Web Stats So Far.....

[kc]

Well, it is now the end of February - about 7 and a half months since this site went live. I thought I would share with you some of our basic statistics. I've made it an attachment so that only members can see it, rather than posting the image right here. As you can see the site usage is doing ok. I hope this inspires you to carry this project on and stick with us, posting new threads and information, answering requests where you can and generally just continuing what we have already been doing.

Light Blue = Pages
Dark Blue = Files
Green = Hits

Orange = Sites
Yellow = Visits

Red = kBytes

[romft1945]

Well there we go, if you say s,o Iam happy just plodding along, thank you all and you KC,
ROM:)

[John Brown]

Being an IT caveman it means little to me:confused: However, the graphs show an upward trend of whatever they are recording so that must be good:)

Well done everybody.


John

[herakles]

The data seem to reflect the increasing interest and use of the forum.

That's good news.

But what we must have are more active members!!!!!

[tomsam]

Morning all (UK). I couldn't agree more with "Herks" comment. I know I myself am not slapping up the posts like wall paper but to the level of time I have available and the level of my knowledge base I am doing alright. What I would like to ask is what discussions have the moderators had in finding ways to retain a member after they have made the original inquiry post. I see it time and time again that someone researching granddad Bligh, gets the info and you never hear from them again. I know we need these early posts to keep us from falling into the realms of becoming a geriatric knitting club ( It is quite PC to say that as I am one myself),but surely we can encourage "New Posters" to stay a while. Any way right or wrong they are my thoughts. I hope we can maybe turn this post into a "Think Tank"
Regards to all
Tomsam

[Maritime Michael Ian]

Morning and Evening to one and all!

I echo and agree with Tomsam's sentiments.

Ian

[kc]

You should also take into consideration that a large number of posts, especially more recently, have attachments. These can only be viewed by members, so some will have to sign up to see a specific attachment, without perhaps being interested in staying. There are also 'lurkers' - people who prefer not to post at all, but enjoy reading the forum.

Having said that, I would prefer if more people stayed to contribute, and we do try and encourage new posters to stick around by welcoming them and trying to give them the info they are looking for.

[astraltrader]

Just like to add my total agreement with all that has been said in this thread. It is a pity that there is no obvious way to provide some sort of inducement for people to post - I dont know like some areas of the site only open to those who have posted, etc?

[herakles]

I endorse your comments Terry.

So many come, get Grand dads information and are never seen again. Do they take time to read some of the threads? If they do, they will see that we are a jolly lot full of jest and ribald as well as being a bunch of old fogey navy men who only growl when they speak.

I am sure this is why we shouldn't be too demanding to "keep to the subject" etc,. when posting. It hows we are human.

What interests me is the huge number of members with zero posts. Perhaps they don't know they can login as guest and read the forum anyway.

[warbreck]

I am a recent new member and intend to stay. I read many posts before I thought I would like to reply or put up my own stories. I think this is a wonderful site. I am too old to do much else but play around on my PC so I spend most of my day on it. Keep up the good work.

[herakles]

Glad to hear it warbeck. It sounds like you are the same as many of us here. What would we do without our computer!

You raise an important point too. Many read the posts but never respond, let alone make a thread of their own. This to me is the biggest barrier we have.

[astraltrader]

Correct me if I am wrong, Herk - but I think you will find that a lot of members with zero posts actually sign on purely to get access to attachments and photographs. That I suppose was what I was moving toward with my previous post. I have no problem with people who just visit the site to see if there is any information about a ship that one of their relatives served on. I do not feel quite as magmanimous toward those who register in order to strip the site of photo`s without contributing in anyway...

[herakles]

Now I understand Terry. That's a shame.

I wonder if it's possible to have a situation where access to pics etc has a post demand?

[BB60]

I hit this site just about everyday, several times day. I post sparingly for several reasons.

1. This forum is centered on the Royal Navy and I am not knowledgeable enough on that subject to comment intelligently.

2. I moderate and post heavily on a general WWII forum. It takes up a good bit of my forum time, so I don't have a lot of time to devote to research to post here. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tooling around here, but my first obligation is to my home.

I notice at my home forum, that we have anywhere from 150-400 members logging on any given day. On average, maybe 30-40 ever post. You look at the logon list, those same ones who never post much, log on day after day after day. I guess it is like watching TV, a passive approach to forum participation. I don't mind them doing that, they, on occasion, throw out some good nugget or post a good picture.

Best advice I can give you is to continue to do what y'all are doing, providing interesting information with a friendly attitude. Membership will slowly start to build and I think you can see a marked change since last fall. You'll have up and downs, members leave and new members come. Y'all don't seem to have a big problem yet with current political discussion. That is a good thing, see if you can keep it that way.

Mods, the best thing you can do is to keep internet trolls from controlling your forum. That will run people off faster than you can say Dick Tracy. Don't hesitate to banish morons whose main interest is to cause problems, such as holocaust deniers and neo-nazis. Where I mod, I have no problems putting rabble-rousers in the Cooler (I guess y'all call it the brig here?*) for 7-10 days and if they don't learn their lessons, I can make it permanent.

Anyway, the bed beckons and I need to retire. Goodnight!

*another general WWII site I post to calls the Cooler, Glasshouse. It is run by Brits.

[herakles]

These are very sound comments Jeff. From one who has wide experience in these matters. I am sure your most helpful comments will be taken on-board.

Thankfully we are not yet used by drongos so Mod work here is very straightforward. The day will come I am sure when they start to invade with stories of holocaust denial and UFO's etc. I guess it's the price one pays for popularity.

It would be nice to be more popular! I am sure this will happen.