MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > More posters than we think?

More posters than we think?

posted 2 years ago by huwdj (4566)
52 replies | jump to latest

I've seen several posts where folks reckon there are only a few 10s of active posters, 30-60 maybe. So out of curiosity I scraped the recent posts pages, formatted it into a spread sheet and counted the individual names. I meant to do 24 hours worth but around 16 hours back I started getting an error so stopped. I think I lost a few names along the way as I tried to format it as well.
However, over 16 hours I had 260+ individual names.
Only 21 came from the politics boards and some of those posters also appeared in the film boards. Though there are also posts against politicians in the film boards.
And I've just realised that I'm not in that list either - guess I didn't have anything to say after watching Jumanji: The Next Level yesterday evening.

[–] Redsfan001 (6144) 2 years ago

Nice work.

The big unknown is the "lurkers".

People who like to read but rarely post.

[–] AndyKing1967 (38068) 2 years ago

I used to be a lurker for a few years because I used the boards for specific films as a data base, rather than a discussion forum.

[–] samoanjoes (56645) 2 years ago

Me too. I only had about 150 posts after maybe a year and a half.

[–] AndyKing1967 (38068) 2 years ago

Mine got to about 200-300, then I got locked out and couldn’t get back in, so I had to create a new account. Technically speaking I am my own sock 😳

[–] samoanjoes (56645) 2 years ago

It only makes sense. Now you have a pair of socks.

[–] AndyKing1967 (38068) 2 years ago

It would be the worst usage of a sock account though (if I could only access it), as the username is almost identical, which kind of defeats the object.

[–] ColumboKate (5678) 2 years ago

Same. I was on imbd for a few years but never posted. Came here when it closed the message boards and eventually made an account.

[–] Bloodshot77 (13762) 2 years ago

Same here. Only read comments on IMDB

[–] AndyKing1967 (38068) 2 years ago

The trouble is, about 200 of them are socks, lol.

[–] huwdj (4566) 2 years ago

Quite likely. We do seem to see a lot of IDs that pop up with a few posts - perhaps limited to one thread on one board - then stop. Cannot think why anyone would do this except when being deliberately offensive.

[–] mcqueen (1150) 2 years ago

This is definitely true, i have 3 different names just by myself.

[–] db20db (17235) 2 years ago

Would it be possible for you to then fess up to that prick Quasimodo, so that he won't fuck with The Usual Suspects here?

[–] mcqueen (1150) 2 years ago

😉

[–] AndyKing1967 (38068) 2 years ago

Sock it to ‘em!

[–] mcqueen (1150) 2 years ago

😂

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

Was it a case of getting locked out of your account?

[–] mcqueen (1150) 2 years ago

One did get banned, yes

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

Do you post from the other one, or just this one?

[–] mcqueen (1150) 2 years ago

This one, mostly

[–] samoanjoes (56645) 2 years ago

I'm surprised the mods haven't nuked your account. I know they match IP addresses.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 2 years ago

I’m failing to understand the conclusion the OP is offering.

[–] huwdj (4566) 2 years ago

Only that we may have more posters than some people think.
Of course only someone with access to the database could answer this properly - this was just a quick and dirty guestimate.

[–] Mustang (5418) 2 years ago

I’ve noticed plenty of names that are new to me that come up in the individual film and tv show boards. People who don’t really post much in gen pop yet they are quite active elsewhere.

[–] huwdj (4566) 2 years ago

I've noticed that too. I posted against films for a couple of years before I noticed the General board - perhaps they will be the same?

[–] Mustang (5418) 2 years ago

It's possible, it can be less intimidating to post on the specific boards.

[–] TandyMan (11096) 2 years ago

yeah, sometimes i'll be on an obscure film board that's filled with posts just a few years old from names i've never seen. i myself usually just come here to talk about whatever while i'm having my coffee. i'm not very particular.

[–] Burk48917 (11356) 2 years ago

I rarely post here in general, but am very active in the movie and show boards.

[–] Mustang (5418) 2 years ago

Was going to say that I haven't seen you around till just now!

[–] Burk48917 (11356) 2 years ago

Honestly, I've looked at a few of posts on the general board, but you guys seem pretty tight knit, and I feel a lot of insider discussion is lost on me.

[–] Mustang (5418) 2 years ago

I wouldn't consider myself to be part of a group or anything, I didn't join all that long ago. I know what you mean though, sometimes it's like everyone knows each other really well.

[–] BeaSouth (3282) 2 years ago

Same. It’s not unusual on the movie boards to come across an unfamiliar poster and then see they have like 325 posts. That’s always good to see because it’s anecdotal evidence of a large population of posters

[–] Mustang (5418) 2 years ago

So many forums of various kinds are dead these days and the ones that are still running really do only have a dozen or two frequent members. So it is fun to know there are all these active members out there.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

There are about 20-30 dominant users who I keep seeing all over the place. The regulars if you will.

Aside from that yes you'll get a bunch of people who join, post a bit, then never bother to log back in. Pass by posters.

Others are lurkers who read the convo's but rarely contribute. Most sites you go on have more lurkers than active users. Some people just like reading discussions without the hassle of getting into back-and-forth arguments with randoms online.

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (11952) 2 years ago

Thank you. I was going to do the same thing and come up with an approximate number. I saw the 30-60 guess on another thread and knew it was way off.

Based on your numbers for 16 hours, it's safe to say there are 300+ daily users. Of course some of those are socks. But since MovieChat has email verification, that amount is not large.

So that's 300 daily. If we go back a week we would catch all the occasional users which must be pushing a thousand.

[–] huwdj (4566) 2 years ago

That sounds like way too much button clicking. But maybe I'll repeat the exercise sometime, try for 24 hours again, and add it to the list so far.