I was checking some of the stats about the registered users (http://elsmar.com/Forums/vbstatistic.php?do=foreninfo_user) of the Cove and was surprised to find out that 83% of them never posted here.

User information

Registered user(s): 27,476
User(s) with avatar: 279
User(s) with profile picture: 238
User(s) with homepage: 3,559
User(s) with at least one posting: 4,876 (17%)
User(s) with no postings: 22,600 (83%)

That has never been a 'secret', and it has been discussed in the past. The bottom line is there are several aspects of all web sites that are often not discussed.

1. How many visitors find the site and leave within an (estimated) 30 seconds to a minute? This is because of the nature of searches. People do a search, check a link and it's not what they were looking for.

http://elsmar.com/gif/Visit Duration 061211.gif
First 11 days in December 2006

2. In forum environments, most of the people come, look and get the information they need and leave. Often I think about opening up post attachment file downloads to unregistered visitors. The only 'down side' is we would see a significant reduction in forum registrations. In part I have not changed this to 'anyone can download' for selfish reasons - To have an idea how many people do want files, and to make the registration numbers look good. If anyone has any feedback on this aspect, I'm open to hear your comments.

Most people do not register to discuss issues or ask questions - They want a posted file. Note that we restrict posting to people who register to control spam, to keep out various types of trouble makers and such.

I hope that many people come here and use the Search engine and find the information they're looking for. As we all know, there are so many threads on, for example, "How do I implement....." and such that the more people who search and find their answers is better. I know I visit a lot of forums here and there. Some I register on, but many I don't because I really don't have anything to add to the existing discussions and/or I have found what I was searching for using the forum Search function.

To gage the success of a forum you really have to look at how many people post, with an eye to how many questions are answered vs. how many are not answered (how many have 0 replies). The total number of posts and discussion threads are important, but to me it's more important that there are few zero reply threads where someone asks a question and no one so much as says "I wish I could help, but I don't know anything about this topic". A reply, any reply, helps people feel that others really are looking at their question(s) even if they don't have an answer.

The Elsmar Cove forum is, in my eyes, a small niche forum. I visit some forums where there are over 1000 people on at any given time and have several million posts. I'm sure they make a lot of money from ads and such, but in those cases it takes a dedicated server to host the database, a dedicated server to run the software (most are vBulletin or a modified version of), 100MB upload, etc., etc. It gets very expensive...

See the attached stats for some thoughts as well. Note that over 600 visitors were coming here searching for 'motocross' and 'motorcycle'. This has been the case for a while. I have no idea how this site gets ranked highly for those words...

Also, BTW, yoy might want to check out the The Elsmar Cove Web Site Visitor Statistics (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=7209) thread.

Note that over 600 visitors were coming here searching for 'motocross' and 'motorcycle'. This has been the case for a while. I have no idea how this site gets ranked highly for those words...

I think its 'TS16949' because TS is linked to automobiles/cars and motorcycle. Lets's say you are searching for quality automobile or motorcycle/bike parts, chances are you would end up here.

That could well be a factor, Harry.

I don't know exactly if the Cove is a place for voyeurs, but I do know that when i first bumped into it I was a bit in awe of some of the discussions that I saw. It is one of the obstacles that one has to climb when making the first replies, another is the typical foreigners approach to writing in English, i.e. "Is my english good enough? Will they understand what I am writing?". With due respect to the moderators: You are at a level, both professionally and linguistically, that few of us can hope to aspire to. :)

That percentage is similar to the percent of active participants in any organization or activity. Most of the burden is assumed by 20% or less. Consider the participation levels in any organization you belong to or activity in which you participate. Most of the "work" is done by a limited number of folks, and most of those do the same in most of the organizations and activities in which they participate.

At least that has been my experience over many years and many organizations.

Sheeplady