1 - Repartee
- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
The long, long, tail...
I idly hit the "User List" box at the top of the forum, and I find the information returned, sorted by number of posts, most interesting. Of course there is Uwe on the top, followed by what must be other senior or more active members of the forum. This tails off smoothly into the newer or less active users, ending in a long tail in the single digits... each lower digit longer, lots of three's, more two's, a huge number of single post wonders, until, until - the zero posters! They make up almost exactly half of all registered users.
I find it interesting that so many people went to the trouble to register and had absolutely nothing to say. Almost all of them have clever user names, though. Most wonderfully strange.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- TypewriterGuy
- Typewriter Talk Vet
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- From: United States
- Registered: 24-4-2015
- Posts: 1,250
Re: The long, long, tail...
Wow... So did I... Just found out I have the second most posts......
Back from a long break.
Starting fresh with my favorite typer. A Royal Futura!
- ztyper
- Key Master
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- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
- Posts: 773
Re: The long, long, tail...
That's weird... On the user list and on my profile, it says I joined on 30-9-14, but when I post, it says 10-1-14. I'm pretty sure I didn't join at midnight... And I'm pretty sure it was September too. So I'll go with the 30th.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- ztyper
- Key Master
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- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
- Posts: 773
Re: The long, long, tail...
Darn it. Now that the edit button is gone, I need it more than ever.
I meant 1-10-15.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- KatLondon
- Key Master
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: The long, long, tail...
A lot of people just join because they've bought a typewriter and it isn't working - they ask for help, they get an answer, and they just go away and fix their typewriter. Fair enough, in a way.
- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: The long, long, tail...
Repartee wrote:
I find it interesting that so many people went to the trouble to register and had absolutely nothing to say.
I have a lot of experience moderating forums, and I can tell you that the vast majority of those who join them are lurkers, people who like to read the posts and glean information from them, but for some reason lack any desire to contribute. It's a completely normal situation. Why they don't contribute is open to speculation: Maybe they're shy, or lack the required self-confidence to participate. Why they register might be easier to explain: Most forums require you to be a member and be logged in if you want to see any of the images that are containd in posts.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: The long, long, tail...
That's weird... On the user list and on my profile, it says I joined on 30-9-14, but when I post, it says 10-1-14. I'm pretty sure I didn't join at midnight... And I'm pretty sure it was September too. So I'll go with the 30th.
Not so weird. The date shown in your profile is the date it was created on. The other date is the date that you actually became a registered member. For most members the dates would be the same, but in some cases, like when the registration process spans from one day to the next, two different dates are shown.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ztyper
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
- Posts: 773
Re: The long, long, tail...
Hm. I could've sworn it was all on the smae day. I mean, it was only a year ago...
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- Fleetwing
- Typewriter Talk Vet
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- From: Hartford, CT USA
- Registered: 30-6-2015
- Posts: 1,011
Re: The long, long, tail...
I find it interesting that so many people went to the trouble to register and had absolutely nothing to say.
I have a lot of experience moderating forums, and I can tell you that the vast majority of those who join them are lurkers, people who like to read the posts and glean information from them, but for some reason lack any desire to contribute. It's a completely normal situation. Why they don't contribute is open to speculation: Maybe they're shy, or lack the required self-confidence to participate. Why they register might be easier to explain: Most forums require you to be a member and be logged in if you want to see any of the images that are containd in posts.
Sometimes "newbies" on forums can get pounced on by the veterans ("go check the archives before asking a question like that" or "what do you mean when you say 'X'? The correct term is Y"), so they may choose not to speak up. As you said, they may prefer to not speak up. Also, maybe they (unlike myself, for instance) don't feel the need to hear themselves talk, as it were.
- M. Höhne
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Maine
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 637
Re: The long, long, tail...
I find it interesting that so many people went to the trouble to register and had absolutely nothing to say.
I have a lot of experience moderating forums, and I can tell you that the vast majority of those who join them are lurkers, people who like to read the posts and glean information from them, but for some reason lack any desire to contribute. It's a completely normal situation. Why they don't contribute is open to speculation: Maybe they're shy, or lack the required self-confidence to participate. Why they register might be easier to explain: Most forums require you to be a member and be logged in if you want to see any of the images that are containd in posts.
Sometimes "newbies" on forums can get pounced on by the veterans ("go check the archives before asking a question like that" or "what do you mean when you say 'X'? The correct term is Y"), so they may choose not to speak up. As you said, they may prefer to not speak up. Also, maybe they (unlike myself, for instance) don't feel the need to hear themselves talk, as it were.
I would like to add one really healthy reason why some people don't comment---they might simply have nothing to say in the conversation. I would rather they do that than post a comment that starts, "I don't know anything about this but I read somewhere that ..." and then go on to repeat misinformation or irrelevant detail that they don't even recognize as irrelevant or wrong. Happens a lot.
