FYI, yesterday had the largest traffic yet in the forums. The previous week was also the highest weekly forums traffic on record, so it's been part of a steady trend. Over the past month the traffic has surpassed a threshold which appears to be a critical mass for having quick turnaround discussions. There's plenty of headroom too, based on the existing traffic to the tutorials sections. All good news...
Just out of curiosity how many visitors you accomodate? From the point of view of hosting bandwidth I mean. I guess it's quite high since there is no large file hosting etc. Good to hear it's getting more popular
You must be doing a lot of things right Sean - congratulations!
Even if we never get to be the biggest, we'll still be the best
At the very top of the Cambridge in Colour "About" Page, a ballpark traffic number is given based on about a year ago.
Last edited by McQ; 12th January 2009 at 05:41 AM.
10,000 is certainly a good number for a site of it's age. I guess it will grow exponentially too. I agree with the best even if not biggest comment. I think large number of visitors is great for turnover and also for contributing more points of view and perspectives along with differing areas of expertise and styles. I think places can get too big though and a lot of good content gets diluted down somewhat. Or focus on the reason it's setup is lost like when sites decend into just a social board.
Not that I hate people of course, and I think small social area site is fine but I don't "do" social networking sites/boards and the like but even if I did I'd prefer a photography forum to remain more photography orientated (but not sterile like mentioned in other threads). So many sites I used to visit have gone down hill because of that kind of thing and it ends up either being moderated by overzealous admins to keep it tight (often more to do with a clique and personal politics than content) or justs turns into a facebookesque social board.
From what I gather (correct me if I'm wrong) most the people are coming to the forums from the tutorial section which is good since it will act as a filter to some degree and stop the people to whom Darinian theory seems not to apply. The ones that are remarkable works of nature for the simple act of defying the laws of natural selection. You know the ones, they ask worse questions than me (and that's hard!) like how do I turn my camera on. I remember an overclocking forum I was long time member of died due to being overrun with them, asking questions on how to OC by turning up volts and replying what is FSB! Thankfully I seem to be the lowest level of knowledge here which is good because although I'm beginner level I'm not a complete idiot that some places are plagues with (hehehe be careful how you reply to that......saying that I guess I was asking for it so I admit maybe I am)
"Even if we never get to be the biggest, we'll still be the best
I agree with that!
I challenge anyone to find anything close to being as good as this!
Traffic is ALWAYS going to be a difficult topic.
There's such a fine line between the two conflicting types of forum.
The initial idea is to start a site, then grow and expand it as quickly as possible, trying to make it known world wide.
Then along comes a load of 'PEOPLE' that start to make the site a little bit messy.
This progresses because those untidy little beings tell all their untidy little friends to 'Join this forum!', and before you know it you have a fully fledged 'Social Network'.
Yay.
All of a sudden you find yourself thinking "Dammit! there's way too many people in my forum!"
Oh, but hang on a minute. What was I trying to achieve in the first place?.
Ultimately, this means it is going to be a very hard, up-hill battle to keep this sites awesome reputation.
Good luck
I shall look forward too observing this new forums progression
Last edited by milleniummuppet; 12th January 2009 at 07:39 AM.
Sean,
I,ve just started using Firefox with the StumbleUpon plugin. It gives you an option of flagging a site for fellow users. You've been getting more and more reviews these past two weeks, all of 'em good, including mine!
Very interesting stats, Sean.
Having been around since the early days of the forum, it is certainly noticeable that there is more traffic, indeed it can be a case that if away from the board for a day or two, the discussion has changed out of all recognition. Certainly not the case earlier on, but it certainly does mean that the knowledge base and as Sean puts it 'critical mass' has been reached in getting quality answers back to posters without undue delay.
Unless the board gets 'hi jacked' though, I do believe that the 'quality knowledge base' will act as a self regulating mechanism to prevent the board going in the wrong direction.
What I would like to see though, is more input from the many 'readers only (ie not posters)' of the forum. There is nothing to be afraid of and we all learn all of the time, from each other.
Whilst undoubtedly folk like Sean and others have huge technical knowledge the good thing is it always comes across in an accessible and unpretentious manner. That is the strength in this forum.
Long may it continue.
Last edited by shreds; 12th January 2009 at 09:32 PM.
Whilst undoubtedly folk like Sean and others have huge technical knowledge the good thing is it always comes across in an accessible and unpretentious manner. That is the strength in this forum.
I'd agree with that. People here are genuinely helpful and understand that everyone learns somewhere, and some are more specialised in a particular area than others. I think the less technically minded and none photographers help too in pointing out things people might miss due to familiarity they don't spot the "how" isn't obvious to most (aka me
10 members and 57 guests
Most users ever online was 109, Yesterday at 10:19 PM.
109 users online at once is good, seems like it's really picking up quickly now. I noticed out of the 57 guests many are spiders but a lot seem to be actual people. Not that spiders are insignificant since there will be more stuff picked up in searches with so many crawlers on. All good news
I saw it hit 24 members today!
I think Mark's "welcome and intro" thread has really helped get people to join in.
What with that and Colin's weekly challenges, this place really rocks (if I'm not too old to say that!)
Not forgetting Sean's tireless work in the background silently fixing things that go wrong occasionally and maintaining standards.
Last edited by Dave Humphries; 17th February 2009 at 12:00 AM.
To be honest, I think that all of these things help - but - primarily I believe that it's due to the helpful and friendly atmosphere that YOU good folks have created - along with the welcoming & encouraging posts.Originally Posted by Dave Humphries
I saw it hit 24 members today!
I think Mark's "welcome and intro" thread has really helped get people to join in.
What with that and Colin's weekly challenges, this place really rocks (if I'm not too old to say that!)
Not forgetting Sean's tireless work in the background silently fixing things that go wrong occasionally and maintaining standards.
So everyone - give yourself a pat on the back - you've earned it!
I agree with that, congratulations Sean!
...as everything in life has its positive side and also a negative one, however it depend on us if we try to keep the atmosphere as it was until now, I think that Sean & Colin should get some more help from us trying to keep it like that and if there is something wrong we should report it.
I believe that respect and kindness should rule.
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