# SDMB Active Participation Population

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [September 9, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193 "2010-09-09T16:31:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/1 "2010-09-09T16:31:59Z")

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Do we have any idea how many posters participate in say one day, one week or one month ?

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### Author: ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/2 "2010-09-09T19:15:51Z")

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Yes, this would be very interesting. It would be great to have a sticky where weekly, or at least monthly averages would be listed. I think you can get some idea from sites like [Alexa.com](http://Alexa.com) but they don’t have access to the really interesting stuff.

Here is my list for some stats - and they should be easy to generate with even a basic knowledge of SQL.

# of active users (i.e., users who logged on at least once in last 30 days)

# of active posters (i.e., users who posted in last 30 days)

avg # of posts per active poster  
total posts in last 30 days  
total new threads in last 30 days.

# of new ids created in last 30 days.

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### Author: ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/3 "2010-09-09T19:37:24Z")

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We can see how many accounts have logged on in the last 60 days at the bottom of the main forum page (6332). These can be lurkers who didn’t post, socks, one off spammers up to very prolific posters. It just means that at the very least, the site was viewed by someone logged in with an account.

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### Author: ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/4 "2010-09-09T22:38:25Z")

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Ya, and 93,000 members , only just try to find a member who isn’t chartered in the postings.

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### Author: ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/5 "2010-09-10T00:38:01Z")

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1. There are five of us.

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### Author: ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/6 "2010-09-10T00:59:41Z")

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Yo!

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### Author: ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/7 "2010-09-10T02:19:42Z")

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\<\>

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### Author: ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/8 "2010-09-10T02:54:29Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> 1. There are five of us.

I did a little searching, which turned up more than five!

Defining partcipant as “having posted in the last year”  
Sample user names containing common 3 letter groups  
check the last activity date:

```auto

'tle'
sample size # current
30 2
30 3
50 10	
'ing'
sample size # current
30 2	
30 1	
30 0
30 8	

```

There are some odd runs of aphabetically consecutive names that all have ‘recent actvity’.  
Ignoring those runs , it looks like about 5% of the names are of current users.  
That translates to about 4650 current users by my loose definition.

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### Author: ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/9 "2010-09-10T13:31:34Z")

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May I draw your attention to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556041)?

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### Author: ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/10 "2010-09-10T18:15:17Z")

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> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#):
>
> Do we have any idea how many posters participate in say one day, one week or one month ?

If you look at the bottom of the forum display page, you’ll see a listing for Active Members, which means registered users who have logged on in the last 60 days. As of right now it says 6,323.

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### Author: ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/11 "2010-09-10T19:45:27Z")

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> [@Ed\_Zotti](#):
>
> If you look at the bottom of the forum display page, you’ll see a listing for Active Members, which means registered users who have logged on in the last 60 days. As of right now it says 6,323.

See **Ed** , there you go taking the fun out of everything again! 😉

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### Author: ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/12 "2010-09-10T22:57:50Z")

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> [@Ed\_Zotti](#):
>
> > [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#):
> >
> > Do we have any idea how many posters participate in say one day, one week or one month ?
> 
> If you look at the bottom of the forum display page, you’ll see a listing for Active Members, which means registered users who have logged on in the last 60 days. As of right now it says 6,323.

I feel honoured.🙂

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### Author: ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/13 "2010-09-11T00:14:46Z")

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> [@dzero](#):
>
> Yes, this would be very interesting. It would be great to have a sticky where weekly, or at least monthly averages would be listed. I think you can get some idea from sites like [Alexa.com](http://Alexa.com) but they don’t have access to the really interesting stuff.
> 
> Here is my list for some stats - and they should be easy to generate with even a basic knowledge of SQL.
> 
> # of active users (i.e., users who logged on at least once in last 30 days)
> 
> # of active posters (i.e., users who posted in last 30 days)
> 
> avg # of posts per active poster  
> total posts in last 30 days  
> total new threads in last 30 days.
> 
> # of new ids created in last 30 days.

Why would this interest you? Are you a potential advertiser?

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### Author: ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/14 "2010-09-11T01:19:22Z")

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> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> > [@dzero](#):
> >
> > Yes, this would be very interesting. It would be great to have a sticky where weekly, or at least monthly averages would be listed. I think you can get some idea from sites like [Alexa.com](http://Alexa.com) but they don’t have access to the really interesting stuff.
> > 
> > Here is my list for some stats - and they should be easy to generate with even a basic knowledge of SQL.
> > 
> > # of active users (i.e., users who logged on at least once in last 30 days)
> > 
> > # of active posters (i.e., users who posted in last 30 days)
> > 
> > avg # of posts per active poster  
> > total posts in last 30 days  
> > total new threads in last 30 days.
> > 
> > # of new ids created in last 30 days.
> 
> Why would this interest you? Are you a potential advertiser?

No, just a big fan of curiosity. Of course you’re free not to believe me.

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### Author: ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/15 "2010-09-12T18:26:41Z")

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Just to show what information is quickly available, here are some pictures of the Admin Control Panel from another board:

[Top Stats](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=TopStats.png)

[Visitors in the last 24 hours](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=Visitors24Hours.png)

[Registrations by month](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=RegistrationStats.png)

[New registrations](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=NewRegistrations.png)

[Activity stats by day](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=ActivityStats.png)

[New threads by week](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=NewThreadStats.png)

[New posts by month](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=NewPostStats.png)

[The Top Posters](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=TopPosters.png)  
[Some stats on Attachments](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=AttachmentStats.png) Not really applicable here.

[Log of Mod actions](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=ModLog.png)  
Just to quell the occassional “Can Admin read our PMs?” questions that come up, this shows the [General PM statistics](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=PMStats01.png). This shows individual users [by number of PMs](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=PMStats02.png). And this is as far as Admin can go–[Inbox, Outbox, and Total for one specific Member](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=PMStats03.png). Yes, there is a Delete button.  
This is how the [Infractions list](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=InfractionsList01.png) looks. Clicking the View button would show something like [this](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=InfractionsList02.png).

And finally, [The list of the Banned](http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/?action=view&current=Banned.png).

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### Author: ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/16 "2010-09-12T18:31:26Z")

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I can’t figure out what to do to get the pictures big enough to actually see anything - they’re all thumbnails.

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### Author: ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/17 "2010-09-12T18:38:23Z")

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> [@HardlySanguine](#):
>
> I can’t figure out what to do to get the pictures big enough to actually see anything - they’re all thumbnails.

In Firefox, pressing Ctrl and + magnifies the page.

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### Author: ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/18 "2010-09-12T18:44:12Z")

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You should just have to click on the image to magnify it… Sorry, no idea why it isn’t working.

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### Author: ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/19 "2010-09-12T19:00:50Z")

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soul: so are you saying that we could have a thread where information like this would get posted on a periodic basis? That would be great. I especially like the ‘mod actions’ item.

If the day of the week could be incorporated next to the date, that would also be useful.

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### Author: ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193/20 "2010-09-12T19:08:01Z")

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> [@dzero](#):
>
> soul: so are you saying that we could have a thread where information like this would get posted on a periodic basis? That would be great. I especially like the ‘mod actions’ item.
> 
> If the day of the week could be incorporated next to the date, that would also be useful.

Is [this](http://mob1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb474/TheSoulFrostProject/ModLog.png) what you’re seeing? (240×131px). Weird.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-active-participation-population/553193.md?page=2)
