Head-Fi by the numbers (part III)
Mar 31, 2008 at 9:42 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 30

Wmcmanus

President treasurer secretary and sole member of the Cayman Islands Head-Fi Club.
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Nov 29, 2002
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Ok, so I'm idle again. My mind just wandered to the numbers game.

It wasn't hard to find the old threads. See below for reference (if you're really bored) after reading a little further (but please post in this thread rather than reviving those dusty jewels):

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f11/he...numbers-95707/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f11/he...isited-146913/

Essentially, the idea was to track on an annual basis how many people have posted how many posts. The purpose (such that there was one) was to help gauge the annual growth at Head-Fi. Of course, it hasn't worked out that way since I haven't bothered to revise the figures since 2005.

So here we go:

I've just updated the numbers with the results as of 31-3-08 (shown in bold) which can then be compared to 26-11-05 (shown next) and the results as of 16-12-04 (shown last and in brackets) for comparison.

Number of members with at least X number of posts:

X = 1 post or more, 35,505 17,380 (10,625)

2+ posts, 29,310 14,510 (9,025)

3+ posts, 25,187 12,560 (7,900)

5+ posts, 20,465 10,250 (6,500)

10+ posts, 15,160 7,557 (4,825)

25+ posts, 9,990 4,892 (3,205)

50+ posts, 7,125 3,367 (2,125)

100+ posts, 4,673 2,245 (1,425)

200+ posts, 2,923 1,370 (900)

500+ posts, 1,433 678 (437)

1000+ posts, 751 342 (231)

1500+ posts, 494 231 (146)

2000+ posts, 346 155 (103)

3000+ posts, 184 83 (53)

4000+ posts, 113 50 (26)

5000+ posts, 67 33 (16)

10000+ posts, 10 2 (0)

20000+ posts, 1 0 (0)

Note that the general pattern has held. Note also the as compared to just 2 years and 4 months ago (the middle column) each of the current figures shown in bold have more than doubled! Likewise, as compared to 3 years and 3 months ago, each of the current figures have more than tripled!

Some further observations:

At 12-16-04, a total of 8,644 members or 45% of the 19,269 registered users had never posted, not even once! At 26-11-05, a total of 16,213 members or 48% of the 33,593 registered users have never posted. At 31-3-08, a total of 32,380 members or 48% of the 67,885 registered users had never posted.

Only 30% of all registered users have posted 5 times or more, as compared to 30% in 2005 and 34% in 2004, respectively.

Less than 10,000 members have posted 25 times or more and a large number of them are no longer active. Of course there will always be new members who will quickly become involved, but to be talking about our nearly 70,000 members is a little silly, IMO.

What is most encouraging about the consistency as exhibited in these numbers over time is that, in my opinion, they suggest that the site hasn't lost any of its "stickiness". What I mean is that when someone stumbles across Head-Fi for the first time in 2008, they are every bit as likely to become involved (by making that first post) and to stay involved (by making that 1,500th post) as they were in years past.

In other words, what I think these patterns suggest is that our growth has not come at a loss of relevancy. There is still every bit as much of a sense of community as there ever was. We're now having our 3rd "international" Head-Fi meet and the core group of highly active members continue to help and encourage new members as they discover Head-Fi for the first time and show that initial enthusiasm.

At times, it may seem frustrating for long standing members who don't seem to know many of the new people (and visa versa), but (on average) our members are every bit as active as they've ever been -- there are just more of them now! At this pace, we'll probably have 100,000 registered users by about this time next year (i.e., Spring of 2009). Amazing!
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 11:25 AM Post #2 of 30
Very interesting read!
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 12:56 PM Post #4 of 30
the only reason I would register and not post it to use the search function because the captchas are annoying.
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 3:13 PM Post #5 of 30
8 more folks have broken the 10,000 barrier? not that i'm worried, eh hehehe...
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 4:06 PM Post #6 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman /img/forum/go_quote.gif
the only reason I would register and not post it to use the search function because the captchas are annoying.


x2. I registered just so I could search. Back then I think you had to register to search. There wasn't any captchas (if I'm remembering correctly)
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 4:42 PM Post #7 of 30
Looks like I need to bump up my posting some to get out of the common 4000+ category into the more elite 5000+ category
wink.gif
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 4:56 PM Post #8 of 30
You are right about the "stickiness", I was doing some googling looking for better headphones about 1 1/2 years ago and now I have to visit every day.

I am glad I found the forum, even though my wife and wallet are not
wink.gif
wink.gif
wink.gif
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 5:06 PM Post #9 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Only 30% of all registered users have posted 5 times or more


that's interesting.
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 5:46 PM Post #11 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Looks like I need to bump up my posting some to get out of the common 4000+ category into the more elite 5000+ category
wink.gif



You're almost there.

I was actually surprised that there weren't more in the 1500 + as so many members seem to almost racing to get there.
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 5:49 PM Post #13 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Looks like I need to bump up my posting some to get out of the common 4000+ category into the more elite 5000+ category
wink.gif



GOOD STUFF!!
 
Mar 31, 2008 at 5:51 PM Post #14 of 30
It would be interesting to know exactly how many registered users are still active (e.g. if they've visited the site in the past six months). It seems odd to consider someone a registered "user" when they haven't been to the site in several years and only have a few posts.
 

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