Some Pro User Forums members stats
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Numbers don't mean much, Coen. I don't think you'd want...nor should you try....or even plan on accomodating all that "dead wood". There may still be under 200 people here (last time I checked), but I'd be prepared to bet that if you ignore all the "How do You draw a sphere?" or "Looking for 3D people." type posts, this little group is probably responsible for about 70% of the postings. In fact, over the last 24 hours, I'd say there have been far more postings here than over there...spammers excepted.
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Spam over at the official SU forums has been growing in recent months as I'm sure Alan can confirm. Between him and I we have probably deleted and banned close to a thousand in recent months. Because of their visiting patterns, I suspect most members were not even aware of how big the spamming problem had become. It may even be part of the reason Google want to migrate to Groups. I presume at Groups they'll have more resources to control spam than the vBulletin system offered us. Also note that with regards to member numbers at the SU forums -- the totals did not include all those who were banned. At those forums there was almost always a significant number of "guests" on at any time -- they could be real guests or just members checking in without logging in. I'd suggest that at any period there have only been 100 or so members over there who are actively posting and that group was always in flux. Like Alan suggests, it really would be difficult to make accurate predictions based on the numbers. One interesting statistic -- as a long-time active member over there I have 50mb of attachments over there. Alan & Mike my well have a lot more. There would be members (Like Brandon and all his car components) with far more. I think it does suggest that over time SketchUcation's server requirements could grow very large if attachments are hosted here.
Regards, Ross
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One fear I've always had about ImageShack and the like relates to how vulnerable they can make the forums that depend on them. Any day, an ImageShack could go out of business and thousands of forums would irretrievably loose all attachments. I remember a few years back, in the city where I used to live, there was the headquarters of one of the first successful photo sharing gallery sites. It had millions of users who posted albums there. One day, without any warning, they shut down. I recall reading reports of the widespread impact of that closure on forums and newsgroups and that the company management even had to hire bodyguards because the closure made so many people angry at them.
Coen, I really don't think most members here would mind a few adverts or GoogleAds if it meant you could make these forums more self-supporting. I'm sure most would agree you personally should not have to financially support these forums. So far you have been very generous but hopefully you can establish a business model for them that can help you sustain them. Like Alan I worry you can overextend yourself trying to selflessly serve the members. I hope after you get things established you can step away somewhat and let your forums run themselves with the help of volunteers. You should be able to get back to earning a living and reaching your dreams. (You deserve to reach those dreams). I know you are having fun now making this work --- In due course please shift your focus back to our friend Coen. He's a real gem.
Regards, Ross
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Coen,
I know its a long way but if you listen carefully you should just about hear me giving you a big round of applause
Go ahead and brag away you've earned it!
Re the spam:
On some sites I go to they either have one of those distorted picture of numbers you have to type in to verify your not a bot or the site sends an email that the user has to reply to to be able to join.
What about implementing one of these? -
Man my memory is going the way of the old forum
Yep, I did have to copy one of those funny letter/number things when I registered here.
I just forgot, Coffee, I neeeeeed more cofffeeee.
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