Comments on: The percentage of Mac users of MetaFilter

The percentage of Mac users of MetaFilter

Egg Shen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:30:48 -0800

Is the percentage of MetaFilter visitors using OS X or iOS higher, lower, or equivalent to the 9.5% of computer users in general?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:35:03 -0800

This number is going to be skewed by the fact that the moderators primarily [though not exclusively] use Macs, so when running the stats we'd have to try to find a way to somehow discount our participation.

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:47:52 -0800

What about those of us who access the site in multiple ways? Between my wife and I, we use iOS, OS X, Android, Windows and two flavors of Linux. Do we cancel ourselves out? :)

By: pb

pb — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:49:54 -0800

Here's the OS chart from Google Analytics for www. That's over the last 30 days. Looks like it's around 41% if you combine Mac and iOS. It's a little lower for Ask, around 37%.

By: griphus

griphus — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:53:54 -0800

We're also smarter and handsomer than computer users in general.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:57:40 -0800

pb, let's talk about something important. Where can I get some of that blackberry cobbler?

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:59:04 -0800

OmieWise: "Where can I get some of that blackberry cobbler?"

Seconded. It looks delicious.

By: pb

pb — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:00:25 -0800

heh, sometimes I want to leave foursquare tips for my house. "Get the cobbler during blackberry season!"

By: griphus

griphus — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:04:25 -0800

Hey so that recipes-in-MeTa moratorium can be stayed for the five minutes it'll take pb to give us the recipe.

By: pb

pb — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:07:22 -0800

Sorry, this cobbler was so good that I asked my wife about the recipe and she said she winged it. It was a one of a kind.

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:11:16 -0800

I must say I'm disappointed that you didn't bring enough for the whole site. ;)

By: Doleful Creature

Doleful Creature — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:19:23 -0800

Although I'm both an iOS and OS X user in my personal life, I'm a Windows user at work, and guess which platform gets more MeFi airtime? [don't tell my boss]

By: mkultra

mkultra — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:28:19 -0800

jessamyn: "This number is going to be skewed by the fact that the moderators primarily [though not exclusively] use Macs, so when running the stats we'd have to try to find a way to somehow discount our participation."

Really? Either MeFi traffic is much lower than I thought or you guys are hitting command-R a lot...

By: chavenet

chavenet — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:29:04 -0800

I look via BlackBerry sometimes. So I'm in the 1% for something, anyway. And Google Chrome, is it really so underused?!

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:30:16 -0800

> And Google Chrome, is it really so underused?!

That means Chrome OS, I think, not the cross-platform web browser of the same name.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:30:46 -0800

chavenet: "And Google Chrome, is it really so underused?!"

That's Chrome OS, not the browser. It's only (I think) on Chromebooks right now.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:31:59 -0800

> It's only (I think) on Chromebooks right now.

I have a VM of Chrome OS on my Mac! It's one of the more useless things in my house.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:34:04 -0800

Really?

Hitting command-r is pretty much my main job description and we have some pages that auto-refresh that might be a noticeable blip, but possibly not.

I was just surprised once, at a library job, where I realized that my specific desktop's footprint was a visible entity when running the library's website stats. Says more about the library website than my activity possibly. But if we were limiting to just logged in users I'd be curious if the mods' collective reloads could be seen.

By: Egg Shen

Egg Shen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:46:24 -0800

Hitting command-r is pretty much my main job description

Still, if that three-times-market-share percentage is correct, it must be safe to say that MeFi users are disproportionately likely to be Apple users.

By: restless_nomad

restless_nomad — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:48:02 -0800

That is an interesting question. I am probably the least Mac-y mod (my desktop is a PC and I only use the Air at work a couple times a month) but if we roll iOS in I'm probably up there a bunch.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:48:20 -0800

Is it possible to get an Analytics snapshot of after-hours browsing (in N. American timezones, sorry)? I would bet that percentage of Windows users shrinks when people use their personal Macs rather than company-issued Windows boxes.

By: pb

pb — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:51:46 -0800

If a mod is logged in and viewing the site as a mod we don't load Google Analytics. So these stats aren't skewed by mod use.

No, we don't have a great OS/time of day report ready to go.

By: Phredward

Phredward — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:01:40 -0800

Note also, that the OS piechart is by visit and not pageview. So, for instance, although a mod may hit refresh more on a thread than the average user, most of those views will count as 1 visit. Or would if ganalytics loaded for them.

By: wildcrdj

wildcrdj — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:16:20 -0800

And of course some people contribute in many categories in a single day.

Most days I would have at least 1 visit each from Windows, Linux, Android, and ChromeOS.

By: rocket88

rocket88 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:17:06 -0800

Huh...I guess I'm the only one using Commodore 64 BASIC V2.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:24:18 -0800

There's a mistake with that pie chart – I think they forgot to put in the category for people browsing Mefi from Lisp machines.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:33:08 -0800

And of course some people contribute in many categories in a single day.

Same here: Ubuntu at work, Windows at home and Android wherever. IT keeps threatening me with a Mac Mini but so far I've successfully resisted.

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:35:27 -0800

There's a mistake with that pie chart – I think they forgot to put in the category for people browsing Mefi from Lisp machines.

That's part of the same conspiracy that makes everyone write software in C or Java or Python even though Lisp is obviously better.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:37:51 -0800

It also doesn't include everyone clever enough to block google analytics.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:39:37 -0800

Google keeps a separate set of stats just for those people.

By: urbanwhaleshark

urbanwhaleshark — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:46:13 -0800

Where can I get some of that blackberry cobbler?

forget it jake it's pie-natown

By: running order squabble fest

running order squabble fest — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:56:49 -0800

I sense a challenge...in which spirit, I just logged into MetaFilter on MeeGo.

For laptops.

By: Tell Me No Lies

Tell Me No Lies — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:58:43 -0800

Lisp is obviously better.



To:  owner@business.com

From: blackhat@hacker.com

Subject: control of your source code



Dear owner,



We have gained full access to your source code and will be selling it to the highest bidder.  This message is to give you the opportunity to purchase it before it reaches the open market.  The price is $50,000.



In order to demonstrate that we do have your source code, we've included the last

page of your most proprietary file below.



Black Hat



----------------------

proprietary.lisp

2122 lines (40 pages)

Contents:

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By: Zed

Zed — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:17:28 -0800

My new band name: The Mods' Collective Reloads.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:27:16 -0800

That's a really great band name (!), but you're a bit limited in what kinds of music you can play.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:35:22 -0800

The Mods' Collected Reloads will be the name of the best of.

By: charmcityblues

charmcityblues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:35:48 -0800

A good portion of visitors to my new blog have come through the link in my profile. It was funny to see the percentages of Chrome and esoteric browsers shoot up when I added the link.

Nerds.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:38:41 -0800

...we'd have to try to find a way to somehow discount our participation.

Last I checked you guys were users too!

I was just surprised once, at a library job, where I realized that my specific desktop's footprint was a visible entity when running the library's website stats.

Yeah, when I first started blogging I thought my ISP was popular since nearly all my traffic came from there! Then I learned how to exclude sites from my logs, then I got enough popularity that my own activity is a small blip.

I can't image a handful of full time people could skew results too much even if included.

By: a humble nudibranch

a humble nudibranch — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:49:04 -0800

I keep two Macs logged in 24/7. I am often lurking unlogged in on yet a third Mac.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:05:01 -0800

Pfft. Amateur!

By: zippy

zippy — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:48:40 -0800

There's a mistake with that pie chart – I think they forgot to put in the category for people browsing Mefi from Lisp machines.

NCSA Mosaic/1.0 (setq compatiblep 'barely)(setq cruft (list 'DynamicWindows 'Genera8.1 'symbolics3600))

By: Slap*Happy

Slap*Happy — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:18:20 -0800

Mac at work... and mefi and .se are pretty much the only stuff unblocked... with Mac and iOS at home... and Android everywhere in between. My next tablet may well be Android as well... Jelly Bean is really fucking impressive on my phone, more than I thought it would be. I bought the Nexus phone as a budget measure, but it stands up quite well against Apple's handheld gear.

By: fraula

fraula — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 17:07:01 -0800

Avast ye nillies, I be a secret navigator navigatin' yer website without'n you's seein' me, haha!

*flies the BSD flag*