# Useless SDMB Statistics (and long, too) **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 2, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279 "2004-06-02T16:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/41 "2004-08-06T04:41:43Z")
> [@Earthling](#): > > Prompted by [this question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258600), on May 30 I looked through the threads in each forum over the past year and ran some statistics on them. SOME statistics??? **earthling** , this surely is impressive, but… have you ever heard the expression, “Get a life!”? [Backing off a little just in case]Perhaps this is a life for you. I apologize in advance. far be it from me to tell someone what to do with their time. Maybe you are wheelchair bound, or a math prodigy. maybe you don’t need sleep or don’t have to work for a living. It’s OK with me, keep on keeping on![/Backing off just in case] Blessings on you and your freedom of choice. 🆒 SnakeSpirit S¬ …^ ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/42 "2004-08-06T06:17:46Z")
Now **Snakespirit** , considering all the weirdass things that we’ve calmy discussed on these boards, often for days, **Earthling** interest in statistics and number crunching looks downright _healthy_. Ranchoth (Of course, how many of those weird threads _weren’t_ started by me?) ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/43 "2004-08-06T13:59:04Z")
> [@Earthling](#): > > Once again, we re-sort with members only: > > ```auto > > 1. KP 0.47 > 2. audilover 0.38 > 3. TJdude825 0.38 > 4. moriah 0.35 > 5. AskNott 0.34 > 6. bbeaty 0.31 > 7. bonzer 0.26 > **8. scotandrsn 0.25** > 9. Rick 0.24 > 10. FriarTed 0.23 > > ``` Hey, I haven’t looked at this thread in a while! I knew I’d killed a lot of threads, but I had no idea I made the top ten for efficiency! And I’d love the hell out of it if I killed this one too. 😉🆒 ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/44 "2004-08-06T17:55:03Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > And I’d love the hell out of it if I killed this one too. no, me! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/45 "2004-08-08T06:45:00Z")
Is there a way to see rankings of who has the most posts? That’s the thing I’d like to know. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/46 "2004-08-08T14:50:46Z")
The only way to see post counts that I know of is to look at each user’s profile. By updating the subscriber data I had collected for [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263323), these are the estimated rankings as of earlier this morning: ```auto Username Post Count Post Rate 1. Guinastasia 19537 13.18 2. Liberal 17501 10.14 3. Mangetout 15767 13.27 4. Coldfire 15272 8.31 5. Eve 14597 8.60 6. tracer 13751 7.21 7. tomndebb 13054 6.61 8. iampunha 12995 8.53 9. SPOOFE 12197 7.71 10. Johnny L.A. 12056 7.18 ``` Sorted by Post Rate, the ranking is: ```auto Username Post Rate Post Count 1. Q.E.D. 17.52 10157 2. NoClueBoy 15.44 10386 3. Diogenes the Cynic 13.98 9432 4. Mangetout 13.27 15767 5. Guinastasia 13.18 19537 6. Doomtrain 12.62 6497 7. John Mace 11.97 7262 8. Kalhoun 10.78 6553 9. Liberal 10.14 17501 10. CandidGamera 9.94 1616 ``` Please note that some of the subscriber data I used date back to April, and I only updated the numbers for the top-ranked users found there. While it is unlikely for Post Count positions to have shifted much, I’ve noticed that Post Rates for some users have changed significantly since then, especially among the newer members (in one case, dropping from 10.25/day to 1.29/day). Therefore, without re-examining the profiles of all 4,000 or so subscribers, these rankings can only be considered as estimates. From these updates, it appears that individual Post Rates tend to decline over time. My guess is that this is a general trend (i.e., a user would post a lot more as a newbie than as a veteran) and not an effect of subscription. It would be interesting, though impossible to accomplish without automated tools, to track these numbers and see if we can discern some generalized patterns. One notable exception to this trend is **Liberal** , who has made an average of 23.3 posts per day since April 24 (my first data collection date), thus bringing his Post Rate ranking upward. In contrast, **Guinastasia** has followed the declining trend, and averaged only 9.2 posts per day since then. If each person mainatins these new Post Rates, Lib should overtake Guin’s Post Count at 20,860 posts, in 144 days. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/47 "2004-08-08T14:57:56Z")
A follow-up: **handy** ’s Post Count stands at 17,495, making him the third-highest ranked poster, even though he was banned last November. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/48 "2004-08-09T00:21:09Z")
Does your data tell you anything about lurkers? ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/49 "2004-08-09T14:55:36Z")
I’m not sure what exactly you wanted to know about lurkers, but the number of views to each thread or forum is not logged to a user-accessible format. And knowing the number of views, by itself, doesn’t tell one anything about how many of those views come from lurkers as opposed to posters. I don’t think this’ll answer your questions, but if you’re interested, there’s a pretty massive discussion of board stats [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263323). ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/50 "2004-08-23T04:47:57Z")
So **Earthling** how many people read the SDMB? How many people total, members, guests, banned, visitors, whatever? How many folks out there are reading these pages? What kind of influence is at our disposal here? hmmm :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/51 "2004-08-23T20:18:00Z")
I find these stats threads absolutely fascinating. And thank you for providing the raw data. Have the mods ever been helpful in providing board stats? ---
**Author:** ![sangfroid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@sangfroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sangfroid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/52 "2004-08-23T20:37:49Z")
Holy flaming statistical insanity, Batman! Remind me to \*never \* play poker with you, **Earthling**! 😉 Most interesting reading, though. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/53 "2004-10-24T18:15:15Z")
I thought I’d add that there are around 2,530 unanswered questions in GQ. This doesn’t account for closed threads, moved threads, or “stupid” questions (i think those do exist here). Not too shabby out of a total of 94,540 threads. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/54 "2004-10-24T18:55:43Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > I find these stats threads absolutely fascinating. And thank you for providing the raw data. > > Have the mods ever been helpful in providing board stats? Good question. Mods really don’t have access to such data, because we don’t have access to the servers, databases or the log files. We also don’t have any reporting tools that tell us this stuff. I think **Earthling** has done a fantastic job in ferreting out, and analysing, all the raw data available to him as a member. About the only such data that we have access to (that members don’t) is possibly a real-time update of: **Server Load Averages 0.96 1.24 1.33 | 360 Users Online (218 members and 142 guests)** - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/55 "2004-10-24T20:45:57Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Does your data tell you anything about lurkers? > [@t-keela](#): > > how many people read the SDMB? Unhappily, statistics for the read-only traffic are not available to the public, so I can’t answer that question. The number of views for each forum is available on the SDMB home page, but that doesn’t tell you anything about the number of unique visitors. Even the data-miners at [Big-Boards.com](http://www.big-boards.com/board/15/) say “[n]o traffic information available for The Straight Dope.” ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/56 "2004-10-28T04:14:47Z")
**Earthling** , is it possible to query ‘strike rates’ of individual posters. Where: ‘Reply strike rate’ being the total number of replies to all threads started by that poster divided by the number of threads started by that user and, ‘View strike rate’ being the total number of views of all threads started by that poster divided by the number of threads started by that user. Awesome work by the way. cheers antechinus ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279/57 "2005-01-13T12:43:19Z")
I’m not sure it’s kosher to bump old threads in ATMB but after seeing a post about the most prolific poster in MPSIMS, I was curious if **Earthling** would be interested in making his statistical breakdown of the board an annual event starting this year. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one interested in it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-sdmb-statistics-and-long-too/248279.md?page=2)