Another most users online record!

Hanno Spoelstra · #1 11-08-20, 07:46

The lock-down situation is certainly leading to an increase in guests and new users.

If you have a look on http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/online.php, you will notice however that a lot of guests are search bots from google and other internet companies which are searching for content.

The other metrics may be more interesting to see:

MLU FORUM Statistics
Threads: 28,459, Posts: 260,710, Members: 4,473, Active Members: 840

So about 19% of our members are active. Not sure how this compares to other forums?

Howard · #2 20-08-20, 13:59

Which brings me to a question I've been meaning to ask for some time.
Has general traffic slowed down over the last couple of years?
Has the number of "active members" slowed down?
Reason I ask, I know that I don't log on as near as often as before. About 8 years ago I took on an new job which is very demanding of my time. Add to that he ease and simplicity of phone-based apps, and I don't even start my computer all that often.
H
PS Hanno, when my website was up, I was able to distinguish Bots and Crawlers from real visits. May be hidden somewhere in the stats for this site?

Hanno Spoelstra · #3 20-08-20, 16:31

Hello Howard,

Good to hear from you. Just ran some statistics:

The last 365 days the User Activity Statistics ranged from 177 (low) to 192 (high) active users per day. Users are not Bots and Crawlers visiting as guests.

If I compare this with the same August to August period for some earlier years, the trend is as follows:

2014-2015: 127 (low) to 210 (high)
2010-2011: 1 (low) to 243 (high)
2005-2006: 1 (low) to 4 (high)

In mid-2011 there was a spike, going from daily users in the 10's to the 100's and it has been pretty stable since. Members come and go, every now and then I clean up the database, e.g. deleting members who have not been active for many years and do not respond to emails asking them to revisit the forum.

Many people's lives have gotten more demanding I think, and their spare time is more and more spread out over the various forums and "social media".

Not sure what the long term future of this Forum is? Will everybody migrate to facebook, instagram, w.h.y.? Being fed with "info" by facebook is of course much easier than going out and find the info you are looking for yourself. I migrated my Sherman Register mailing list to another provider (https://groups.io/g/G104) at considerable personal expense since users were asking for it, voching they would never surrender to big brother social media. But interaction on there is very, very low....

Anyway, MLU is still my first internet stop of the day.

Wayne Hingley · #4 20-08-20, 17:20

As far as Facebook and perhaps the other "social media" type sites go, yes there are groups with some interesting content, but there is no organization to the content and it is essentially un-searchable. There are some legitimate knowledgeable contributors, but there is a large number who have no idea what they are talking about (but like to sound in on every subject with their misinformed beliefs), and you also have a lot of pure trash posts that are not relevant or contributing to anything. Facebook is a nice place to go to look at photos, but if you read too much of the content your head will spin. However as mentioned, there are some knowledgeable people in some of those groups... you just need to learn who they are.

For me there is no substitute for the high quality information and guidance one can find on MLU, and from trustworthy sources who usually have data/evidence to back things up.

I hope MLU continues to maintain its role in this hobby well into the future. Thank you Hanno for your efforts in keeping things running smoothly. I realize it has been a while since I have contributed to the forum, so I will be sending some funds today to help keep the lights on. Thanks!

Hanno Spoelstra · #5 21-08-20, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Hingley

As far as Facebook and perhaps the other "social media" type sites go, yes there are groups with some interesting content, but there is no organization to the content and it is essentially un-searchable. There are some legitimate knowledgeable contributors, but there is a large number who have no idea what they are talking about (but like to sound in on every subject with their misinformed beliefs), and you also have a lot of pure trash posts that are not relevant or contributing to anything. Facebook is a nice place to go to look at photos, but if you read too much of the content your head will spin. However as mentioned, there are some knowledgeable people in some of those groups... you just need to learn who they are.

For me there is no substitute for the high quality information and guidance one can find on MLU, and from trustworthy sources who usually have data/evidence to back things up.

I hope MLU continues to maintain its role in this hobby well into the future. Thank you Hanno for your efforts in keeping things running smoothly. I realize it has been a while since I have contributed to the forum, so I will be sending some funds today to help keep the lights on. Thanks!

Hello Wayne, thanks for your insights and comments.

Indeed FB is nice for looking at and "liking" photos and if you're lucky their alogorithms put the sort of content you're interested in on your timeline. I made group on FB as a placeholder for MLU Forum as someone tried to take a spin with our good name. When someone comes up with a "new" topic I often link to the two decades of quality content generated by the members here. I could not do without this forum and I am happy to hear there is no substitute for you either.

Thanks a lot for your donation to support Maple leaf Up Forum!

m606paz · #6 21-08-20, 15:43

Since FB came to the phones, the forums began to die.
But they are still the best database.
Thanks Hanno for the effort in keeping this forum running.
Abrazo a la distancia!

Hanno Spoelstra · #7 06-02-22, 11:40

Update on MLU FORUM Statistics:

Quote:

Most users ever online was 7,133, 16-06-21 at 10:12.

MLU FORUM Statistics:
Threads: 30,062, Posts: 273,914, Members: 4,990, Active Members: 759

Ryan · #8 30-09-20, 02:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Hingley

As far as Facebook and perhaps the other "social media" type sites go, yes there are groups with some interesting content, but there is no organization to the content and it is essentially un-searchable. There are some legitimate knowledgeable contributors, but there is a large number who have no idea what they are talking about (but like to sound in on every subject with their misinformed beliefs), and you also have a lot of pure trash posts that are not relevant or contributing to anything. Facebook is a nice place to go to look at photos, but if you read too much of the content your head will spin. However as mentioned, there are some knowledgeable people in some of those groups... you just need to learn who they are.

For me there is no substitute for the high quality information and guidance one can find on MLU, and from trustworthy sources who usually have data/evidence to back things up.

I hope MLU continues to maintain its role in this hobby well into the future. Thank you Hanno for your efforts in keeping things running smoothly. I realize it has been a while since I have contributed to the forum, so I will be sending some funds today to help keep the lights on. Thanks!

I'd agree with the bulk of that. I have only come across a few pages on Facebook that are very good. Apps make picture searching easy. Even key word searching easy, as long as the page users put the effort into describing what they upload. But that is rare.
I still pop into MLU from time to time, but not nearly enough. And that's a reflection in changes in my life. I think there is a certain 'social media' fatigue that can grow and that sees me return to various forums at times. MLU is more relaxed. More adult.
My only gripe with MLU, and that predates social media, is the enforced gap between searches.