# What's going on? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746 "2017-10-24T17:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/1 "2017-10-24T17:40:53Z")
Just discovered this not too long ago at the bottom of the message board page entitled just that: [What’s going on?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) Enjoyed the statistics. Probably been there forever, but don’t get here too much, and just never had seen it. I noticed it’s only on the header page, goes away when onto the different topics. But wow, 192,743 members, and active members 4,859. There are stretches I have to sometimes go months without being on-line, although I still try to read here on a regular basis. How long of an absence does it take to be taken off of active member? Just curious, and thanks to whoever put this feature on here. Also, any numbers for banned members? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/2 "2017-10-24T17:46:37Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > How long of an absence does it take to be taken off of active member? That’s a good question - there’s an administration setting that allows this value to be set. Would anyMod be willing to look and report back? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/3 "2017-10-24T17:49:40Z")
“Active members” represents the number of members who have logged in within the past 60 days. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/4 "2017-10-24T17:59:32Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Also, any numbers for banned members? There are a little over 38,400 banned usernames. Of course, the vast majority of those are spammers, serial socks, and trolls. The number of posters banned for rules violations such as insults and other repeated misbehavior is very small compared to the number of posters, maybe 10-20 a year. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/5 "2017-10-24T18:04:05Z")
Oh, what’s going on What’s going on Yeah, what’s going on Ah, what’s going on ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/6 "2017-10-24T18:14:37Z")
Thx, Colibri, that covers that, and all I needed to know. Makes sense on the banned member numbers, glad it’s mostly the socks, trollers, spam and such. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/7 "2017-10-24T18:28:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are a little over 38,400 banned usernames. Of course, the vast majority of those are spammers, serial socks, and trolls. > > The number of posters banned for rules violations such as insults and other repeated misbehavior is very small compared to the number of posters, maybe 10-20 a year. It would be interesting to know what proportion of posts have been made by banned users ITD. I’ve happened on old threads (on contentious subjects, natch) where a majority of the posts are by banned users. Perhaps that makes a disproportionate impact. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/8 "2017-10-24T18:44:41Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > It would be interesting to know what proportion of posts have been made by banned users ITD. I’ve happened on old threads (on contentious subjects, natch) where a majority of the posts are by banned users. Perhaps that makes a disproportionate impact. Posters banned for rules violations, and socks that managed to go undetected for a time, are going to make up the vast majority of posts you see by posters with “Banned” under their username. Spammers rarely make more than a few posts (often none before we ban them), and we delete those. We also delete posts by socks and trolls unless there are so many that deleting them would cause undue disruption to threads. Some banned posters had tens of thousands of posts, so that may produce a disproportionate appearance. However, overall it’s not going to be a significant percentage of the 20 million posts we have. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/9 "2017-10-24T19:06:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Posters banned for rules violations, and socks that managed to go undetected for a time, are going to make up the vast majority of posts you see by posters with “Banned” under their username. Spammers rarely make more than a few posts (often none before we ban them), and we delete those. We also delete posts by socks and trolls unless there are so many that deleting them would cause undue disruption to threads. > > Some banned posters had tens of thousands of posts, so that may produce a disproportionate appearance. However, overall it’s not going to be a significant percentage of the 20 million posts we have. \*\*handy \*\* was rather prolific years ago ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/10 "2017-10-24T19:19:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Oh, what’s going on > What’s going on > Yeah, what’s going on > Ah, what’s going on And so I wake in the morning And I step outside And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream from the top of my lungs What’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/11 "2017-10-24T19:30:58Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > \*\*handy \*\* was rather prolific years ago The most prolific banned posters had several times more posts than **handy** when they were banned. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/12 "2017-10-24T19:32:43Z")
Yeah, he only got to 17,000 posts before he got kicked. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/13 "2017-10-24T19:45:56Z")
**Diogenes the Cynic** Posts: 58,797 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/14 "2017-10-24T20:01:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are a little over 38,400 banned usernames. Of course, the vast majority of those are spammers, serial socks, and trolls. How many of them were reported by\*\* Running Coach\*\*?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/15 "2017-10-24T20:19:25Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > **Diogenes the Cynic** Posts: 58,797 Still not the highest to be banned. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/16 "2017-10-24T20:20:38Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > How many of them were reported by\*\* Running Coach\*\*?🙂 In recent years, probably about 90% of them. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/17 "2017-10-24T20:54:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Still not the highest to be banned. Damn! I thought Diogenes the Cynic would hold that record. Okay, you know the next question. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/18 "2017-10-24T21:41:29Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Damn! I thought Diogenes the Cynic would hold that record. Okay, you know the next question. Is the answer “One. Two. Three. _CRUNCH_-Three.”? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/19 "2017-10-24T22:01:43Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is the answer “One. Two. Three. _CRUNCH_-Three.”? If we had a “like” button, I’d click it for this post. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746/20 "2017-10-24T22:15:03Z")
Maybe I would too, if I knew what y’all were getting at. I’m a little slow, going to have to think about it some more. Come on, Czar…somebody…A vowel…something… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on/799746.md?page=2)