Metafilter Statistics through November 2004 have been updated

December 2, 2004 7:45 PM

Metafilter Statistics through November 2004 have been updated! Tons of interesting new activity...
posted by waxpancake to MetaFilter-Related at 7:45 PM (26 comments total)

Well, the biggest news is that new user signups added nearly 2000 new users to our ranks in November. (And we've already had 76 signups in the first two days of December.)

But what kind of impact has this had on thread and comment activity? There was a 28% increase in comment activity from October to November, but strangely, only a small increase in front-page post activity.

So how much of that new activity can be attributed to the Great User Flood of November 18? Well, not all of it. If you look at the new Top 20 Charts, you'll see that three election-related threads broke the top 10, and November 2, 2004 was the 4th busiest day of Metafilter's history.

If you look at thread/comment activity for November, it's not a drastic change, but a gradual one. So, congratulations to all you newbies for keeping your cool once you made it past the bouncer.

If you have questions about these stats, let me know.
posted by waxpancake at 7:46 PM on December 2, 2004

but strangely, only a small increase in front-page post activity.

not so strange when consider that the new users just got posting abilities on or around Nov 25th. That would also explain the commenting increase.
posted by puke & cry at 8:00 PM on December 2, 2004

One thing to note is that the number of users isn't necessarily equal to the number of living and breathing people on the site. Today, for instance, maybe fifty people started the new user process, but only about 15 completed it. A basic look at user numbers would count them all though.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:04 PM on December 2, 2004

I for one welcome our new underlords...

oh wait, I already did that.

Anyway, the new blood is making Sundays on MeFi more interesting. (They actually post on Sundays)
posted by kamylyon at 8:39 PM on December 2, 2004

we are quite chatty on mondays and tuesdays.
posted by whatnot at 8:46 PM on December 2, 2004

Why wouldn't old members post on Sundays? Wait, I'm so confused. Newbie alert right here. :( :(

:( :( :(
posted by Kleptophoria! at 8:51 PM on December 2, 2004

I love stats. I very much like this information.
posted by Kilovolt at 8:52 PM on December 2, 2004

Why wouldn't old members post on Sundays?

The Lord declared Sundays to be a day of rest.
posted by euphorb at 9:04 PM on December 2, 2004

A reason that I for one haven't posted a FPP is that I am not sure how to make a link. Is it an HTML thing? I have read through the metafilter wiki and I am still at a loss on how to make a link. It isn't fun to be a noobie.
posted by Kilovolt at 9:04 PM on December 2, 2004

the post page has a pretty good run-down on how for your post, including post title and URL. As for posting a link in the Description section, just highlight the text, press the link button, and enter the link URL in the pop-up box.
posted by puke & cry at 9:09 PM on December 2, 2004

how to form your post
posted by bob sarabia at 9:09 PM on December 2, 2004

Data point: one of these ':(' makes me cringe. Five of them makes me want to go medieval on your ass. [/cranky oldbie]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:58 PM on December 2, 2004

Shut up, bosco.
posted by The God Complex at 11:07 PM on December 2, 2004

*cries*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:25 PM on December 2, 2004

*cries*

A man who will cry when attacked... now that is mother fucking punk, my friends. You can't throw it back in the face of society any more devastatingly than to go against the gender roles you've been ascribed.

Bravo. Just bravo.
posted by The God Complex at 3:10 AM on December 3, 2004

Next up on Newbies vs. Oldbies, it's:

:( -- the challenger
vs.
. -- the champion
posted by grouse at 3:13 AM on December 3, 2004

I've always loved waxpancake's mefi stats, and it's nice to know that I'm a part of them now. It is too bad that it's not entirely accurate because of all the people who bail halfway through the process. Based on mathowie's rough estimate, it looks like the 1973 new users would result in roughly 592 paid-up new users. (My gut says that it's probably larger, though. The people who signed up day-one or day-two are probably more likely to have finished the process, and may be more likely to post and comment on a regular basis.)

But that isn't such a huge number compared to 2001's influx.
posted by Plutor at 4:21 AM on December 3, 2004

Yeah, it's smaller than I thought it was. It's still a bunch of people relative to what MeFi's been accustomed to for a long time now.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:32 AM on December 3, 2004

Why wouldn't old members post on Sundays?

I think Metafilter is basically people killing time at work. There aren't that many posts on Sundays because no one is at work and bored then.
posted by driveler at 5:36 AM on December 3, 2004

There aren't many posts on sundays because everyone is out enjoying their local parks, playing with their kids, and being an active member in their neighborhood. That, or the not being bored at work thing.
posted by Arch Stanton at 6:37 AM on December 3, 2004

Metafilter: Yeah, it's smaller than I thought it was.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:59 AM on December 3, 2004

I think Metafilter is basically people killing time at work. There aren't that many posts on Sundays because no one is at work and bored then.


*DING DING DING*
we have a winner folks. Our outside connection was down all morning yesterday and productivity went through the roof. If being addicted to the internet is like being addicted to drugs then, Mefi=Crack
posted by Numenorian at 7:00 AM on December 3, 2004

Our outside connection was down all morning yesterday and productivity went through the roof.

When the outside connection goes down here, everyone goes home or bowling. We're not going to let the PHBs realize that the Internet is Bad for Business.
posted by Plutor at 7:15 AM on December 3, 2004

A basic look at user numbers would count them all though

why do people who don't complete registration have user numbers? more poor design.
posted by quonsar at 10:01 AM on December 3, 2004

There's always been dead user numbers interspersed with the live ones, although there are a lot more now. Are you sure waxpancakes stats don't filter them out?
posted by timeistight at 10:14 AM on December 3, 2004

why do people who don't complete registration have user numbers? more poor design.

quonsar, the user numbers are obviously linked to a database id column, and not designed to be a usability feature. By their very nature, id columns must provide a unique number to every single row in the database, whether or not the user is an active user of the site. This is not "poor design", but standard web development pratice. To behave any differently would require an extra column, a considerable amount of fiddly back-end changes, and almost certainly a hit to performance of the site.

I'm sure most of us would rather Matt spend his efforts fixing more pressing design issues such as the site layout and performance than making the user numbers more meaningful.
posted by bruceyeah at 9:10 PM on December 4, 2004