I posted this in the megadoo thread. That thread is fast moving and this will soon get buried, but I know some people will find it interesting so I'll repost it here. (and some people will find it uninteresting, but they can ignore this). If you go to http://milepoint.com/forums/ in the lower right it shows: Messages: 984,852 Note that the most recent message (moving target, most recent as I type this) is 990665 (click the number in the lower right of a message, look at the URL, that number is in the URL). That's a difference of about 6000. The reason for the difference is that the higher number indicates posts initiated or created, the current message number is the actual number of posts on the board. For example, I've created duplicate posts by accident and deleted one, or merged multiple of my posts into one so I don't multi-post too much in threads. Spammers posts have been deleted, and people have deleted their own for many reasons. Probably also internet burps cause posts to start being created, get far enough to lock up a URL number, but not far enough to publish. (I'm not sure about that, but it's a possibility). So, as we approach the millionth post on Milepoint, keep in mind how the numbers work. It's just like the member number issue which I've explained elsewhere- we have 39,349 members, but the latest member is number 45,630 (again, you can get that from the lower right of http://milepoint.com/forums/and hover over the newest member number to see the url to his/her/its profile, that URL shows the member number). Six thousand membership applications didn't get completed, because people start and then don't do the confirmation step, or the internet burps during registration (the internet needs to take rolaids so it doesn't burp so much). I might have some of the technical stuff wrong, but I think the general principals are correct.
Would be curious to know what the member participation here looks like compared to other forums. 40,000 users is a lot, but I see a lot of familiar faces (the avatars certainly help make folks a bit more memorable) all over the place. I get the impression that there is a core group of very active members. Or maybe that's just because those folks are interested in the same forums I visit?
No you're definitely right. I feel the same way. I'd say there is maybe on the order of 100 people that interact in the forums I read at least. I doubt I've seen more than 1000 unique accounts in my time here actually post something. But you're going to get that in any online community. Most people are "lurkers."
I think there are actually only 1500 people on the entire Internet thingy, but they're all verrrrry busy.
It seems to me the quality and variety of posts has been steadily improving, but still there are a few ultra-prolific posters, as there seem to be on almost all boards. It would be entertaining to know how we compare with other boards in that respect.
From personal experience: due to the volume of posts and the "fear" of upsetting the residential experts I usually limited myself to two forums on FT (UA and Hyatt). On MP I have learned a lot by reading interesting threads in other forums. I think a feature like "What's New" would be fairly useless to me on FT but here it helps uncover lots of interesting stuff. Probably easily 10%-15%.
I see I'm not the only one to notice the approaching 1,000,000. I've drifted back and forth between MP and FT this year. The only way I can keep my interest up is to make it a game that I play for myself.
Isn't this the case with most any board or group? IME it is rare that there isn't a core group of very active members, followed by a tier that is active lurking with a post now & then, followed by lurkers who never post.
Personally I don't see the appeal of the counting threads, but clearly many people enjoy them and are passionate about them. I see similar threads on other bulletin boards. Since people like them and value them, I have no problem with them. We are a group of people deeply involved with miles and points. Therefore, if you set up a points system on a discussion board geared to this group, it is natural and proper that some people get fascinated with picking apart and exploring the system, trying to decode it, playing it and testing it. I've only noticed one or perhaps two who got obsessed with it, and I've noticed some extremely prolific posters who in my view are simply having a load of fun. It may also be that the counting threads help support the rest of the board- they push the metrics up, bringing in ad revenue, which perhaps supports the "content" sections and makes Milepoint a viable business for the powers that be. If so, it's a very good thing.
Oh, I am sure it is. But -- probably because MP is still much smaller than FT -- it seems more obvious to me who the core group is. And I feel (no scientific evidence) that people here are more likely to look and participate beyond the boundary of their "home" forums (the ones covering their primary airline and hotel programs).
Actually there are lots of folks here whose primary forum is a lounge or the Kiva team, or somewhere in off-topic.....
I think there are a lot of people (like me) who have been here a while but only post occassionally or when they feel they "should". I joined in Feb, and have only made 110 posts (this is my 111th).
And yet your avatar, or perhaps your posts, are memorable so you are quite a recognizable member. Quality trumps quantity? (of course, I don't like using the words "quality" and "trump" in the same sentence!)
M&S, Does that include deleted posts though? The front page doesn't have us at 1M yet. Cheers, GenevaFlyer
Yes, that includes deleted posts. Your post has the #1002056 We should reach 1,000,000 on the main page today, too. Then, in a few days, $1,000,000 in Kiva loans.
It would be nice if the Powers that Be would weigh in with a determination- which is the official number? I would suspect it would have to be the number on the main page, currently 996,729, since that shows actual posts on Milepoint and excludes "virtual", failed (unposted) or deleted posts.
We think that the count on the front page is a more accurate indication of the number of posts for milepoint. As you likely know, the other number includes deleted posts such as spam and I really never want to consider that appropriate content to be of value to anyone here. You have all been terrific with this. I looked at some past records and it was almost 5 years before i hit my first million posts with FlyerTalk and that included having OMNI. We know how our members love to recognize milestones so we'll track the millionth post on the front page as best we can and announce a "Founders Prize" for that post. I'm very interested in the efforts of our Kiva Lending Team as it closes in on loaning one million dollars to helping others. This is truly a December to Remember for me.
Thanks for the info Randy, and Congratulations! I'm active in a much smaller very specialized board, and everyone there was really excited after about four years to hit 1 million page views, which of course is much smaller than 1 million posts. Numbers do mean something in all types of communities.
I think we're closing in on 15 million pages views on milepoint but there are certainly all sorts of metrics. FlyerTalk took me 5 years to a million posts, BoardingArea took me 14 months to one million visitors and milepoint gets to one million posts in ten months. I suppose if i started something else the pressure would be on to get to a million something in 6 or 7 months! It takes patience ...
Consider this Sobore's bold prediction for the 1,000,000,000th post on January 11, 2844. (Sorry I got caught up in the excitement!)
