And might be complicated by what the definition of "active member" might be....
I googled and "active member" is what you'd expect--how many members visited the board (while logged in) within a certain amount of time. One major footnote is that the time period within which this happens seems to be defaulted at the past 30 days but can be changed by the site admin. Maybe someone who knows can tell us what the current setting is--and if they are aware of any changes to that setting over the years?
We also might simply be seeing seasonal variations in the numbers since it only covers (presumably) the past 30 days of whenever the numbers were logged into this thread.
Ahhh, the more we dig the more elusive the answer becomes....
My guess on the moderating issue (not to drag that thread over here) is that it changes the character of the board more than the population numbers.
--Darin
I run several national and international committees. My formula is (and this is quite consistent):
100 - total committee membership
50 - active participating members who answer at least an occasional email or call into an occasional meeting
30 - active participating members who routinely respond to email or call into meetings
25 - active participating members who contribute content or opinion
15 - active participating members who contribute meaningful content or opinion
10 - active participating members who contribute significant amounts of meaningful content or opinion
5 - who are actively responsible for the effort, from inception to conclusion
112 - the number of people who want their name on the final report.
... and having been educated as a statistician, in part, I can say honestly that numbers lie and people lie with numbers... or something to that effect.
My guess is that while most of us started with film, a very large percentage of members here shoot both digital and film, and film in multiple formats. Although film sales have dropped from what they were, say, a decade ago, there is still enough activity to keep multiple manufacturers in business. And, there is anecdotal evidence of both new people taking up film, and others returning to film for at least some portion of their photography. Some unknown percentage of those folks are also exploring large format.
So, my guess is that some combination of those factors contribute to the growth in active members here.
Why does that (or verbosity) matter? The information is being passed. What about schools -- they been teaching some of the same crap for decades?
Unless there has been a definite shift in the bullshit:goodshit ratio, over-all posts per month would give you the best info on growth trends.
Of course there may be a natural shift in the bullshit:goodshit ratio. Once most topics have already been discussed several times, which is pretty much the case, I suppose, what else is there to talk about? Time for more images!
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"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
I wish we could measure the number of people who discuss the number of people who are active.
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