Can you imagine about half the members here didn't post even once?

[Richard3]

I was taking a look on the members list, and I saw that almost half the members on this forum didn't post one time?  That means...

- 1944 members didn't write a post, 263 members wrote only one post, and 162 more wrote two posts, for a total of 2369 members in the Parking Lot.
- 650 members are on the Dirt Road, meaning they wrote between 3 and 24 posts.
- 185 members are on the Frontage Road (25-49 posts).
- 180 members are on the Arterial (50-99 posts).
- 202 members are on the County Road (100-249 posts).
- 137 members are on the State Route (250-499 posts).

The 316 last members are the most important, because they wrote 500 posts and more.  They are on the leading ways called US Highway (500-999 posts), Expressway (1000-1499), Turnpike (1500-2999), Freeway (3000-4999), Interstate (5000-9999), and, for about a dozen of members, the ones who "Likes The Forum Way, Way Too Much" (10000+ posts). Thanks to all of you.

I want to thank especially the moderators and admins, who hold everything together since the beginning.

So, we have a great forum, here!  The thing I want to tell to who don't post is... go ahead! Let us know about you! We all started somewhere, so come on! Don't be shy!

[formulanone]

The numbers are very typical for Internet forums.

Many folks ask a question, get their answer, and move on. Some just lurk and rarely post. Some members join multiple times — with varying degrees of intent — others are spammers or bots which would understandably have no (valid) posts. Some have a good reason to join, even if they don't post (search feature, for example). Some just never post and forget all about it.

It's quite typical that 95% of the posts will come from those with the highest number of posts, which is usually just 5% of the total forum membership.

[webny99]

I suspect many of those 1944 members who have never posted registered because they were curious about Fictional Highways, Travel, or other boards that aren't visible to non-members.

[Max Rockatansky]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

[hotdogPi]

Zipf's Law states that e.g. rank #50 will have approximately twice as many posts as rank #100, and it follows a 1/x distribution in general. It seems to be valid on this forum if you look outside the top 20.

[formulanone]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

I think it's more about the curious user structure of a forum rather than "look at my post count".

[hotdogPi]

I don't see why talking about forum statistics is a problem. It's like talking about census results in real life.

[Max Rockatansky]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

I think it's more about the curious user structure of a forum rather than "look at my post count".

There was a thread that popped up a couple days before this one that was about post counts and got modded out.  It's hard not to have it at least pop into mind after seeing that. 

[hbelkins]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

I think it's more about the curious user structure of a forum rather than "look at my post count".

There was a thread that popped up a couple days before this one that was about post counts and got modded out.  It's hard not to have it at least pop into mind after seeing that.

The whole post count thing seems to be a bit of a penis measurement contest among a few people who are obsessed with who posts and how much they post.

As for non-participatory forum members, my wife registered here a few years ago, more or less out of curiosity to see what we talked about. I'm not sure that she ever posted, and truth be told, she's probably forgotten that she's a member and most likely can't recall her login credentials.

[kphoger]

can't recall her login credentials.

Heck, you just described Jake Bear!

[tq-07fan]

As a newbie I honestly have to say I have no idea how some of the people are on here as much as they are, not that there's anything wrong with that. Anyways I lurked and found this forum several times before I joined. I registered in August, posted several things then once again took a break because I was spending way too much time here, plus I had some other things that took up much of my free time. Since this year started though I look at this forum every day but with so much stuff I still have not looked at everything. I have signed up to a few other forums where I didn't feel right and never posted and am not even sure if I still am registered, if I could remember what they were. This forum is pretty accepting, I like this forum.

I would say something like this thread Things Every Roadgeek Should Know being pinned somehow for people who are new to this would be helpful. In particular the stuff posted by formulanone at reply 22.

Jim

[Roadgeekteen]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

It's just interesting to look at. I like numbers and lists in general. I wish the forum still had the forum statistics tab. I don't really care about my post count anymore.

[kphoger]

I have no idea how some of the people are on here as much as they are

Easy:  we get less done at work than we otherwise might. [/true]

[3467]

I actually had to check. I didn't realize I had posted so much. There were some years I know I didn't post much. Some one even had me on a list of have not heard from in a while.
I found a new resource to find major road projects. Is the EPA EIS database . You can pick FHWA and the state. The most recent have the full pdf.
FHWA used to have one but discontinued it.
They do have studies back to the ninities though not digitized yet.

[3467]

Oh I have time. My wife and I are mostly retired and are in Covid lockdown.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have no idea how some of the people are on here as much as they are

Easy:  we get less done at work than we otherwise might. [/true]

Speaking for myself I'm bored at work about 90% of the time which is when I mostly am on here.  I don't know how I did what I do now for so long when things like Smart Phones weren't around.  My wife probably appreciates that I'm on this forum at work more than I am at home.

[SectorZ]

Why are people so fascinated with user statistics and post counts?  This comes up about once a year in a series of thread and it seems so odd to me.

It's just interesting to look at. I like numbers and lists in general. I wish the forum still had the forum statistics tab. I don't really care about my post count anymore.

Same here. I am a proud useless stats nerd.

[webny99]

I have no idea how some of the people are on here as much as they are

Easy:  we get less done at work than we otherwise might. [/true]

Yeah, same here. I'll be the first to admit that I spend too much time on here. It's not because I'm bored... it's just because this is one of the many tabs I have open, and once I've posted something, I can't help but check back every so often.

I am a proud useless stats nerd.

+1

[tolbs17]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

[Max Rockatansky]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

Yet Jake is very active in the road world still, there is a lot more out there than just AAroads. 

[Scott5114]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

Yet Jake is very active in the road world still, there is a lot more out there than just AAroads. 

He's too busy running his replica-shield empire out in the desert to bother with the likes of us

[Roadgeekteen]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

He was just recently passed for user with the most posts by Kphoger.

[Max Rockatansky]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

Yet Jake is very active in the road world still, there is a lot more out there than just AAroads. 

He's too busy running his replica-shield empire out in the desert to bother with the likes of us

Yes, I've purchased some customs myself from him this past year.  I was kind of surprised to see that CA 25 ended up in his regular product line up after I ordered one custom from him.

[hbelkins]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

Yet Jake is very active in the road world still, there is a lot more out there than just AAroads. 

He's too busy running his replica-shield empire out in the desert to bother with the likes of us

Thought he moved to New England...

[Max Rockatansky]

Damn. This thread was kinda similar to asking mine.

Like agentsteel53 hasnt posted in years

Yet Jake is very active in the road world still, there is a lot more out there than just AAroads. 

He's too busy running his replica-shield empire out in the desert to bother with the likes of us

Thought he moved to New England...

He did.