I just did some research (via the directory) and found out that of the 8700+ registered users on Sorcerer's Place, less than 1200 (1177) have a gem other than turquoise, while over 2500 do not have a single post! :eek: This leaves ~5000 SP users with a turquiose gem who actually have at least one post.

The real point of this is that I was astonished to find that more than a quarter of registered users have not even bothered to post anything. It makes me wonder if they even visit the site anymore, or if they even did in the first place.

I could understand someone who registered so that they could submit something (that's how I started out), or perhaps just haven't found something to speak up about yet. And if there is anyone who registered just to donate, I salute you! But the sheer volume of users who are registered without a post completely took me by surprise.

Is there any way to weed out people who simply aren't interested in the site anymore? You would want to err on the side of caution, of course, but I can't imagine the Sorcerer is leaving those users in just to boost the registered users stat. :hmm: Is he?

Well, yes that is a fact, I'd say there is less than a 100 of regular poster. I was shocked too when I discovered it! In 2 years and half I've seen sereval ''regular'' poster come and go, as I did myself. Anyway I think Talutain keep them because it doesn't make any trouble it's not like it cause any trouble. I think some people just register in order to ask a single question and then ne'er come back. I think a year or two ago a similar thread was started, there was a list of people who did not post, it was quite big.

Alas I contribuated to this list as my ex girlfriend was register but has ne'er posted.

Anyway I think we should them registred if they ever want to come back. And mainly because the trouble wouldn't be worth it.

Considering the Average Posts stat, I suspected something like this...

EDIT: Maybe a system whereby inactive users are deleted after X days, where X is their post count, plus maybe another 15 (to avoid killing all the new people) might work. No idea how to implement such though.

Those stats are pretty much standard for any board... many people register without ever posting. But a small number of them eventually do, so I'm leaving all the accounts there just in case. Truth be told, I don't trust UBB's mass prune, so I'm rather leaving the culling for when we finally move to a new board platform. And, as was pointed out, it makes no difference to anything if the accounts are left as they are.

What would be the point of deleting those users? Surely they don't do any harm, and they provide an indication of the number of people who have liked SP enough to bother to register. I say keep them there for posterity.

Those numbers just tell how succesful the site has been. The bigger the number, the more active the site is. Just try comparing a one member site to a one with 8000; gives a whole different impression, don't you think?

Like said before, if the dead users were removed, I would guess that the true size of the active community would be somewhere around 50 + occasional visitors (including a few hundred lurkers). Which is pretty good, considering that the "bigger" sites have it somewhere around 100 and corporate sites twice at that, by my experience.

Of course, there are 1000x more "invisible" visitors that simply go through the content, download something, and maybe even read a few posts before disappearing to the bowels of earth. For example, on my second reg. board there are 210 members and 660 visitors even as we speak, but I have seen only about 50 of them posting.

[ July 21, 2005, 01:13: Message edited by: Wirhe ]

I think I'd class myself as one of the regular posters of days gone by. I just don't frequent this site as much any more due to a good few reasons, the most prominent one being that I don't have as much time anymore

Ouch! Didn't realise that I've been a member of this site for 5 years. Thats a quarter of my life. Man doesn't time fly by ...

I'm possitive that Wirhe is quite correct when assuming that the majority of users are just "invisible" users. I've been one since around 99-00 (In other words: since I first played BG), but did not, however, bother with registration until this very year. There're two main reasons as to why: Never really had anything to ask about, and wanted to submit some stuff.

Since then I've used the boards frequently, or rather in periods. I've periods where I post "massive" and periods where I don't post at all.

As Tal said, these numbers are quite the standard. I was myself mod on a Danish board where we had around 3k registered users, but only about 20 regular posters. Mostly it was just people with 1-3 posts having asked a question, thanked for the answer and never returned.

I too, like Sniper, used to be a regular poster. But things change over time, and now I'm mainly just a lurker. Will start posting again soon I think. I need to write more english ;)

I was a lurker long before I was a poster. Then I saw a topic on the existence of God in the AoDA, and couldn't hold back from jumping in... Sad, I know! :shake:

I don't see that being a sad or bad thing

I don't post as much anymore - but I like stopping by to see what's going on!

Pretty much the same as Bel. Checking things about every day and posting here and there. Chaotic alignment? :)

I am not going anywhere :D Been kept away by circumstances beyond my control at times, but I always come bacjkk :D

So omayt nowadays I rarely post anything meaningful... *shrug* said most of it already.

Been playfully tagging along except where I've been dragged away from the internet (the horror!)

I can also imagine there are plenty of users who may have registered and subsequently forgotten only to return months/years later and registered again.

It is surprising that there are so many people who sign up and don't post, but as mentioned before, quite expected and common. A shame more don't post but still, imagine a forum with 8000+ regular posters :mommy:

Just to make it clear, I've got no problem with people who post something once and leave. I'm just wondering what the point is of registering without posting at all? Why are the 2500+ users without a post even registered in the first place?

I myself lurked around the boards for a couple months before I registered, and you don't have to be registered in order just lurk. The only good reason I can think of to register is to contribute to the site, either by posting opinion or information on the boards, or giving something to SP, like a mod or a FAQ, or even a donation. Is there something I'm missing?

One big reason why someone might register but not post is to vote in and see the result of polls.

As I have said before, that is why I initially registered and at the time I had no intention of actually posting. If you had told me then that I would eventually hit even as few as 50 posts I would have scoffed at the idea - if you suggested I would get up over the 2000 mark I would have thought you were :nuts: .

yeah, i shared the exact same thoughts :D

i originally registered to ask some BG related stuff iirc :)

I remember a couple of 0 posts PM'ed me for gmail invites back in the time of the original thread. But surely that doesn't work for all 2500+ 0 posts. :nuts: If only they were ignored in the stats page. The average posts figure would not look so small.

Now that I'm playing a soccer game, when I searched some files to update leagues and all that stuff, I get to sites that requires to register to be able to even look at the stuff you want to download, so I'm registered to almost 10 sites and I just downloaded 3 files and I didn't post in any of them; nowadays, almost every site asks you to register to read post and surely is needed for downloading (I don't understand why a registration is required). I remember that I registered here when I wanted to post a question about BG1, and what kept me posting here was the fact that you can talk about almost everything, and of course, because you get respect and to respect.

Don't delete me! I still pop in every now and again.
:wave: