]

Jason2: Google Analytics? Probably. But then again Mike is not primarily trying to sell anything via TSG. His interests would likely be optimizing server usage, streamlining user interactions, minimizing downtime, etc., because he is a good guy and wants members to benefit from TSG. My purpose is not to tell Mike anything but to document selected information about TSG so that interested members can get a "feel" for what is going on. I don't produce anything that anyone else with a little time and effort could not also produce. My "problem", if you can call it that, is that I have way more ideas than I have time to do anything about them. In fact, hewee's reply to this thread reminded me of another idea that I have only developed partially in the past. No promises, though. Maybe I'll look at it and maybe not.


aarhus2004: Usually in the past when there was a surge in the number of new members, it was due to an article or some other notice in some prominent magazine or web site about TSG. But the 2007 surge was so much greater than anything before that I had to call attention to it. I don't think too many people outside the TSG family had a lot on knowledge about the impact Marlene had on our group. As you can tell from my post count, I don't get much involved in "exchanges" about issues. I'm not a combative person (although my wife is!) so I don't get too excited about arguing. But I must admit there were a few times in the past that Marlene said something I was strongly tempted to reply to in a negative manner. However, in the interests of peace, I demurred. I have never learned the knack of being friends with someone I disagree with. My loss, no doubt.

[iltos]

oscar....just wanted to tell you how much i enjoy your statistical updates....and wonder, based on your response below

Originally Posted by oscar51

aarhus2004: Usually in the past when there was a surge in the number of new members, it was due to an article or some other notice in some prominent magazine or web site about TSG. But the 2007 surge was so much greater than anything before that I had to call attention to it. I don't think too many people outside the TSG family had a lot on knowledge about the impact Marline had on our group. As you can tell from my post count, I don't get much involved in "exchanges" about issues. I'm not a combative person (although my wife is!) so I don't get too excited about arguing. But I must admit there were a few times in the past that Marline said something I was strongly tempted to reply to in a negative manner. However, in the interests of peace, I demurred. I have never learned the knack of being friends with someone I disagree with. My loss, no doubt.

is there anyway to correlate the surge in membership to a corresponding surge in specific forum(s) posting?....personally, i feel you're right about marlene's death having little do with with said surge....but if the increased was centered around random, that might make us both wrong

[oscar51]

iltos: I'll take a look at your idea, but with TSG searches limited to 1000 hits per request, I may not be able to download enough posts to establish a trend. Pending....

[paisanol69]

it might also be worthwhile to ask one/some of the malware removal experts if there was a particular nasty virus out during those 3 months. Would it be possable to "track"where a new member first posts statsiticly(sp)? That could also account for the rise in new memberships.

[hewee]

Originally Posted by oscar51

Marlene's numbers will keep her name in those top-ten lists for quite some time. Of course, her "numbers" are not why we remember her; her "profile" as revealed in her posts is what we remember. Our written words reveal a great deal about who and what we are as persons. In cyberspace, this "revelation-via-words" is very one-dimensional and therefore incomplete, but it is "something" rather than "nothing" and over time we tend to create relationships with our "virtual cyber friends". Fascinating isn't it?

Yes she will be in the top for a long time still. We will all remember here for her post. Don't know if anyone has posted it but there are less welcome post now because Marlene welcome so many people here so that count had gone down.

[dotty999]

Originally Posted by hewee

Highest Average Daily Posting Rates
I knew Dotty was posting a lot.
Wow angelize56 still had 39.47 post per day when she not here almost 1/2 the year.

fame at last

[TechGuy]

Google gave us tons of new traffic between July and October 2007 -- so much that we had to get a few new servers to handle it! Unfortunately, as Oscar pointed out, that dropped dramatically in December, but you'll be glad to know that it's started to raise back in January -- but no where near the levels of October.

Oscar, I think you used to have "special" high-limits on searches. Is that still the case? If not, and if that would still be of some use to you, please drop me a PM or email and I'll see about hacking that again in our current version of vB.

As always, thanks very much to Oscar for his time and effort in providing such interesting information!!

[valis]

oscar, as usual, excellent report......it's a great idea to measure the quantifiable data to get the actual feedback, and you drill pretty far down.



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