Forum getting too popular?

[BravoV]

Ah.. no wonder, the ratio between spam accounts vs genuine accounts is scary isn't it ? 

Not any more, they have been purged. So the 7000+ accounts are now all genuine.

No, what I meant is when looking at the New member chart, normalized new member counts are below 50 daily, while without the spam filter period, it was at 300 to 500 daily, thats about 10 folds.   

[BravoV]

Ahrrmmm  .... an "executive summary" ..

• This chart marks 3 years of forum's data captured since Aug 2010.
• Since June 2013 with updated the new registration security at +7000 genuine members, assuming it is still effective, the total members now are closing to 10.000.
• New posts daily definitely stays at 500 and no sign of getting weaker. 
• Page views shows a steady & strong organic growth, SupplyFrame needs to recognize and the most important to acknowledge it.   ..<wink..wink..wink> ... 

Attached chart below.

[EEVblog]

Nice stats, thanks!
Last time I purged any zero poster accounts, there was a very low percentage of them, so yes, most of the accounts will be users with at least one active post.
And of course the forum has zero spam posts. Once in a blue  moon they do get through, but are quickly deleted.

[EEVblog]

Ok, I just did another account purge to delete all accounts with zero posts and greater than 30 days old.
Total members has now dropped to 8493, so there were quite a few, but we have at least 8000 active accounts with genuine posts.

[kaptain_zero]

I'm sorry... but I must object..... Zero is not the same as Null.......

Regards

Kaptain "waddayamean zero equals nothing" Zero    -or-

Kaptain " I may have had a pint too many..... tonight" Zero

[EEVblog]

30 days is a bit short isn't it. Some people may lurk for a while to get the feel of the place. Is there any advantage to delete inactive users sooner rather than later? Perhaps time since last logon would be better.

Yes, sorry, that included login and creation.
But in any case, there is no need to join this forum to lurk, you can browse all posts without joining. So even if you do visit regularly but have zero posts, what is the point of your account? To contact a member(s) by DM perhaps?

[Bored@Work]

what is the point of your account? To contact a member(s) by DM perhaps?

Get "Notify working"?
Get "Show unread posts since last visit" working?

[EEVblog]

Get "Notify working"?
Get "Show unread posts since last visit" working?

Yeah, good point.
Although should people be allowed to do that indefinitely without ever having contributed at least one post?
I think not, because it screws up the numbers of how many active users there are.
I suspect very few people would read and follow the forum regularly and never ever do a single post.

[Bored@Work]

I don't know. I see the point of pruning dead wood. I also see the point of preventing spammers to obtain accounts in preparation of some later spam run.

On the other hand, I find the forum software unusable without "Show unread posts since last visit". Without that it is absolutely horrible.

Does the software have some way to check for the time of last login? E.g. "if zero posts, and last login is older than a year --> trashcan"

[EEVblog]

On the other hand, I find the forum software unusable without "Show unread posts since last visit". Without that it is absolutely horrible.

Sure, if you are reading it on a daily basis. But without that it's more than good enough to come in read and search and see if you like the tone of the forum enough to join and participate.

Does the software have some way to check for the time of last login? E.g. "if zero posts, and last login is older than a year --> trashcan"

Yes, that's what I did, but in this case I put that at a month, not a year. I can search for all users with zero posts, last login time, creation date etc.
No one with zero posts who has logged in in the last month was purged.

[JuKu]

Get "Notify working"?
Get "Show unread posts since last visit" working?

Yeah, good point.
Although should people be allowed to do that indefinitely without ever having contributed at least one post?
I think not, because it screws up the numbers of how many active users there are.
I suspect very few people would read and follow the forum regularly and never ever do a single post.

I would consider active readers as active users, no matter how often they post(if ever).

[EEVblog]

I would consider active readers as active users, no matter how often they post(if ever).

Sure, but if you've never posted anything, and haven't visited in over a month, I think it's fair enough to purge them.

[tanstaafl]

Another reason to subscribe and not post is to avoid those annoying captcha's while searching 

But agreed, no posts and not visited can probably be purged...

[BravoV]

Just a brief update reflecting yesterday Dave's contest announcement, this time the captured statistic started from Jul to yesterday at 7th Oct for finer resolution.

Feeling crowded ? You're right, number never lies.

Interpretation is yours ... 

[ivan747]

Can you update those every 24h? Your post was a very justified way to bring this topic back.

I have noticed this contest hasn't been running for more than 30hrs. and it is already almost as long as the previous contest. My odds are getting smaller 

[EEVblog]

Interesting stats, as always, thanks.
I consider this overall a good thing though. How many of the new posts are just fillers?  From what I've looked at it's not a huge percentage, but I could be wrong.

[ivan747]

Interesting stats, as always, thanks.
I consider this overall a good thing though. How many of the new posts are just fillers?  From what I've looked at it's not a huge percentage, but I could be wrong.

I feel most of them lack substance. Many are short, two-line opinions like this one.

[EEVblog]

I feel most of them lack substance. Many are short, two-line opinions like this one.

Perhaps, but is this just confirmation bias, or a real result?
How much does it differ from regular newbie posts?

[kizzap]

Perhaps, but is this just confirmation bias, or a real result?
How much does it differ from regular newbie posts?

They differ by date

-kizzap

[tehmeme]

Quote of something I posted elsewhere in the forum:
I've seen some new joiners post some good quality contributions to some pre-existing threads (much more valuable and meaningful than anything I have posted myself).  I only hope they continue to do so in the long run as this would be a welcome injection of new viewpoints, expertise and addition to the overall pool of knowledge and diversity.
/quote

besides the self inflicted dig, surely this is a good thing as eventually the space wasters will be pruned after not posting/logging in for a while? Those newcomers who do have something to contribute to or learn from the forum will remain.

Or am I being too inclusive and a hippy?

[ivan747]

I feel most of them lack substance. Many are short, two-line opinions like this one.

Perhaps, but is this just confirmation bias, or a real result?
How much does it differ from regular newbie posts?

They do differ, I think. I grabbed a bunch of random users with anywhere form 30 to a thousand posts and looked at their 10 earliest posts. Most of them wrote just like they write now, they don't change. About 15% of the people I checked wrote shorter single paragraph posts. Others wrote longer things similar to this post.


B@W has proven some users come back to post whatever amount of posts they are missing in order to participate in the contest.

But I do get your point: it's normal for people new to electronics (not necessarily new to the forum) not to have long detailed posts or solid opinions on something like the Intel-based Arduino or whatever.

[pstrag]

I'd like to say something from my position. Yes, I am trying to participate in EEVBlog contest. That is the main reason why I started to writing, but I was "using" this forum before just as a passive reader. Since I am not native English speaking person, I am using much more mature forum than this one, which is written in my language. BTW it is the largest forum in whole country ( elektroda.pl/rtvforum ). So it isn't like that I started to have some questions right now. I am writhing short posts, because I have to double check almost every sentence while writing and they are still with some errors. (Try to write some elaborate posts in your second / third language).
One of aims of this contest is to bring new users here and it is working. Sure, there are many weak posts and answers, just to collect 5 posts, but this is a rule of contest, so you shouldn't be surprised. After few days everything will be back to normal, but users like me will be encouraged to participate.
PS. Yes, it was my fifth post, and now I will be writing only, when I will have something to say

[Neilm]

They differ by date

They also differ in the fact some of the "newbie" posts I have seen are starting 5 new threads with pretty meaningless questions or statements.

[tehmeme]

..

Welcome to the forum.

[BravoV]

2nd day ...

I think this is enough for now, next update will be 3 days after Dave closed the contest or/and made the announcement to see how it settles down.

Range 1st Sept - 8th Oct.