Metafilter Usage Graphs 2018-2021

September 13, 2021 2:08 PM

Metafilter Usage Graphs 2018-2021
I figured it was time to update these.

Role: person who made graphs

posted by Tell Me No Lies (21 comments total)

Now I feel like I'm not pulling my weight, because I comment less frequently than I used to. I lurk a lot and rarely comment.

Oh, wait...
posted by avapoet at 2:41 PM on September 13, 2021

Those are only for the blue. Comments in projects don’t count. :-)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:00 PM on September 13, 2021

Are your old graphs (2010-2019) still around somewhere?
posted by mpark at 6:08 PM on September 13, 2021

No, unfortunately they were the victims of an overenthusiastic cleanup effort.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:53 PM on September 13, 2021

Ah, the wayback machine does have them.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:57 PM on September 13, 2021 [2 favorites]

Seems bad.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 6:33 AM on September 14, 2021

Second though has to be context.

I've done these periodically over the years. I stay strictly to numbers. Why things happen or what should be done about them is definitely not in my purview.

Seems bad.

Yeah. There were a bunch of other graphs I was going to make but the data so far just reflects a continuation of the 2010-2019 slide. It's dispiriting.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:21 AM on September 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

Looking at those peaks around the last american federal election and the proceeding inauguration... It sure seems like a whole helluva lot more of metafilter was (american) politicsfilter than I'd realized.

I have fluctuations in how I use the site and it's components but, well, not american. So I don't think I'd noticed that much difference.
posted by mce at 2:42 PM on September 14, 2021

There's the option on the front page to hide American political posts. You may have hit that in which case you definitely wouldn't notice the uptick.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:12 PM on September 14, 2021

Tell Me No Lies, thank you for this project.

If it's easy for you to crunch the numbers on unique posters per week and say approximately where it's at now, I'd appreciate it.
posted by brainwane at 9:58 PM on September 17, 2021

Okay, I added that although I made the assumption that you meant average unique commenters and not posters. I can do posters instead if you like.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:44 PM on September 18, 2021

Tell Me No Lies, I did mean unique posters (by which I mean: unique users making front-page posts), thanks. I have made an effort to make frequent posts to the blue and am curious about how rare I am.
posted by brainwane at 7:14 PM on September 18, 2021

Okay, I've added unique posters per week. I put total posts on there too for comparison.

I'm surprised at how many different people post. I would have guessed it would have been 20% of the people providing 80% of the posts but it's not even close to that.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:37 PM on September 19, 2021

Thanks!
posted by brainwane at 8:37 PM on September 19, 2021

That makes me wonder if MetaFilter is becoming a revolving door (and is also seeing less overall foot traffic over time). New people come in, look around, comment or post, and leave.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:22 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

I added a graph of the new users per day.

Given that the site only sees about one new user per day I'm not sure that much can be gleaned from charting their behaviour. For example, I'm certain that some are accounts created by existing users for asking semi-anonymous AskMe questions. Others may be stunt accounts.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:31 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this, Tell Me No Lies!
Does new user = new account? Or first time commenter? Either way, one a day is teeny 😞
posted by estlin at 6:05 PM on September 30, 2021

You’re welcome.

New user == new account created
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:06 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

A histogram of account ages (and active-account ages) would be informative... (Says the lazy person)
posted by memetoclast at 1:51 AM on November 19, 2021

I added a graph of the account age of users who have commented after September 1st, 2021.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:35 PM on November 28, 2021

I'm an old and I joined August 26, 2001. MetaFilter is one of the longest-standing relationships in my life outside my birth family. I've sensed this downward slide but it's a drag to see it in data.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:28 PM on December 3, 2021