Forum traffic decline - or my bad maths

[Fishyboy]

Hi all,
Being rather a sad anorak and wanting to learn as much as I can about my Interceptor I look at the "Interceptor Tech" section forum numerous time a day. I use the "New Posts" option every time and have begun to notice that some days there may be only one or two new posts. So this morning over breakfast I counted the number of new posts in the Interceptor Tech section since the 15th Oct 2020 (close to the switch date to the new forum) and the total was 71 (give or take). I excluded any older posts that were answered after the 15th Oct. In the same 4 month period before the "switch" the total number of new posts was 121. A fall of 41%.

Is the 41% drop in new posts over last four months statistically significant and explainable?
- Is it just my bad maths?
- Have we lost forum users/posters since the switch?
- Or is this just a seasonal effect as we all use our cars less in the Autumn and Winter than in the Summer and this generates less forum traffic?

Is it possible for the forum administrators to generate more robust statistics from the new website? It might be interesting to see if the average number of replies per thread shows a similar drop-off over the same period? Would it also be possible to compare the number of JOC members and non-members posting over the same period.

Phil

[Wilson Way]

Thankyou ,
A very good piont made i thought the same thing but left my anorak in the cupboard.

[Keith]

Is it possible for the forum administrators to generate more robust statistics

That's quite a lot of work you're asking others to do.

But you've illustrated an interesting premise with your own figures. So why not expand on that?

The info is there for you Phil.

[Grant]

Phil, it's definitely quiet on here and has slowly been getting that way for a good while, but I think what is more concerning is your behavior calculating the decline in months and figures and even wanting to do that.. I am sad for you that your life has also declined into this state, for me I am thinking
this for you >>>
Maybe you should start to carry out traffic surveys or something like that?

[Fishyboy]

Grant
Very observant.
I only counted the forum posts after I had sorted out my sock drawer and before I re-arranged by spanner and screwdriver collection> Who doesn't do this on a Sunday morning?
Phil

[Grant]

Grant
Very observant.
I only counted the forum posts after I had sorted out my sock drawer and before I re-arranged by spanner and screwdriver collection> Who doesn't do this on a Sunday morning?
Phil

Brilliant, Did you put the Holey socks at the front ready for use Phil?

[Eddie]

Maybe it has something to do with Covid.

We can’t really do a lot with our cars at the moment so have no real news.

I have noticed a decline on a couple of other forums i look at.

[RockyUSA]

Traffic on the Pantera International board is way down as well - sometimes only 1-2 new posts a day.

I would think we would all be working on our cars (since we can't do anything much else), but maybe people are just getting tired.

Rocky

[DPP]

It does seem quieter than it used to be, I think one problem is the use of other social media and in particular facebook, but also some regular users have not posted since the change.

I would have thought it would be fairly easy to generate some statistics for the forum traffic for those with access to the admin side of things. I know I can log into my website statistics easily and see this sort of information.

Things move on and people are free to use any platform to get their media fix although its a shame as good information is searchable on here and does not get lost at the bottom of one long page like facebook.

[Grant]

Don't worry anymore Phil..I'll just try and post ,more stuff myself..will that help the situation

[kenny38]

OK! You have demanded my attention on tech matters. The tread on my tyres has diminished over the past year. Also no one has shown any interest in my 5/8 Jensen spanner with yellow elastic band. I sold the red one.Kenny38

[kenny38]

In all seriousness traffic on websites can be compared to noise in a crowded (cafe) The noise level can suddenly decline and slowly climbs back to "normal". Also people can be a little jaded especially in the UK at the moment. Slight depression perhaps and not much joy in getting up in the morning. You must have something to look foreward too in your life. Kenny38

[zacmarshall]

Visits to the forum index page from the stats package we use:
Jan 2021 23,990
2020
Dec 23,201
Nov 26,128
Oct 28,205
Sep 25,592
Aug 27,129
July 29,641
June 31,738
May 41,174
Apr 37,608
Mar 29,704
Feb 28,250
Jan 29,528

[RockyUSA]

Hmmmm.

From these stats, I deduce both Kenny and Grant were on vacation in both May and August of 2020..... maybe November as well...,



Rocky

[colin7673]

Visits to the forum index page from the stats package we use:
Jan 2021 23,990
2020
Dec 23,201
Nov 26,128
Oct 28,205
Sep 25,592

As you can see there was a peak in October when the new forum/webpage was introduced
( which happens when I put new content on my webpage,) but there's a decline from October 2020 to January 2021 and January 2120/21 it's down when compared both months, but peaked in May 2020.
It's still good figures, but is the loss of numbers to do with the club/forum in general or because of the current world situation..
Only time will tell.