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I feel like for the purposes of measurement, active probably doesn't include lurkers. It's too hard to track visits compared to posts. I would say if I were to set a criteria for active, I'd make it: has posted in at least three different threads within the last month, on non-consecutive days. Maybe a minimum post count, but I'm wary of setting a bar like that. It feels exclusionary. But something between 20 and 50 might be reasonable.

That's broad enough to include people that have busy lives and only get on now and then, but are recognizable regulars, and it means people that only come on for one day, or only ever post in one thread, aren't counted. Not to say there's anything wrong with acting either of those ways, but to me, it doesn't seem fully "active."

The other thing is, there's lots of people who use the forum in different ways. Some only comment on videos and podcasts. Others stick pretty much entirely to the Magic section. So while there are probably less than 100 people I'd think of as active regulars, I don't read the Magic section much, if ever, so my perception is missing all of those people. Meanwhile, I know there are definitely some frequent posters who don't watch videos anymore, so they might not recognize people that only comment there.

So, like 125 might be a high estimate if you also count the "single-threaders" and people who only post in a specific sub-forum? Interesting. I was mainly curious because sometimes it seems like there are lots and lots of people here, and other times, it seems like a tight-knit place with maybe only a dozen people or so. So maybe it's just the "core group" of people here when it feels sparse and it's the "core group" plus irregulars when it feels active.

Yeah, I mean, I haven't done any checking in on those numbers, that's just a guess. I think you're right, there's a decent handful (I'd probably say more than a dozen, though) that are very regular posters, and then others seem to come in waves. I'm sure part of it is just how everyone's real life is going, and when a bunch have more free time lining up, we get a surge. And then obviously things like holidays and Desert Bus can have an effect one way or the other.

And then there are also people who often have thousands of posts and have been active in the past but might be pretty rare posters now, who we might even still think of as regulars, just because we remember them being very active.

BlueChloroplast wrote:Well Lone Bard, you seem to have taken the same first path I did. I think that one has the most sex, the others only had one scene, but I never finished all the paths, Rin's was weird and I felt little attachment, so I got tired of the game before I finished Alice's as my last path (although I intend to finish it eventually, she looks like the most stable character).

Maybe I should date pidgeons instead

If by Alice you meant Hanako, you should. It's really playing on the protective instinct, but in the process managed to teach me a bunch about fragile people who just want to be normal... Sort of like myself. This game has been weird like that, it randomly teaches me things about people.

Coming in a couple of days late to the activity discussion, I know that I don't know whether I count as a "regular" or not. (See: did not notice this discussion for a couple of days, only posts in the Magic forum most of the time). But also I've been here for a long time and have a moderate post count. I think that indicates that trying to define "regulars" is a difficult process, because there are so many "what about..."s to answer.

Yeah, absolutely. It's a tough line to draw, and probably not one that needs to be. You're right, you're a good example of the problems with what I said above - you're absolutely someone I would consider a regular, but I can't say whether or not a specific criteria would include you.

In the end, I think having one hard and fast rule is problematic and is going to leave people who are valuable members of the community feeling left out. If someone was interested to compile stats of active users, I think I'd encourage them to just use their own judgement on a case by case basis and get a rough estimate to satisfy their curiosity. It'd be a big job, but given the relatively small size of this forum, could easily be done in a day, I think.

Just if anyone does that, please don't make a list of who you consider to be a regular public, even if you share the number. It's only going to lead to hurt feelings from people who feel like they should be there and aren't, and we don't want anyone to get the idea that they aren't appreciated or liked.

Or, I mean if you wanted to take a different route, just post a thread in each forum (other than video discussions which we can't) and just ask everyone who considers themselves a regular to sound off. Those that do within say, a month, get added up for a rough number.

Yesterday Bebop and I had sushi and arabic empanadas! we had a great time and I feel happy about it.

Jamfalcon wrote:It's a tough line to draw, and probably not one that needs to be.

Yeah, and part of what I was trying to say wasn't that it's a line that needed to be made. I was just trying to get a general sense, not an exact number, so if a few people fall just outside the "boundaries" it wouldn't matter. The difference between, say 20 and 25 or 55 and 60, is negligible for the purposes I was using.

So... I have done a five minute stand up spot at an open mic in Edinburgh, and I elicited genuine muted titters from random strangers.

I think I would like to pursue this, it was a lot of fun and the adrenaline rush lasted for hours, I worked my way through several gin and tonics (both as Dutch courage and as a round afterwards to thank the lovely guitarist who recorded my 'set' for me) and was quite sober, possibly also because of the distance I jogged across Edinburgh to enthuse about it with lovely friends like a demented puppy.

Well then.

If only we were that lucky

@Ptangmatik: Sounds great! I've always found you to be quite funny on Fan Dump

Man, what happened to that? We should do another one of those

We actually did at GP London. CantWearHats will edit it into a video, provided the audio isn't garbo.

Isn't there also a non-live one that's currently being recorded?

There was. We had the script done, but we didn't end up recording anything. :/

Well, I bought my (probably long overdue) first car today. It has a lot of miles on it and I've only driven it home, but so far I'm pretty happy with it. And even more so that I can stop relying on other people for rides and taking buses to visit my girlfriend (who lives four hours and an international border away.)

And to add to the excitement, I've hatched a plan to go visit her next week as a surprise for her birthday. She's said offhandedly that she'd respond positively to an unexpected visit, since they're so tough with the distance. But it's haaaard not telling her that I even bought it yet.

I seem to remember a little while after Desert Bus 8, there was a page floating around that talked about what went into creating the RDP button, with its big red button and auction keys and whatnot.

Does anyone know where that is? I've been looking around a lot and I can't find it anywhere...

Oh hey gang, been a while since I hung out here but I thought I'd let y'all know my wife and I are expecting a baby!

Congrats Metcarfre!!

That's awesome, huge congratulations to both you and your wife!

Congratulations Metcarfre!

Congrats, Metcarfre!

Aw, congrats!

I finnaly moved into my own flat today. Moving requires you to do a lot things.