Number of Active Members

[Gobird]

We periodically see the question of how many members we have.
Active members is probably a better question. What is an good indicator of an active member? All I care to contribute is using Charlie's explanation regarding posts is we've had 750 members who have posted in 2014 and 494 who have posted since July.

It doesn't matter.

[BLACK BEAUTY]

It doesn't matter.

If you don't mind it don't matter sure like the font size option wow

[wcoates]

Well Paul let's think bout it for just a second, we now know how many active members there are cause the system tells us there are 451. Since probably 60% of all posts don't really matter somebody must have thought it mattered or the calculation wouldn't have been made. Given the thought of Dot's that it has to be visits to the site, there is probably one line of code that says if not visited within the last XXX number of days move from active to inactive. Just asking what that # of days is.

Wow, what if Galileo and all those other great Oklahoman thinkers thought "It just doesn't matter!"

Bet Birdwingstoo knows!

[2K2BIRD]

Ha, Bill, Rosetta tells me all the time that I question things that don't matter. I guess I'm trying to give it up.

The software is generic and written for hundreds, maybe thousands of different applications. I'm sure it matters to someone(s) somewhere, having to do with income generation or some such. Since in our case it doesn't matter to the site owners, I don't see much reason to worry about it either.

That being said, I applaud you for your curiosity in general.

One thing I've learned from the upgrade is that people use the site in multiple different ways. An example is the mark forums read function, I never worry about topics being highlighted if I'm not interested in them. I just don't click them. It seems to matter to some folks, so for their sake, I'm glad Kevin is spending some time trying to make it work that way for them.

Off hand I can't think of many great Oklahoma thinkers (except Will Rogers). Country music performers - yes, baseball players - yes; thinkers - not so much (especially our politicians).

[007Cruiser]

Maurice Stanley Friedman, award winning Oklahoma philosopher.

[5bird7]

Bill, I am more concerned about those that visit and get some negative feedback on their first post so never respond or show up again. Not the best way to greet newcomers. Not much we can do about those newbies that ask a question, leave the site 2 to 10 minutes later and never return to view the answers. As for those that lurk but don't speak up, that is their choice. Many of those end up coming to events that we come up with and have a good time. btw, most of the forums are closed to viewing by outsiders. Haven't checked lately to see which forums are open to viewing without signing in. May only be the new member forum. Now you can see where the problem lies with some newbies when there are negative posts to view.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

I think a good banana split is the answer.

[RustyFrye]

I think a good banana split is the answer.

Which one?

[RBIRD]

Which one?

Bingo!

[Quickdraw]

I think a good banana split is the answer.

...to everything.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

Which one?

bananasplit3.jpg

This one of course, the Doozie from Sevierville, TN

[RBIRD]

I got it , Rusty!

Bob

[BirdWingsToo]

Well Paul let's think bout it for just a second, we now know how many active members there are cause the system tells us there are 451. Since probably 60% of all posts don't really matter somebody must have thought it mattered or the calculation wouldn't have been made. Given the thought of Dot's that it has to be visits to the site, there is probably one line of code that says if not visited within the last XXX number of days move from active to inactive. Just asking what that # of days is.

Wow, what if Galileo and all those other great Oklahoman thinkers thought "It just doesn't matter!"

Bet Birdwingstoo knows!

I believe you are correct, Bill. But I don't recall the number of days off hand. Used to be a setting we could change. I'm not sure if it still is, but I suppose I can look.

Dot mentioned people visiting, not logging in (they are "Guests", but seeing some forums anyway. The forums visible to Guests are:

General Forums:

• Thunderbird Of the Month
• Happy Birthday
• Ladies and Gentlemen
• Polls
• Prayer List
• Press Box
• Travel
• and subforums

T-Bird Groups and Chapters:

• Basically all of them.

It's been like that for several years as far as I know.

Because the Tech forums and other "informational" forums are closed to Guests (not just viewing, but searching as well), people have to become Registered Users to get to the wealth of information in those forums. As I recall, this was by design... i.e., keep a lot of the good stuff for "Members" to encourage growth in membership. Of course, that was a long time ago! On the plus side (still), it also keeps the load on the server lower because random people can't just show up and Search (which runs database queries) absolutely everything.

An offshoot of the practice of requiring people to register before getting to "the good stuff" has been that many people over the years registered, searched for or asked about their question, got their answer, then left, never to log in again. Bummer (for them!).

Some other stats I can provide:

• The site is typically visited by between 160 and 200 unique registered users per day. Not all of them post. Some folks just like to read and enjoy.
• The site typically gets between 50 and 100 posts per day (not including PMs). It sometimes goes over 100, and occasionally peaks around 200. The daily number has actually seen a slight uptick since the upgrade (probably because of the questions generated by the upgrade). I imagine it'll go back down a bit after a while.
• The site typically gets between 1 and 5 new member registrations per day. None of them are bots (which is pretty darn good... keeps us free of spam!). It's much more common to get at least 1 new member on any given day than 0. We've had 7 so far today! Sunshine, Randy G, Dawn82allen, tbird2004, Brobs, johnledwon, and Inspiration... welcome all!

Overall, despite the rise of newer forms of social media, the site is still strong.

Cheers,

Kevin

[RBIRD]

Which one?

https://youtu.be/XMl6HnhFFIA

[Quickdraw]

Kevin, it should be made quite clear to "guests" that they are only viewing a very few of the available forums and that the meaty topics are hidden from them. Like technical forums and trouble shooting. Those topics guests can access are nearly worthless to them. They want to read a birthday forum for people they don't know?