979 new questions and 15866 comments

January 16, 2005 1:23 PM

"There have been 979 new questions and 15866 comments posted since your last visit." I'm pretty sure this is an error, I've only been gone for a few weeks.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket to Bugs at 1:23 PM (15 comments total)

979 questions / 28 days = 35 questions/day

I'm pretty sure that's par.
posted by BlueTrain at 1:38 PM on January 16, 2005

Well, there were 40 questions posted on Jan 14th. If we assume that's an average day, in 3 weeks (21 days) there would be 840 questions posted since your last visit. So it doesn't seem totally out of the question.

On preview: Yup.
posted by Bugbread at 1:40 PM on January 16, 2005

Volume, volume, volume!
posted by cortex at 1:42 PM on January 16, 2005

That's actually a feature of AskMe, not a bug.
posted by driveler at 3:37 PM on January 16, 2005

My stream of consciousness reaction was something along the lines of, "Holy shit, that's a lot.... [some mental arithmetic].. Holy shit, that's probably accurate."
posted by orange swan at 4:12 PM on January 16, 2005

Wait. You got to leave?
posted by ColdChef at 5:56 PM on January 16, 2005

"There have been 2598 new questions and 40680 comments posted since your last visit."

I never really liked AskMe, I guess.
posted by yhbc at 6:04 PM on January 16, 2005

Yep, he almost made it out ColdChef, but the gigantic orange ball chased him back in.
posted by NoMich at 6:35 PM on January 16, 2005

Maybe we should compile an "AskMe" monthly digest for these types of occasions.
posted by davidmsc at 12:23 AM on January 17, 2005

Like Reader's Digest, only a MetaDigest?
posted by orange swan at 5:03 AM on January 17, 2005

MetaDigestive, with a thin layer of chocolate on top.
posted by fvw at 8:07 AM on January 17, 2005

There have been 87 new questions and 1285 comments posted since your last visit

And I just took the weekend off.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:40 AM on January 17, 2005

there have been 12 new questions and 234 comments in the time it took me to respond to DrJohnEvans!!!!!!!
posted by j.p. Hung at 8:51 PM on January 17, 2005

i get zillions of new threads and questions when i log in , i'm here about every two weeks right enough.
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:35 AM on January 18, 2005

What others said about if you've been gone for a few weeks this is the right number.

I find the "holy moly" reaction and realisation of the pure volume metric quite interesting. I had an epiphany a few years ago where I realised the fact I spent an hour or two a day (at least) surfing meant that when I go on vacation for more than a couple days I can never catch up. Average 1.5 hours X 14 days= 21 hours of surfing to catch up on. Or almost a whole day + 1.5 hours for that day. The recent tsunami happened while I was away from computers and it seems less real somehow than say the Titan landing.

Anything that isn't internet code red important I'll probably never see if I'm away three weeks or more. Contrast and compare with say soap operas or sports leagues where you can stay away for weeks at a time and pick up what you missed in a couple days. When I first realised this it was hard to go away for two weeks but now I just say "water under the bridge" and don't worry about it.
posted by Mitheral at 11:45 AM on January 18, 2005