User Statistics

November 29, 2004 7:50 PM

Speaking of User Numbers, what happened to the population count on the front page? How are we supposed to know where we stand if we don't know how many others are shoehorned into this tiny webspace?
jus' kiddin' 'round, matt 'owie.
posted by wendell to bugs at 7:50 PM (9 comments total)

The Y20K bug?
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:02 PM on November 29, 2004

I was just about to post about this. I'm glad I didn't. But it's happening to me as well.

All I see are "members." I don't know if that's supposed to be artsy, clever or somehow promote how masculine MetaFilter has become, but not being able to see a number is jarring.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 8:11 PM on November 29, 2004

Heh heh heh. Colloquial Collision said "members".
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:12 PM on November 29, 2004

I wouldn't cry if this one withered on the vine. It's nice in theory but it doesn't tell you too much. Just the number of accounts ever created. It doesn't reflect the number still active or the number ever used, or anything meaningful. Nice to have, sure, but if it's a pain in your side, mathowie, let it die.
posted by scarabic at 8:20 PM on November 29, 2004

i suspect angry modem.
posted by quonsar at 8:20 PM on November 29, 2004

Probably it's because of the questionable decision to use base-27 for integer encoding with a length of only three digits. It overflowed at 19683. That's my guess.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:32 PM on November 29, 2004

Matt just doesn't want us to know how much cash he's raking in.
posted by Space Coyote at 8:44 PM on November 29, 2004

Probably it's because of the questionable decision to use base-27 for integer encoding with a length of only three digits. It overflowed at 19683. That's my guess.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:32 PM PST on November 29

I enjoyed reading this and laughing very much. Thank you.
posted by orange clock at 9:11 PM on November 29, 2004

Ah, the server was getting crunched right around noon and apparently died while trying to save the number to a flat file. Fixed now.

BTW, the member count includes anyone that signs up an account, whether they pay for it or not. So it may look like 200 signed up today but actually about 1/4 became full members.
posted by mathowie at 9:57 PM on November 29, 2004