Some Fun SDMB Statistics

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Ok, this is totally non scientific as I don' t have access to real numbers.
Average Posts Per Thread (APPT) - Simple average based on the front board this afternoon:
[list=1]
Great Debates - 38
BBQ Pit - 34
IMHO - 23
CS (tie) - 20
MPSIMS (tie) - 20
All Board Average - 19 The Mendoza line
Comments on Ceceil's Columns (tie) - 12
Comments on Staff Reports (tie) - 12
General Questions - 11
ATMB - 10
[/list=1]
Average Views Per Thread (AVPT) - Calculated from one sample (the non-sticky first page thread with highest view count in each forum)
[list=1]
BBQ Pit - 669
CS - 182
Coments on CC - 58
MPSIMS - 55
Comments on SR - 27
ATMB - 22
GQ - 21
IMHO - 17
GD - 12
[/list=1]
Conclusions? - If you can draw conclusions from such shady statistics (particularly AVPT), I'd say that:
[list=1]
If you want lots of responses, post to Great Debates or The Pit.
If you want lots of people to read your post, post to The Pit or Cafe Society.
[/list=1]
Anyone care to share better board statistics or take a shot at other conclusions about this board that can be drawn from simple (and incomplete) statistics?

[Happy Lendervedder]

Happy's Fun Stat of the DayTM:

Drive-by poster percentage. Divide the number of threads you've actually posted in (search for your name, posts from 'any date'); the results will give you the number of threads you've posted to. Divide that number by your total post count. That's your drive-by percentage.

The closer your number is to 1, the more of a drive-by poster you are. The closer to 0 you are, the more you seem to stick with a certain topic.

Me? Apparently I'm guilty of driving by quite often. .732



Happy

[Çyrin]

D-bPP: .450

We don't have as many drive-bys in Canada, thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Skerri]

Duck! Drive-by poster here.

Percentage: 1.278

HOLY COW! :eek:

[wolfstu]

Originally posted by Skerri
Duck! Drive-by poster here.

Percentage: 1.278

HOLY COW! :eek:


What? Did I misread that? Your "Threads posted in" over "Total posts" is greater than one? The number of threads you've got posts in is higher than the number of posts you have?

Is this a quirk of topology, or do I really not understand statistics after all? :confused:

[Happy Lendervedder]

Originally posted by Skerri
Duck! Drive-by poster here.

Percentage: 1.278

HOLY COW! :eek:


The number shouldn't be bigger than 1.

It's Total Threads / Post Count.

[Spit]

I don't think that's mathematically possible Skerri....You can't have more threads than you posted in.

[Spit]

You are .783 Skerri...That's higher than Handy! :D

[Ruby]

.81

Does that mean...

[Ruby]

...that I should start...

[Ruby]

...posting multiple times...

[Happy Lendervedder]

...wait for it...

[Spit]

:D

[Ruby]

...in each thread?

Requesting Hamster forgiveness, please

[Skerri]

Hey, I never said I was good at math. And now I have two posts in this thread. That makes it better, right?


[sub]...cowers in corner....'Stupid numbers!' she mumbles...

[Skerri]

'AND STUPID CODING!' she screams...

[Ringo]

Relatively single-minded, I guess, at 0.66 for drive-bys. I suppose that could be interpreted as indicating that about half the time I post once to a thread, and about half the time I post once again. There's an inherent fallacy iin that logic, though.

Another possibly interesting stat I'll leave it to another to gather would be the views to replies ratio.

[Lsura]

Well, my DBPP is 0.798...fairly high, I suppose, but I'm not worried about it, am I? :p

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Because this is in MPSIMS rather than GD, should we get into whether a high drive by rating is good or bad? Similarly, would it be in poor taste to flog the hamsters for other well known posters like Q.E.D.?

I have a 0.46 drive by rating. Of course, I'm relatively new and managed to post 7 new threads, all of which I've replied to at least once or twice. I guess I must like to talk to myself. :)

P.S. Skerri, your math was close to correct, you just inverted the numbers. Your first answer (1.27) was posts per thread rather than threads per post. By your stat, I'm about a 2.2.

And Ringo, I thought about views/posts, but didn't want to write down all the numbers by hand (too mundane and pointless for me!). It'd be an easy task for a mod or admin who has database access. Calculating standard deviations, mode and other basic stats on these items could also show some fun trends.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Hey, my DBPP is 0.359. That's the lowest I've seen listed yet.

The inverse of this number is simply your Personal Average Posts per Thread, or PAPPT. For me it is 2.786. If this number approaches 1.000, you are a classic drive-byer (driver-by?).

[Latch]

Even .50, but then.. I'm still fairly new here.

[Latch]

actually.. because of that post, it's not an even .50 now :)

[Kyla]

I'm at 71%. I'm surprised it's that low. Go me!

Watch, this is totally going to be a drive by post, too. Catch ya in some other thread!

[TVeblen]

Originally posted by Ruby

Requesting Hamster forgiveness, please

NEWS RELEASE, Doperville Argus Courier-Journal Examiner Herald:

Poster Ruby was rushed by friends to a local doc-in-a-box when she complained of stabbing pains in her ankle. Suspecting nothing more than a bad sprain, the apathetic night-shift doctor was startled to discover a small, very pissed-off rodent attached by its teeth to her Achilles tendon. Ruby and the unidentifed rodent were separated, treated and released.

[Spit]

Originally posted by Latch
actually.. because of that post, it's not an even .50 now :)

...And with that post you are once again!

[Q.E.D.]

Did someone say something about flogging me with hamsters?? :eek:

[ITR champion]

My DBPP is .8404, which is probably related to my obsessive need to answer every poll at "what is your ____" thread that gets posted, including this one.

In response to the OP, I should just mention that on single thread that got a huge number of views, such as the big LotR thread, would certainly have the potential to completely skew the statistics for a particular forum.

[Happy Lendervedder]

With Esprix's many and massive "Ask the Gay Guy" threads, I figured his DBPP would be pretty low.

I was right: .348

Amongst the old-timers, that has to be one of the lowest DBPPs.


Happy

[Caught@Work]

.775
Man, I didn't realise how many one-lines I had in my repertoire.

[HoldenCaulfield]

I'm at .796, but I think it is due to lurking rather than drive-by posting. I'm shy, so if I post at all in a thread, I won't post much.

[Fern Forest]

I'm a little over 0.5 for my drive by. Although the nearly 400 something posts I had in the A thread certainly helped push that down a lot.

You know, if you use the front page to get average posts per thread you get 18.59 with the average doper username having a mere 94 posts which means I'm more then 40 times average. Ooh-yeah!

[Already in Use]

Wow, I'm a total drive-by poster: .867.
Average posts per thread: 1.153.

Maybe that's just because I tend to kill threads, so I don't see them to post in them again after they die.

[Already in Use]

Oh, and maybe this is just to decrease my drive-by ratio, but I see that NameAlreadyTaken had the same idea I did when registering a name. There ain't room for the both of us in this town! This calls for a duel!

[Typo Negative]

I'm at .767.

See ya!

[Q.E.D.]

I'm at .487, which is better than I thought it would be.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

0.56
1.79

I'm afraid that all of these searches is probably causing a board slowdown.

[Jonathan Chance]

DBPP = 0.566

It's all those Dip Threads.

That makes my posts per thread: 1.765

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Originally posted by Already in Use
Oh, and maybe this is just to decrease my drive-by ratio, but I see that NameAlreadyTaken had the same idea I did when registering a name. There ain't room for the both of us in this town! This calls for a duel!
Actually, your user name has so much more flexibility than mine. I mean, Already in Use can apply to anything from a user name to the toliet on an airplane. :) Argh! I think I'm lowering my drive by posting average again.
As for ITR Champion
In response to the OP, I should just mention that on single thread that got a huge number of views, such as the big LotR thread, would certainly have the potential to completely skew the statistics for a particular forum.I agree completely. Simple averages also don't give a complete picture. However, for "lies, damn lies and statistics", any partial picture will usually do.

[tomndebb]

The closer your number is to 1, the more of a drive-by poster you are. The closer to 0 you are, the more you seem to stick with a certain topic.Well!
Does this mean that someone who posts definitive answers to a large number of GQ threads, requiring no follow-up because their answer was utterly complete and correct, should be regarded as drive-by posters?

I don't think that's very respectful of Duck Duck Goose, samclem, bibliophage or a few other posters.
Drive-bys, who'd o' thunk it?

[Happy Lendervedder]

Does this mean that someone who posts definitive answers to a large number of GQ threads, requiring no follow-up because their answer was utterly complete and correct, should be regarded as drive-by posters?

I don't think that's very respectful of Duck Duck Goose, samclem, bibliophage or a few other posters.
Drive-bys, who'd o' thunk it?

Why does 'drive-by' have to be a dirty word? Making only one post to a thread-- whether to give helpful information, make a witty bon mot, or just give your HO-- doesn't make you a bad poster. Most people who've posted here have a DBPP of 70% or higher. Does that make us all bad posters? Of course not.

In short, no disrespect intended, tom. :)



Happy

[MilTan]

If you count this post, my DBPP is .735

Also, this being my 200th post makes this rather easy to calculate.

[Kat]

I'm at 0.6468, not counting this post.

[Dragonblink]

With this, my thousandth post, I acheive a DBPP of .919.

*hangs head in shame as she double checks her math*

[NameAlreadyTaken]

After much thought while mowing the lawn, I think that the issue of whether Drive By Posting Percentage is good or bad cannot be resolved without more data. Specifically, I would want to know what forums the poster drives by:

High drive by is good!
Mods and Admins (Drive by enforcement of rules... no need to argue!)
GQ - A high drive by might be someone who answers clearly and concisely on a multitude of issues. Or someone who asks a lot of questions.
IMHO - A drive by poll respondent can't really be judged as good or bad.
High drive by is bad!
The Pit (and GD) - If you jump in just to stir up trouble (and then bail), you are probably going to be called a troll or coward or other terms not suitable for MPSIMS.
Cafe Society - I don't read CS much, but I do know that many CS regulars are very passoniate and outspoken on their chosen topics. A high drive by in CS is also probably just stirring the pot.
Regardless, I think that Drive By Percentage is officially Mundane and Pointless rather than being good or bad.

[dwc1970]

My DBPP is 0.942, yikes! :eek:

[White Lightning]

If you want neato-keeno board statistics done by a real-life stats guy, search for kabbes in ATMB.

[Happy Lendervedder]

Originally posted by White Lightning
If you want neato-keeno board statistics done by a real-life stats guy, search for kabbes in ATMB.

But I wouldn't recommend posting to any of those ancient threads. Thread resurrection isn't looked upon too kindly around these parts.

[ChalkPit]

0.58 which sounds about right. :)

[kabbes]

Threads like this make the baby kabbes smile.

[Kn*ckers]

Hey, this is fun! My D-bPP is .507... So I'm driving-by about half the time?

[Steve Wright]

.699 and change. More focussed than I thought I was. Probably not focussed enough. Story of my life really.

[Quonk]

Mine is 0.843. And now, it will be even higher.

[White Lightning]

Originally posted by Happy Lendervedder
But I wouldn't recommend posting to any of those ancient threads. Thread resurrection isn't looked upon too kindly around these parts.Eh. We love it in ATMB. Well, I do at least. It's better than seeing the same thread being posted over and over without reference to the fact that the question's not only been answered multiple times in past threads but is currently answered in the FAQ at the top of the forum.

Sorry. ATMB and I had to take a little break from each other for a while, things between us were starting to get a little heated.

[Jpeg Jones]

Here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=131672) are some stats I compiled last August.

[SmackFu]

0.90

That's what I get for hanging out in GQ too much.

[Profane]

0.756

[Giraffe]

You know, it's much more useful if you invert it (which gives average # of posts/thread).

Anyway, my DBPP is 0.654. Average posts/thread is 1.53.

[Sublight]

DBPP = 0.844
PPT = 1.184

Most of my posts are in IMHO, MPSIMS and the Pit, so I don't feel too bad about my lack of follow-ups.

[erislover]

DPPP = 35.9%. Not bad, I s'pose, for a GD hound.

[Canadagirl]

Drive-By Ratio: .82.... Yeesh!!

[Canadagirl]

And that's in MPSIMS...

[Canadagirl]

Does that make me a troublemaker??

[Canadagirl]

Maybe I should post a couple more times...

[Canadagirl]

... to lower it.

[Canadagirl]

.76

or .75 if you count this post!:)

[cuauhtemoc]

Hmm. I'm .65. But I think real hard before I post. I don't just go posting any old thing willy-nilly. I hardly ever make a one-sentence post. And I don't usually "me-too".

My God, I never thought the day would come that I'd be making excuses for my posting habits.

[Tars Tarkas]

0.59762611275964391691394658753709 (2014/3370)

inverse: 1.6732869910625620655412115193644

[Already in Use]

I'm not a drive-by poster. I just have a high thread diversity quotient.

[Steve Wright]

Originally posted by cuauhtemoc
Hmm. I'm .65. But I think real hard before I post. I don't just go posting any old thing willy-nilly. I hardly ever make a one-sentence post. And I don't usually "me-too".

My God, I never thought the day would come that I'd be making excuses for my posting habits.
So .... you're a drive-by poster who aims, then?

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Originally posted by Giraffe
You know, it's much more useful if you invert it (which gives average # of posts/thread).
Inverting DBPP raises a whole new thread on when a stat is mathematically useful vs when it's intuitively useful. Threads per post is more intuitive to most people, but drive by percentage is bounded (0<dbpp<=1.0), which means you can do more kinds of meta stats and make neater graphs with it. Kind of like a baseball hitting percentage. If you invert it, you get (forgive me BB experts) # of at bats per on base hit (0.333 = 3 1/3 at bats per hit). But the other way gives you an easy to compare bounded percentage. Same basic stat, just a different way to look at it.

And CanadaGirl, I don't thin that a DBPP can have a good/bad value in MPSIMS. If you drive by, you just have less to say about the mundane (or pointless). If you linger, you may have some sort of mundane pointless fetish (like I seem to have with these odd stats!) :) Of course, multiple postings to drive your DBPP one way or another may get reported to the Hamster Abuse Prevention Association (HAPA?).

[Sublight]

Other interesting Statistics:

Scylla's blimp thread has almost 10 times as many views as the next most-viewed Pit thread.

484 of Twickster's 1468 posts, or 33%, were in the 'a' thread in MPSIMS.

According to the OP, IMHO threads get more posts than views. How'd that happen?

Highest view:reply ratio probably goes to the 'If LOTR had been written by someone else' with over 180 views/reply. Following that, the 'nobody knows, but everyone wants a look' award should probably go to Jeff Olsen with "Who the hell breastfeeds at a stoplight?" which had a ratio of 364:4, or 91 views for each reply.

[Giraffe]

Originally posted by NameAlreadyTaken
Inverting DBPP raises a whole new thread on when a stat is mathematically useful vs when it's intuitively useful. Threads per post is more intuitive to most people, but drive by percentage is bounded (0<dbpp<=1.0), which means you can do more kinds of meta stats and make neater graphs with it.I understand your point, but I don't think it is valid in this case. The difference between batting average and DBPP is that the batting average is exactly the fraction of at bats which resulted in a hit. The DBPP is not in any way related to the fraction of threads to which a user posted only a single post, i.e. did a driveby, unless they have a DBPP of exactly 1.0. Perhaps it should be called the driveby posting index (DPI)? ;)

Also, although posts/thread is unbounded in theory, in practice very few users ever post more than 20-30 posts in a single thread, let alone in every thread they post in. So for the SDMB, posts/thread is in fact bounded. (Can you tell I'm a physicist and not a mathematician?)

[jono]

i know im still pretty new to this so my figuers will not mean to much
but upon searching and finding i had posted in 16(15 in IMHO)i was quite surprised, but assuming this is my 33rd post im just a tick under .5

what that means, who knows
now if only we could get stats on how many posts we had viewed per posted