Member Stats

[Zeppelinium]

Just a little quick analysis of the member list shows we have maybe 1000 truly active members. There are 700 members with at least 100 posts, but many of them are now inactive. Only 3000 members have at least 10 posts and you can imagine how many of them are no longer active. The chart is a log-log representation of this. You can find your place in the squence by entering the chart with your total posts on the vertical axis, then right to the line and down to the member count.



This analysis was prompted by my small frustration with using the member list--535 pages long, of which only a max of 60 (which covers everyone with 10 posts or more) are useful. [OK, there are maybe another 20 pages of newbies that shouldn't be omitted.] I'd like to see a filter on the member list that would list only the active members, eg, >10 posts, posted in the last year, joioned in the last 6 months, or has photos in the archive. Any criteria would be better than none.

Zep

[Zeppelinium]

While I'm at it, I'd like to suggest four additional filters for the member list. The sort-by-posts is fun, but not particularly useful.

1. Sort by state.

2. Sort by state by courtesy parking.

3. Sort by state by inspector.

4. Re-institute the member map.

Zep

[cameront120]

Can you add sort by "State or Province..."?

[InsideOut]

Hey Zep...are you familiar with this?

Advanced Member Search

To use it, click on > "Members List" > "Search Members" (in the far right hand column, right below page count) > "Advanced Search"

I think it does most of what you are asking for ~

Shari

[Zeppelinium]

And another thing (while the drugs are still working) what about the "members" who don't give you a clue where they are. This tells me is that they are (1) too timid to be useful or (2) don't intend to contribute, just take-take-take. I think there ought to be a registration requirement to at least enter a state (except for full-timers, of course). A pop-up should require this if the new registrant has left it blank.

Why? Because I have seen a number of posts where newbies ask for help and you have no clue if they are on the back side of the moon, particularly when it's a problem that needs hands-on assitance or needs a part that's too big to ship, but you got one. Frustration...

Or maybe we could be a little more gentle and allow a 60-day grace period before we erase them!

Zep

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Hey Zep...are you familiar with this?

Advanced Member Search

...

Shari,

Thanks. Really.

I was just giving you an opportunity to embarrass me in public. again repeatedly. Will I ever learn to ask first? ..... naw.

Zep

[2airishuman]

hi zep

stats...

yours is another way it's noted here...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/435213-post5.html

the log/log view confuses many, the way light years and 10 raised to some negative unit do...

and that same stats in a linear graft is more revealing, as b'cup posted way back...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/257074-post24.html

all that da-ta is fun stuff,

so now on to post #5, i was SO hoping this was typed 'finger in cheek'...

but it looks to be sincere.

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

...This tells me is that they are ...

so which of the conclusions fits yers truely?

is this a colorado thing?

because one of your neigbhors had the same itch on this waaaaaaay back here...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f48/...red-19576.html

which is where the bunny was conceived and born within the first 10 posts...

and someday will die...

cheers
2air'

[Zeppelinium]

2air,

Thanks for the background link http://www.airforums.com/forums/f48/...red-19576.html. I see from the first page that most people like to have a little context, in order to better understand a post. For example, I'd hate to have to say in every [relevant] post, "yes, I'm in Colorado" or "yes, I'm a vintage owner."

I do sympathize with not requiring location and trailer information until the member asks for help. At that point, I have zero empathy if I don't know approximately where they are. For example, dealing with condensation is a completely different issue in the SW compared to other areas.

Buttercup's chart is not too useful without any idea what the points on the x-axis are. Granted, it does tell you a little more about members with small numbers of posts, but the log-log tells you more about the few members with large numbers of posts.

BTW, is this the kind of thread that gets you to the keyboard? Great!


Zep

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

...BTW, is this the kind of thread that gets you to the keyboard? Great!

well the ears are hidden by a skull cap,

but the eyes reveal wHo is wacking at that keyboard...

24/7 and still leaving blood on the keys on thursdays...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f232...use-20853.html

cheer
2air'

and i tried to give ya some K, just at the moment it morphed to T, so here is some ttttttttt.......

[Andy R]

Interesting research, thanks for sharing...

I think you should rephrase your statement about active members to something more clearly defined by what you analyzed (posts). We have about 900 members everyday that swing by the site to read, post ads, upload photos, mark themselves as attending a rally, connect with friends, etc. I consider that activity, even if it is just reading. So I think your analysis (which is indeed interesting) should be clear that it is about active posters and not active members.

Another thing that is off is the scale. I think the curve would actually be inverse of what you put with the single member with 11,500 post up high and then steeply dropping with a very long tail. Here is an example:
The Long Tail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, if you notice, if you multiply the number of members times the post, you will see that a majority of the posts made on the forum are by members with less posts. So let's not discount the long tail of our membership. As with most things in life (and the internet) the long tail is where the majority falls.

[Zeppelinium]

Andy, thanks, as usual. I agree that members who log on only to read are valuable (and active in some sense--that's beyond my pay grade to define, eg, what is "active"? I'm just throwing 2 cents). On the other hand, I never need to look them up in the member list because they are invisible--no posts, no questions, no problems.

Yes, my chart looks inverted, but both scales are logarithmic--makes things look funny and prevents you from having a zero on either axis.

Now, not to make a science project out of the analysis, but I just checked the post tally and it's 561,919. In comparison, the highest 150 members average 2166 posts each and have a total of 324,950 posts. I think that's 0.5% of the members with 57.8% of the posts.

The mid point of the curve (half the posts to the left and half to the right) is at 280,959.5 posts. It just so happens that at the time I took the data snapshot, ROBERTSUNRUS is on one side of the middle marker and CAMERONT120 is on the other. ROBERTSUNRUS is the 104th member in the posts list, so let's say the break point is 104.5 members, divided by the member count of 27,555, yielding 0.379% of the members making half the posts.

Without doing the math, I bet 5% of the members have well over 90% of the posts. So I think your assumption that there are a lot of posts out there to the right of the chart, out there with the members who have less than 100 posts, out there in the "tail," is just not right. There are only 3,000 total posts among the 20,000 fewest posters. That's only a little more than 0.5% of the posts in more than 2/3 of the members. There are a few posts out there, maybe some really valuable ones, maybe.

None of the is argues for anything in particular, except that there is a BIG tail of members who are looky-loos at best. I hope they find what they are looking for, buy a vintage Airsteam, and find themselves asking the forums a zillion questions.

Zep

[TinShack]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Hey Zep...are you familiar with this?

Advanced Member Search

To use it, click on > "Members List" > "Search Members" (in the far right hand column, right below page count) > "Advanced Search"

I think it does most of what you are asking for ~

Shari

Before Shari thoroughly embarrassed Zep about his search requests...

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

Shari,

Thanks. Really.

I was just giving you an opportunity to embarrass me in public. again repeatedly. Will I ever learn to ask first? ..... naw.

Zep

...I was thinkin' it would be nice to have a search by AIR#, which I don't see on the advanced member search function. So maybe Shari will embarrass me too and tell me where it lives?...otherwise, maybe that is something that can be added?

[garry]

I wonder how many members no longer own an AS but still contribute or stop by just to see what's happening?
I no longer own an AS (have SOB MH) but I still check in at least once per week.
I enjoy this forum because there is far less flaming and folks just seem to get along better.

Garry

Garry

[overlander63]

A very simple way to cull the member list is to choose "Members List" from the upper blue bar, then click the "posts" button at the top of the first page. This will sort members in descending order by number of posts.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by CA Streamer

...I was thinkin' it would be nice to have a search by AIR#, <snip> So maybe Shari will embarrass me too and tell me where it lives?

Click on > "Air # Directory" in the left hand column and you will end up here:

Join Date

Happy to oblige you Steve ~

Shari

[silverhawk]

Well I do'nt feel so bad about my measly little 245 posts now. Top 400 aint so bad out of 26K members. Next on the list will be my 4th rivet. That should happen sometime in the next month or two, or three.

Silverhawk, Bob

[GStephens]

I stop by the forums five or six times every day - every day - and I have since joining though I rarely respond by posting. With few exceptions I try to only respond when I genuinely feel I have something to add to the conversation; yet I have 400 posts. I don't feel stringing together a lot of posts in itself is valuable to anyone, especially if those posts really do not add to the knowlege base, but just take up space as some do. We have some members whose posts are always usually thoughtful. They post often and do genuinely add to the knowledge base. There will always be some who do not listen to good advice. Others like myself post less, but are here every day never-the-less.
GStephens

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by overlander63

A very simple way to cull the member list is to choose "Members List" from the upper blue bar, then click the "posts" button at the top of the first page. This will sort members in descending order by number of posts.

I'd like to inject an observation here and thank everyone for putting in their excellent perspectives. This whole thing was prompted by a new member's post who said he needed help in southern Iowa, so I went to the members list just to see who might be local to him. Not being as smart as Shari, I got a little frustrated ... and noticed how long the list was. A little more looking and I became convinced that there sure must be a lot inactive (however that ought to be defined) names in the list. Somehow this got diverted into a "study" of the most active posters.

Gary's (#13) and GStephens (#17) posts really speak to me. You don't have to be a high poster to be well-regarded or valued. It is the quality of the contribution. And if some members just come and read and that helps Andy keep the forums alive, that's great.

But I'm still curious how many names in the members list are completely inactive--showed up once, signed in, and never came back?

Over and out,
Zep

PS--what happened to the karma button in this thread?

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

Not being as smart as Shari, I got a little frustrated ... and noticed how long the list was.

Smart? Nah...just seasoned! Alot of my posts were gained as a former moderator/administrator ~

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

PS--what happened to the karma button in this thread?

It's been replaced with the "Thanks" button below ~

Shari