Post #289423 by ikitnrev on Sat, Mar 3, 2007 1:44 PM

Some recent posts had mentioned that the number of registered users on Tiki Central was approaching 6000. This got me thinking and wondering - how many people are currently active on Tiki Central. This led to an obsessive-compulsive gene to kick in, and I spent several hours going through the member list, trying to get a better feel for who our community is.

I went to the Member List, and decided to count how many of the registered users were active and still posting. I used the following criteria to define an active user.

1. They had to average at least one post a week since joining.
2. They had to post at least once in the last three months.

I could have used different criteria, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I did nothing concerning the length or quality of one's post. A new member who joined last moth and has posted just 10 members is counted as a single active user, just as is the person who has contributed thousands of messages over the years.

I also ignored participation in the Tiki Shout chat room.

After examining all 120 pages of user names, here are my final numbers, and a few observations.

A. There are approximately 280 people active users, who meet both of the above criteria.

B. There are approximately 60 people who don't meet the above criteria, but are listed as being Grand Members ..... these are probably people who wished to contribute to its operation, but choose not to actively post..... silent benefactors, one could say. This would raise the total of active users to 340.

C. I have no idea of the number of people who visit Tiki Central, but choose not to post, nor become Grand Members.

D. There are about 75 people who used to post regularly, but no longer post. Some of these are persons who changed user names, some still attend tiki events regularly but no longer post, some of them may have been just too busy during the last 3 months to post, and some seem to have just faded away.

E. With the exception of the initial sign-up rush in 2002, for every 50 people who register, 2-6 stay on to become active members.

C. People are now registering at a faster rate. In 2002/2003, it would often take 3-4 weeks to attract 50 new registered users. Tiki Central now attracts 50 new registered users every 2 weeks.

Finally, I should say that I did this on my own initiative, without any guidance from Hanford. Also, I don't plan on doing this again - this is just a snapshot look at who we are, at this point in time.

Vern