Marc,
Whilst editing my profile I did not complete the following field
What information are you Searching for?
What Search Words did you use? We ask for this information so we can better focus the forums.
As a result I received the following message

This seems to be wrong especially in a change mode

I think I added that in the relatively recent past (a month or two?), but didn't think it would make people who are already registered to add the information. I'll check the settings.

I think I added that in the relatively recent past (a month or two?), but didn't think it would make people who are already registered to add the information. I'll check the settings.I also ran across the error message and simply added "something" - but where does that data display? I didn't find it on a cursory search.

It displays in the user profile. I ask that now to find what information people are looking for when they find the site. From that I have a better idea what types of informations people are looking for at the site.

I have it set as a required field. That is why when you visit your profile in your user CP it asks for the data to be entered. The is no option, with a required data field, which allows people who registered before the data field was set up to ignore the field.

Is there a problem with this?

It displays in the user profile. I ask that now to find what information people are looking for when they find the site. From that I have a better idea what types of informations people are looking for at the site.

I have it set as a required field. That is why when you visit your profile in your user CP it asks for the data to be entered. The is no option, with a required data field, which allows people who registered before the data field was set up to ignore the field.

Is there a problem with this?OK - I see it; I was tired and looking at my User CP instead of my Profile. How do you harvest the data to use in metrics? or do you just browse?

Every time someone registers I get an e-mail with the data they entered in that and the other registration data fields. Now, to put in a 'disclaimer' of sorts, I know that only a small number of the total number of people who visit register, and they do so, typically, not to participate but rather to be able to access files attached to posts. That said, I'm getting a biased snapshot, if you will, but it's better than nothing.

Anyway, depending on my schedule I look at every registration. Often I just scan them briefly, but I do take a look. I'm not charting the data or transferring it to a spreadsheet or anything, but now and again I do searches for key words in the data fields and get relative numbers on various terms.

By watching the registrations I can see when an unusual pattern emerges. One doesn't always need a spreadsheet and formal data analysis to have a good idea of what is happening. Most people are looking for APQP, ISO, PPAP, etc. I am seeing more medical devices people pop in. In the last year there has been noticeably less of a focus on QS9000, TS16949, APQP, and automotive specific key words and phrases. I'm seeing more Yahoo referrals. Search engine referrals from MSN, ASK, Dogpile and several others are infrequent.

In some ways this also helps me know what terms search engines are ranking the site highly for.

And from the 'How did you find this site', while I get a lot of answers like "Nice" or "Very good!" (and I understand why people sometimes put in something like that as opposed to Google, MSN search or whatever), I also see where many people found the site - Many are recommended by people or other web sites / forums, many people find the site through search engines (the site does best in Google), sometimes an auditor will recommend the site.

Considering today's world, and all the chaos and paranoia, I am sure many people don't like my asking some of the questions I have put in as Required for registration, such as Location and Company Size. But - people can put "jdwd89ws4rnuio" in a field and the software says 'OK' so it's not a big deal to me. I see when people put in jibberish and generally when a person does that they don't participate so it's not a big deal. But, if they are here and want to ask questions, any information that they enter may help. If they ask a question, we can look at the profile and get some basic information to try to answer with.

Ask yourself this - If you were the one who put up and maintained a forum like this, what would you ask, if anything? Would you require Registration? Why?

As time goes on I make changes now and again. Some are little, and some (such as an upcoming major upgrade in the vBulletin software) are big. I've tried, through 'hacks' and manual editing of a lot of the files, to make the forum more accomodating and as easy to use as I know how. So every now and again you will notice changes. Not long ago I replaced the picture files used for certain arrows, for example. Changed them from blue, which blended in, to an orangish so they stand out. My expectation is newer people will see and use these 'features' faster. Adding the 'What information are you Searching for?' field is part of the site evolution.

The bottom line is I was sitting here one day and decided to start asking what information people were looking for (whether through a search engine, through referral from another site or whatever) because I thought it might help me better understand what people are looking for, literally, when they came to the site. As the site evolves, it helps to know what people's expectations are.

As a 'quickie from AWStats:

Keyword - Searches - Percent
iso - 5906 - 2.5 %
of - 4344 - 1.9 %
quality - 3533 - 1.5 %
process - 2579 - 1.1 %
and - 2547 - 1.1 %
cpk - 2358 - 1 %
ppap - 2215 - 0.9 %
audit - 2178 - 0.9 %
apqp - 2070 - 0.9 %
Other words - 197546 - 86.9 %

Keyphrases - Searches - Percent
apqp - 969 - 1.4 %
motocross - 784 - 1.1 %
example of organizational chart - 442 - 0.6 %
elsmar - 406 - 0.5 %
elsmar cove - 389 - 0.5 %
motorcycle - 360 - 0.5 %
ppap - 341 - 0.4 %
bullshit bingo - 304 - 0.4 %
car wreck - 283 - 0.4 %
process capability - 179 - 0.2 %
Other phrases - 64671 - 93.5 %

motocross and motorcycle? Go figure....

Anyway, AWStats gives me some good info, but asking in the forums during the registration process gives me a better idea of what is happening in some respects than the log analysis program.

I have no problem I entered ?.
I raised it as I did not know if you were aware of the behaviour

Just checking to make sure no one was offended or had other issues with it.