January 2018 Made History

[webny99]

I've compiled the following information for my own pleasure (of course ) but also because I thought others may find it (at least mildly) interesting. I know there are some users here that genuinely do not care about forum statistics:

Who cares about forum statistics?

Who gives a shit?

Nobody cares.

With that said, I don't care if you don't care — you have every right to not care. So now that we've established that, there is no need for you to post derogatory comments and other schlock in this thread. Just like any other thread — if you don't find it interesting or significant, don't waste your time.
Moving forward:

Average Posts Per Day
Overall Average — 192.86
2009 — 144.53
2010 — 103.07
2011 — 113.23
2012 — 179.10
2013 — 203.70
2014 — 226.20
2015 — 234.49
2016 — 215.34
2017 — 254.70
2018 (to date) — 350.16

2018 — Average Posts per Day
Monday — 343.50
Tuesday — 431.67
Wednesday — 386.17
Thursday — 410.67
Friday — 362.83
Saturday — 271.50
Sunday — 246.33



Top Ten Months by Total Topics
1 May 2014 — 288 topics
2 Aug 2014 — 285 topics
3 July 2012 — 278 topics
4 July 2014 — 277 topics
5 Feb 2015 — 271 topics
6 Mar 2013 — 267 topics
7 Jan 2018 — 266 topics
8 June 2014 — 259 topics
9 May 2017 — 258 topics
10 Sept 2013 — 254 topics

Top Ten Days by Total Topics
1 2018-01-13 — 24 topics
2 2014-06-20 — 21 topics
3 2018-01-16 — 20 topics
4 2015-02-24 — 20 topics
5 2015-11-15 — 20 topics
6 2013-10-23 — 20 topics
7 2017-10-31 — 19 topics
8 2012-07-11 — 19 topics
9 2017-04-26 — 18 topics
10 2014-06-10 — 18 topics

Top Ten Months by Total Posts
1 Jan 2018 — 11432 posts
2 Oct 2017 — 9429 posts
3 May 2017 — 9254 posts
4 Dec 2017 — 9051 posts
5 Feb 2015 — 8499 posts
6 Aug 2016 — 8334 posts
7 Aug 2017 — 8195 posts
8 July 2016 — 8169 posts
9 July 2017 — 8083 posts
10 June 2015 — 7963 posts

Top Ten Days by Total Posts
1 2018-01-17 — 516 posts
2 2018-01-16 — 511 posts
3 2017-10-31 — 506 posts
4 2017-10-24 — 486 posts
5 2018-01-18 — 477 posts
6 2018-01-04 — 474 posts
7 2018-01-31 — 468 posts
8 2018-01-23 — 458 posts
9 2018-01-02 — 453 posts
10 2018-01-12 — 450 posts

Needless to say, January 2018 owns the top result in three of those four categories. Other months have had more topics started, but last month still made it into the top ten. Interestingly, last month was the first month ever that kphoger and myself were simultaneously very active. We both tend to be highly active and then take several months vacation. So, take that for whatever it's worth
Unlike my failed October thread, this time I've provided solid numbers which speak for themselves. Hope you enjoyed!

[Interstate 69 Fan]

Wrong title.

[Max Rockatansky]

How is this history?  What's up with all this statiscal stuff lately?

[ET21]

NE2 never cares 

[adventurernumber1]

This is a very impressive and interesting set of statistical data that you have provided. Thank you for all the effort you put in! 

I can see how January 2018 made history, as that month is sprinkled all throughout that data all over the place, often in the top spots. I have no idea why, but perhaps as we gain new members as time goes on, the forum is continually becoming more active.

I do respect your intense love for statistics, and I think this thread was an interesting display of statistics that must have taken a lot of hard work to create. I think it is nice just to have (even if most people don't care, there are a few who take interest in this kind of stuff), so thank you! 

[NE2]

Nobody cares.

Unrelated: I've noticed a downturn in the number of topics I'm interested in reading.

[21stCenturyRoad]

Quantity up, Quality WAY down

Also, Scott5114 has said that the forum statistics can be adjusted by the admin

[Roadgeekteen]

Nice research! Jan 2018 seems to see a resurgence for some categories.

[vdeane]

It certainly FEELS like the forum has shifted more to quantity than quality as of late, but then, I may just be imagining things.  These stats certainly explain why I haven't been able to make much progress on my Kindle books as of late; normally I turn over my lunch breaks from AARoads to my Kindle after Christmas and continue roughly through March or so (however long it takes me to finish my Amazon gift card).  This year, however, because of the huge volume of posts, I haven't done so, since I fear I won't have enough time in the evening to do an entire day's worth of forum checking.

[Roadgeekteen]

It certainly FEELS like the forum has shifted more to quantity than quality as of late, but then, I may just be imagining things.  These stats certainly explain why I haven't been able to make much progress on my Kindle books as of late; normally I turn over my lunch breaks from AARoads to my Kindle after Christmas and continue roughly through March or so (however long it takes me to finish my Amazon gift card).  This year, however, because of the huge volume of posts, I haven't done so, since I fear I won't have enough time in the evening to do an entire day's worth of forum checking.

Some threads are garbage, but most in my opinion have some value. But then again, I like Jake Paul's music, so my opinion is probably the opposite of everyone else's.

[vdeane]

I've found that many threads start out great and then decline.  This tends to have me keep reading the thread despite not caring about what it's become, just in case it evolves back into something I find interesting.

[Roadgeekteen]

I've found that many threads start out great and then decline.  This tends to have me keep reading the thread despite not caring about what it's become, just in case it evolves back into something I find interesting.

I sometimes find it funny when threads decline.

[1995hoo]

Nobody cares.

Unrelated: I've noticed a downturn in the number of topics I'm interested in reading.

[Forum members read the above and then urge webny99 to keep posting these types of threads... ]

[webny99]

^Honestly, I'm not sure who's further under the bus right now - me or NE2 

[Scott5114]

With that said, I don't care if you don't care — you have every right to not care. So now that we've established that, there is no need for you to post derogatory comments and other schlock in this thread.

The problem is that people caring about these statistics too much actively harms the forum.

Posting threads like these draws attention to these statistics. It makes them something to talk about. The natural inclination when one's attention is drawn to a statistic that their behavior is a part of is to influence it somehow. It is very easy to manipulate these statistics by making large number of posts. Problem is, if you make a large number of posts in a short amount of time, you're not spending enough time on actually writing good content. Any fool can sit at a keyboard and type garbage in the post box, but what's the point if it's not worth reading?

Caring about these statistics is tacky. It's tacky like declaring to your friend that in January 2018 you made the most money ever. Or telling your wife that in January 2018 she gained the most weight ever. Sure, they're statistics! But we don't talk about them. Same goes for our forum statistics–because we don't want people "improving" the statistics by making the forum worse!

My ideal forum experience is to go in a thread and find a page of twenty posts that are well-researched and insightful, and that I actually learn something from. Those are what we should encourage, because those are the kinds of posts that make reading the forum worth the time. I can come up with hastily concocted opinions or dumb jokes myself (I think my post history shows I have the dumb jokes thing down to a science).

It should be noted that not only can the administrators manipulate forum statistics, we also have access to a checkbox that causes the forum to stop recording them. We haven't talked about turning it off before, because there hasn't been a need, but if the fixation on meaningless statistics continues, it may be a discussion we need to have. I'm sure Alex has a backend that gives him access to the stats he needs to run the site.

I've found that many threads start out great and then decline.  This tends to have me keep reading the thread despite not caring about what it's become, just in case it evolves back into something I find interesting.

I sometimes find it funny when threads decline.

Sure, it's funny, but if it starts happening too much, the people posting interesting stuff start leaving the site, and you get nothing but garbage posts. And then the forum as a whole declines. Ha! Ha!

[hotdogPi]

^Honestly, I'm not sure who's further under the bus right now - me or NE2 

If NE2 gets banned (which did happen for one month), much will be lost; he is the most knowledgeable person on the forum. This is probably why he can post snark/politics/personal attacks/parody threads/etc. I would not want to see him gone due to his vast knowledge and research.

webny99 seems to be perfectly fine; everything that would have counted against him was in the past and is not ongoing anymore.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

With that said, I don't care if you don't care — you have every right to not care. So now that we've established that, there is no need for you to post derogatory comments and other schlock in this thread.

The problem is that people caring about these statistics too much actively harms the forum.

Posting threads like these draws attention to these statistics. It makes them something to talk about. The natural inclination when one's attention is drawn to a statistic that their behavior is a part of is to influence it somehow. It is very easy to manipulate these statistics by making large number of posts. Problem is, if you make a large number of posts in a short amount of time, you're not spending enough time on actually writing good content. Any fool can sit at a keyboard and type garbage in the post box, but what's the point if it's not worth reading?

Caring about these statistics is tacky. It's tacky like declaring to your friend that in January 2018 you made the most money ever. Or telling your wife that in January 2018 she gained the most weight ever. Sure, they're statistics! But we don't talk about them. Same goes for our forum statistics–because we don't want people "improving" the statistics by making the forum worse!

My ideal forum experience is to go in a thread and find a page of twenty posts that are well-researched and insightful, and that I actually learn something from. Those are what we should encourage, because those are the kinds of posts that make reading the forum worth the time. I can come up with hastily concocted opinions or dumb jokes myself (I think my post history shows I have the dumb jokes thing down to a science).

It should be noted that not only can the administrators manipulate forum statistics, we also have access to a checkbox that causes the forum to stop recording them. We haven't talked about turning it off before, because there hasn't been a need, but if the fixation on meaningless statistics continues, it may be a discussion we need to have. I'm sure Alex has a backend that gives him access to the stats he needs to run the site.

I've found that many threads start out great and then decline.  This tends to have me keep reading the thread despite not caring about what it's become, just in case it evolves back into something I find interesting.

I sometimes find it funny when threads decline.

Sure, it's funny, but if it starts happening too much, the people posting interesting stuff start leaving the site, and you get nothing but garbage posts. And then the forum as a whole declines. Ha! Ha!

Are you suggesting that we need to make an amendment to our Forum Guidlines? Just like talking about politics is on a fine line - we should not talk about statistics?

[Scott5114]

Rather than having to enforce that, it would be easier to turn the statistics off.

[webny99]

The problem is that people caring about these statistics too much actively harms the forum.
[et al]

Right out of the gate, you haven't said anything that I can argue with (well, except that "caring" is tacky - but whatever). I'm certainly not trying to negatively impact the forum by posting stuff like this. I'm young, and intuitive, and analytical, and read 538, and I think stats are interesting. I understand it's not all that important; its just trivial stuff that I happen to notice, and naturally, want to assign meaning to as well.

I should note I've never felt that I could actually have a significant impact on the stats of the entire forum. In the case of my own personal stats, undeniably I've had a lot of fun with those. But never the forum as a whole though. Those stats are what they are - with or without me.

I've given virtually zero thought to the impact that knowing about these statistics has on overall post quality. I think of it as stuff that many users might not ever know, so putting it out there is simply like a "hey, cool!" or "interesting!" type of thing. Perhaps if the stuff I posted upthread could be found on the forum (in a "top ten" chart or the likes), I would feel less obligated to share it.



So all that is what it is. I'm learning - I am always glad to learn something from a thread, and in fact hardly a day goes by without my discovering something new in the roadgeek world. So I'm thankful for the wealth of knowledge on the forum - and I don't want it to decline or fade. Quality is hard to measure, so by default I try to interpret the quantitative data to that end. What's in the stats page isn't a be-all, end-all measure, but needless to say, it's all I got.

The questions now forming in my mind are these; does anyone object to knowing this information in this thread? And will you feel obliged to post rapid-fire fluff to make February "better"? I sure as heck won't. As long as everyone's contributing positively and regularly in their measure, I'm a happy forumer.

[US71]

I've compiled the following information for my own pleasure (of course ) but also because I thought others may find it (at least mildly) interesting. I know there are some users here that genuinely do not care about forum statistics:

:

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

I've compiled the following information for my own pleasure (of course ) but also because I thought others may find it (at least mildly) interesting. I know there are some users here that genuinely do not care about forum statistics:

:

Eh, the guy did give a disclaimer. Looks like someone needs MORE sleep if you're falling asleep...

[adventurernumber1]

With that said, I don't care if you don't care — you have every right to not care. So now that we've established that, there is no need for you to post derogatory comments and other schlock in this thread.

The problem is that people caring about these statistics too much actively harms the forum.

Posting threads like these draws attention to these statistics. It makes them something to talk about. The natural inclination when one's attention is drawn to a statistic that their behavior is a part of is to influence it somehow. It is very easy to manipulate these statistics by making large number of posts. Problem is, if you make a large number of posts in a short amount of time, you're not spending enough time on actually writing good content. Any fool can sit at a keyboard and type garbage in the post box, but what's the point if it's not worth reading?

Caring about these statistics is tacky. It's tacky like declaring to your friend that in January 2018 you made the most money ever. Or telling your wife that in January 2018 she gained the most weight ever. Sure, they're statistics! But we don't talk about them. Same goes for our forum statistics–because we don't want people "improving" the statistics by making the forum worse!

My ideal forum experience is to go in a thread and find a page of twenty posts that are well-researched and insightful, and that I actually learn something from. Those are what we should encourage, because those are the kinds of posts that make reading the forum worth the time. I can come up with hastily concocted opinions or dumb jokes myself (I think my post history shows I have the dumb jokes thing down to a science).

It should be noted that not only can the administrators manipulate forum statistics, we also have access to a checkbox that causes the forum to stop recording them. We haven't talked about turning it off before, because there hasn't been a need, but if the fixation on meaningless statistics continues, it may be a discussion we need to have. I'm sure Alex has a backend that gives him access to the stats he needs to run the site.

I've found that many threads start out great and then decline.  This tends to have me keep reading the thread despite not caring about what it's become, just in case it evolves back into something I find interesting.

I sometimes find it funny when threads decline.

Sure, it's funny, but if it starts happening too much, the people posting interesting stuff start leaving the site, and you get nothing but garbage posts. And then the forum as a whole declines. Ha! Ha!

Those are some very good points, most of which I was not aware of until now. I did not realize how flaunting statistics too much could possibly affect post quality by allowing people who abuse the statistics to do so, and ultimately having an increase in low-quality posts.

I am definitely not the kind of person who would try to manipulate these statistics, especially by doing something ridiculous by posting 20 "nothing" posts in a very short amount of time just to change those statistics - but I can see why to be wary, as there are some people who might do just that, as you said.

So with all of this said, webny99, I may suggest not to make any more statistics threads like this, just to be safe and for the best interest of the forum as a whole. I know you had good intentions (you didn't mean any harm at all), but now it may be best to put an end to the statistics threads, now that we know this important information that Scott has given us.

[roadman]

Pro tip:  Just because something never happened before doesn't automatically make it a historic event when it occurs for the first time.

History is an illusion caused by the passage of time.  And time is an illusion caused by the passage of history - Douglas Adams

[US71]

Rather than having to enforce that, it would be easier to turn the statistics off.

I second that motion.

[US71]

Pro tip:  Just because something never happened before doesn't automatically make it a historic event when it occurs for the first time.

Questionable. It's definitely historic when looking at the past. 20 years from now, who knows? 

So having my first bowel movement is a historic event?