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Old 25th Feb 2012, 5:53 pm   #1
Robert Darwent
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Default Active Members

I've just been looking at the forum statistics shown at the bottom of the index page.

Currently is says the following about the number of forum members;

Members: 23,724, Active Members: 1,911

So, how is an 'active' member defined for purposes of being included in the right-hand total? Presumably visiting the site logged-in, say once per week for example, means you're classed as an active member. But what is the actual frequency of visit used for the 'active' counter?

I find the official figure of over 21,000 inactive members to be quite a lot higher than I would have imagined.

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Old 25th Feb 2012, 7:58 pm   #2
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Default Re: Active Members

Hi.
Good question! Is an active member one that occasionally logs in or one that actually contributes to the forum with posts etc?
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Old 25th Feb 2012, 9:35 pm   #3
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Default Re: Active Members

Very interesting thoughts, may be not been updated for a while?

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Old 25th Feb 2012, 9:45 pm   #4
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Default Re: Active Members

As far as I know, whether or not someone is an 'Active Member' is determined by a cut-off point which can be set by the administrator. I don't know if it goes by number of log-ons or number of posts or a combination of both.

It's a question for Paul Stenning to answer as it's one aspect of the forums, or rather the software, which the moderators don't have any involvement with.
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Old 25th Feb 2012, 10:58 pm   #5
Robert Darwent
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Default Re: Active Members

Quote:
Originally Posted by murphyv310 View Post
Is an active member one that occasionally logs in or one that actually contributes to the forum with posts etc?
I hadn't considered that distinction earlier Trevor, but thinking about it someone who actually takes part and posts to the forum is the better definition of an 'active' member.

It would also explain why the number of inactive members is as high as it is. Obviously a much smaller proportion of members actually post compared to just logging in and 'lurking' on the sidelines.

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Old 26th Feb 2012, 1:16 am   #6
Darren-UK
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On the matter of the total of 23000+ members, it's something of a mystery which we're looking into. The actual, total, membership currently stands at something over 8000.
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 2:51 am   #7
Robert Darwent
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darren-UK View Post
The actual, total, membership currently stands at something over 8000.
That figure sounds a good deal more reasonable, and probably a more realistic, total Darren.

Noting that well over 21,000 members were classed as inactive is what prompted me to ask my initial question about how an active member was defined. The inactive figure just didn't seem possible.

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Old 26th Feb 2012, 2:10 pm   #8
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Default Re: Active Members

Active members are those who have visited within the last 60 days (only logged in, don't need to have posted).

Current membership figures are:

Administrators - 1
Moderators - 8
Registered Users (signed up but never posted) - 12,446
Registered Users (1+ Posts) - 4,541
Registered Users (5+ Posts) - 1,341
Registered Users (10+ Posts) - 1,726
Users Awaiting Email Confirmation (never completed signing up) - 762
Moderated Users (users whose posts are checked before they appear) - 44
Banned Users (most will be due to invalid location when registering) - 2,794
Rest in Peace - 7
Retired Users (people who have asked to leave) - 61
System - 2

We could probably get rid of many of the 12,000+ people who have never posted (say those who registered over 6 months ago).
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 2:37 pm   #9
Paul Stenning
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OK, after a bit of a clearout:

Registered Users (signed up but never posted) - 4,456 (removed those who haven't been here for over a year)
Users Awaiting Email Confirmation - 18 (removed those over 30 days old)
Banned Users - 206 (removed those inactive for over 90 days and with no posts)

So the status is now "Members: 12,411, Active Members: 1,892". Almost half the previous total members!
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 3:55 pm   #10
Station X
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Default Re: Active Members

If you click on the "Community" drop down menu at the the top of the page you can see a list of members who have posted at some time. At this moment the list contains 8115 names.

The figure at the bottom of the index page includes members who have never posted. It is likely that many of them signed up so that they could see the images in posts. This is no longer necessary.

As Paul said, most banned members are known spammers or members who gave an invalid location such as UK or Toyland when registering. These members are always invited to give a valid location and if they do so they are unbanned.
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 4:24 pm   #11
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Default Re: Active Members

The number of new members giving invalid/false/idiotic locations has dropped significantly since the set-up was changed to allow non members to view attachments.

We also now have a rather efficient system for catching spammers before they're able to register, although the odd few still get through (one reason why new members initial posts are moderated). Previously we were having to deal with, on average, twenty or so spammers per week which adds up to around 1000 per year. Statistically that's approaching 10000 spammers since the forum began a decade or so ago. That total will have been included in the huge membership total which Paul has now pruned.

The above isn't really accurate though because there's been clearouts of inactive members previously, meaning the earlier total of 24000+ would've been higher had it not been for the previous clearouts.

Another thing which helps to falsely bump up the figures is new members who get banned for invalid location so decide to create a duplicate account. Others do not receive, or choose to ignore/delete, the activation email so create a duplicate account. At one time such people creating duplicate accounts were banned but more recently we've adopted a policy of simply removing them.

All the little changes outlined herein should in future help close the gap between total membership and active membership.
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 4:36 pm   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darren-UK View Post
Previously we were having to deal with, on average, twenty or so spammers per week...
I think that's a low estimate, I would have said nearer 50 per week sometimes! It's now only one or two per week.
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Old 26th Feb 2012, 5:01 pm   #13
Robert Darwent
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Default Re: Active Members

Thanks for that Paul, Graham and Darren. It's still quite surprising that over 12,000 registrations were basically 'dead-wood' and needed removing though.

I also notice that the total of members who have made 10+ posts is close to the active total on the index page. So the definition of counting those who have logged in during the past 60 days seems to be quite accurate a guide, as obviously the 10+ posters form the core membership of the forum.

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Old 26th Feb 2012, 8:15 pm   #14
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This site is very well managed. I thank Paul, and all moderators responsible for this situation. The very fact that you are prepared to discuss statistics and then act on what you find, speaks volumes. Well done, chaps!

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Old 26th Feb 2012, 10:48 pm   #15
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Very interesting replies.
Thanks to Paul and the team as always.
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