Updated Stats

[RadioRob]

From time to time (as I find a spare moment), I like sharing some of the statistics I have visibility to regarding the site.  By looking at how people use the site, I can make better and more informed decisions as I look to make changes and try to improve our user experiencel.

Below are some stats for the site for last quarter (Oct-21 to Dec-21):

• New Site Registrations: 429
  • Spam Registrations Blocked: 1178
  • Started Registration But Never Finished: 94
• New Site Content:
  • 1731 unique topics and 39,626 posts were created during Q4.  
  • The Deli had the lion share of new topics whereas the Legacy Gallery had the majority of post replies.  (Any surprise there?!)
  • December was busiest month with 602 topics and 13,692 posts created.  
    • This also includes the Political Issues being closed for the second half of December.
  • 3,194 Private Messages sent
  • 101,954 reactions given
    • Likes represented 74% of all reactions given, followed by Applause at 15% and Haha at 5%
    • @beachboygave the most reactions and @whipped guyreceived the most reactions.  
  • 24,908 emails sent to members
    • 55% of all emails sent are notifications of new Private Messages.  This is followed by "New Content Notifications" at 21%.
    • 72% of all emails sent are actually opened by members.
    • 23% of the opened emails are clicked on by members.
• Site Traffic
  • 215,710 unique users saw our site last quarter.  
  • 442.5K sessions per user (viewing on average 8 pages per visit).
  • 3.6M page views over the quarter
  • Only 29% of all visits were from someone logged into the site.  (People peek at us 3x more than they post about us!)
    
  • 14% of all site visits involved a search.  
    • The most searched phrases (in order): Rainer, Chicago, Dallas, bigboyjoey, Atlanta, Boston, Vegas, milan_twink
    • If you searched for something, you refined your results 30% of the time.  (Meaning a 2nd/3rd search immediate after your first.)
• Site Demographics (per Google Analytics)
  • 73% of all users can be attributed as male 
  • Age Breakdown:
    • 23% Over 65
    • 41% 55-64
    • 19% 45-54
    • 11% 25-34
    • 6% Under 25
  • Location Breakdown:
    • 91% United States
      • 13% New York
      • 5% Los Angeles
      • 3% Chicago
      • 3% Washington, DC
      • 2% San Francisco
    • 2% Canada
    • 2% United Kingom
    • (All other locations represented under 1%)
  • Mobile Usage
    • 57% Mobile devices
    • 39% Desktop devices
    • 4% Tablet devices
    • iPhones represent 70% of all mobile traffic (iPads 4%)
    • Android represents 26% of all mobile traffic.  (No single Android device represents more than 0.6% of traffic)
  • Web Browsers
    • 51% Safari (Not surprising given our high number of iOS users and Mac users)
    • 39% Chrome
    • 4% Edge
    • 3% Firefox
    • 1% Opera
  • Cross Device Usage (Users accessing the site across different devices)

    • Desktop Only 38%

    • Mobile Only 35.%

    • Desktop -> Mobile 19.97%

    • Tablet Only 3%

    • Desktop -> Tablet 2%

    • Desktop -> Mobile -> Tablet 2%

    • Mobile -> Tablet 1%

[+ Charlie]

Re: email sent to members. I suspect the large number never opened may have ended up in spam folders, where they were never seen. I often don't open or click on one that says I got a private message, because I know I will look at the message when I log on to the site later.

[+ azdr0710]

to expand on Charlie's note a bit, yes, I get email notifications that I have a PM at the forum....sometimes I'll open that email (maybe just to see who wrote to me), but I often wait until I go to the forum later because it'll be easier there to read and respond directly to the PM.....

Edited January 22, 2022 by azdr0710

[RadioRob]

Yup.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with not opening the email or clicking a link.  It's no skin off my back either way.  It's simply something to understand.

Knowing that a majority of all emails are PM notifications, I need to make sure the notification template is as optimized as possible.  Knowing that over 50% view their email from a web interface means I have to take that into account when I setup security policies so that I don't accidentally block webmail clients.  

I'm not trying to make ya'll change doing anything.  I just thought ya'll might like seeing some of the things I can and do pay attention to.  In some cases, it might help you understand some of the choices I make when it comes to design.   

[mike carey]

4 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

to expand on Charlie's note a bit, yes, I get email notifications that I have a PM at the forum....sometimes I'll open that email (maybe just to see who wrote to me), but I often wait until I go to the forum later because it'll be easier there to read and respond directly to the PM.....

I'm the opposite in a way, I read PMs first where I first see them be that in my e-mail (Outlook) or in the forum. Either way I will usually open the e-mail if only so it doesn't show up as unread in my trash folder. A couple of days ago I was using wi-fi that blocked the forum (my recollection from a previous time, not actually checked this time) and was able to read the text of the PM in the mail item. I replied later.

[+ MasssageGuy]

On 1/22/2022 at 2:57 AM, RadioRob said:

From time to time (as I find a spare moment), I like sharing some of the statistics I have visibility to regarding the site.  By looking at how people use the site, I can make better and more informed decisions as I look to make changes and try to improve our user experiencel.

Below are some stats for the site for last quarter (Oct-21 to Dec-21):

• New Site Registrations: 429
  • Spam Registrations Blocked: 1178
  • Started Registration But Never Finished: 94
• New Site Content:
  • 1731 unique topics and 39,626 posts were created during Q4.  
  • The Deli had the lion share of new topics whereas the Legacy Gallery had the majority of post replies.  (Any surprise there?!)
  • December was busiest month with 602 topics and 13,692 posts created.  
    • This also includes the Political Issues being closed for the second half of December.
  • 3,194 Private Messages sent
  • 101,954 reactions given
    • Likes represented 74% of all reactions given, followed by Applause at 15% and Haha at 5%
    • @beachboygave the most reactions and @whipped guyreceived the most reactions.  
  • 24,908 emails sent to members
    • 55% of all emails sent are notifications of new Private Messages.  This is followed by "New Content Notifications" at 21%.
    • 72% of all emails sent are actually opened by members.
    • 23% of the opened emails are clicked on by members.
• Site Traffic
  • 215,710 unique users saw our site last quarter.  
  • 442.5K sessions per user (viewing on average 8 pages per visit).
  • 3.6M page views over the quarter
  • Only 29% of all visits were from someone logged into the site.  (People peek at us 3x more than they post about us!)
    
  • 14% of all site visits involved a search.  
    • The most searched phrases (in order): Rainer, Chicago, Dallas, bigboyjoey, Atlanta, Boston, Vegas, milan_twink
    • If you searched for something, you refined your results 30% of the time.  (Meaning a 2nd/3rd search immediate after your first.)
• Site Demographics (per Google Analytics)
  • 73% of all users can be attributed as male 
  • Age Breakdown:
    • 23% Over 65
    • 41% 55-64
    • 19% 45-54
    • 11% 25-34
    • 6% Under 25
  • Location Breakdown:
    • 91% United States
      • 13% New York
      • 5% Los Angeles
      • 3% Chicago
      • 3% Washington, DC
      • 2% San Francisco
    • 2% Canada
    • 2% United Kingom
    • (All other locations represented under 1%)
  • Mobile Usage
    • 57% Mobile devices
    • 39% Desktop devices
    • 4% Tablet devices
    • iPhones represent 70% of all mobile traffic (iPads 4%)
    • Android represents 26% of all mobile traffic.  (No single Android device represents more than 0.6% of traffic)
  • Web Browsers
    • 51% Safari (Not surprising given our high number of iOS users and Mac users)
    • 39% Chrome
    • 4% Edge
    • 3% Firefox
    • 1% Opera
  • Cross Device Usage (Users accessing the site across different devices)

    • Desktop Only 38%

    • Mobile Only 35.%

    • Desktop -> Mobile 19.97%

    • Tablet Only 3%

    • Desktop -> Tablet 2%

    • Desktop -> Mobile -> Tablet 2%

    • Mobile -> Tablet 1%

Interesting stats.  Surprised only 4% Microsoft browser.  Curious as to the distribution of users by State. 

[RadioRob]

Just now, MasssageGuy said:

Interesting stats.  Surprised only 4% Microsoft browser.  Curious as to the distribution of users by State. 

Google Analytics does not offer a State based location breakdown.  I can filter to the country or to the city.  

In looking at the CITY breakdown for the past 7 days only for those members actually logged in with a valid username/password (filtering out all of the guest traffic)...  below is the location of logged in people per city:

[+ sync]

9 minutes ago, RadioRob said:

Google Analytics does not offer a State based location breakdown.  I can filter to the country or to the city.  

In looking at the CITY breakdown for the past 7 days only for those members actually logged in with a valid username/password (filtering out all of the guest traffic)...  below is the location of logged in people per city:

Would/could the city/state numbers be altered by browsers logging into the site through VPN applications?

[RadioRob]

Yes, it could. Now… it would have to be more than just to the “site”.  If someone is running all traffic through a VPN, we would only see the VPN endpoint. We could not see where it’s ultimately proxies to. 

If they are only running traffic to our site though a VPN, the Google Analytics JavaScript is called from Google’s server and therefore not be subject to just a URL target match. 

Something you’re trying to hide from me?!? 🤣

[+ sync]

15 hours ago, RadioRob said:

Yes, it could. Now… it would have to be more than just to the “site”.  If someone is running all traffic through a VPN, we would only see the VPN endpoint. We could not see where it’s ultimately proxies to. 

If they are only running traffic to our site though a VPN, the Google Analytics JavaScript is called from Google’s server and therefore not be subject to just a URL target match. 

Something you’re trying to hide from me?!? 🤣

[+ Lucky]

Are there stats available to see who spends the most time online here? I can kind of guess, but..

[RadioRob]

Actually yes, I can see the total number of sessions and the average session length on a per member basis.  But who am I to put someone on blast for the amount of time they spend here?   

[+ JEC]

Interesting that Boston is a top search term, yet 11th in terms of members.   I wonder if it has to do with the lack of talent here in Boston?  😲

[Golem]

Well, assuming that list of top search terms was in order, I notice the 5 cities that appear there also show up in identical  order on the geo list.  So really the question is what those 5 cities have in common, that the others don't:

IN COMMON: Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, Vegas

BUT DIFFERENT FROM: NYC, LA, SF, DC, Long Beach, Philly

[RadioRob]

5 hours ago, Golem said:

Well, assuming that list of top search terms was in order, I notice the 5 cities that appear there also show up in identical  order on the geo list.  So really the question is what those 5 cities have in common, that the others don't:

IN COMMON: Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, Vegas

BUT DIFFERENT FROM: NYC, LA, SF, DC, Long Beach, Philly

Yes, they were in order. This is stuff I look at as well. There are two common scenarios. 

- Logged in users vs guests. Logged in users (members) are more likely to use search. Their location profile can be a bit different than the overall site population. 
- This also showcases a bit what locations have more travel hires vs local hires. Seeing a high search in a region that does not also have a high user population there can potentially be attributed to people searching for providers not in their local market. 

[+ WilliamM]

On 1/24/2022 at 9:49 PM, Lucky said:

Are there stats available to see who spends the most time online here? I can kind of guess, but..

I spend a lot of time here, but not with PMs 

And the members who post a lot in the Gallary, of course, are way ahead in the number of points. That is why @marylander1940 is so far in the lead. Pay attention.

Edited February 2, 2022 by WilliamM

[Beancounter]

As a retired accountant and Excel gurú extraordinaire I applaud not only Radio Bob’s statistical presentation but his formidable technology prowess.  Reading through the statistics gave me a boner.  😂.   I know.  I need to get a life. 
 

Thanks, Radio Bob.