Site Topics - Part II

[LA Guy]



^ marsupialed.
Mods - I know some people have taken their balls (pun intended) and gone home as a result of the new forum layout. I'm also sure you guys can rest secure that the loss of a few folks is not going to be a big deal in the long run.
However, it does seem to me that site activity is way, way down since the changeover. Do you guys have any stats on, say, average daily number of unique visitors, average daily number of posts (this one looks WAY down to me), etc. from before the switch and after? Just kind of curious, I guess.

Yes, things are pretty much back up to normal, according to google analytics. The "active" users are calculated very differently than in VB, so the two are not comparable.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/styleforum.net#
The number of page views are down 35% since the switch.

Alexa is garbage. We are constantly monitoring google analytics. There has actually been an uptick in visitors, but a slight drop in pageviews - something like 5%. If you want to know what Alexa is down, check our where we are most popular, besides the US. We don't actually have that many Pakistani and Bangladeshi users, and we have flagged Indian registration. Spam on the old system was rampant, and actually drove up our stats. Like I tell my students - do not trust numbers unless you understand them.

Woah, scratch that. In google analytics, unique visitors are actually on an upswing, and at least in the last day or so, have been higher than it has ever been, by a significant margin. I don't have access to registration numbers right now.

COuld the slower page load time be the problem? It seems like we went from fast service interrupted by occasional laggy outages to moderate service with no laggy outages.

Actually, we have had no outtages, and we are working on the load speed. The difference is actually not merely academic. We did have outtages before, and there are really 2 things that can kill a forum - bad moderation, and speed. The old, highly hacked system was crumbling, we had no way of rebuilding it With this system, we are working actively with the developers to increase the speed and build features. I was talking to the CTO of The Huddler, and we got the white spaces problem at least partially resolved, in a day. There is no way we could have done that on our own.

If you want a superfast system, as a stopgap measure, I would use Chrome, on which Styleforum seems to perform well for everyone. We are analyzing the behavior of users, from lurkers with no posts to guys who don't stop typing for even a minute, and testing it against historical data. There is an expected level of adjustment, after which we should expect to see similar, or even better, postings. This analysis is fairly complicated, requires an expert user, and I'm not done/have other things to attend to here. However, google analytics indicate that traffic is pretty much back up to normal, and we hope to be on an uptrend very soon. This is not to say that there are not issues with the new system. However, it is a new, hopeful thing, while are old system was lumbering towards destruction.

Edit - they are now officially on an uptrend.

 

[FLMountainMan]



Yes, things are pretty much back up to normal, according to google analytics. The "active" users are calculated very differently than in VB, so the two are not comparable.


Alexa is garbage. We are constantly monitoring google analytics. There has actually been an uptick in visitors, but a slight drop in pageviews - something like 5%. If you want to know what Alexa is down, check our where we are most popular, besides the US. We don't actually have that many Pakistani and Bangladeshi users, and we have flagged Indian registration. Spam on the old system was rampant, and actually drove up our stats. Like I tell my students - do not trust numbers unless you understand them.

Woah, scratch that. In google analytics, unique visitors are actually on an upswing, and at least in the last day or so, have been higher than it has ever been, by a significant margin. I don't have access to registration numbers right now.


Actually, we have had no outtages, and we are working on the load speed. The difference is actually not merely academic. We did have outtages before, and there are really 2 things that can kill a forum - bad moderation, and speed. The old, highly hacked system was crumbling, we had no way of rebuilding it With this system, we are working actively with the developers to increase the speed and build features. I was talking to the CTO of The Huddler, and we got the white spaces problem at least partially resolved, in a day. There is no way we could have done that on our own.

If you want a superfast system, as a stopgap measure, I would use Chrome, on which Styleforum seems to perform well for everyone. We are analyzing the behavior of users, from lurkers with no posts to guys who don't stop typing for even a minute, and testing it against historical data. There is an expected level of adjustment, after which we should expect to see similar, or even better, postings. This analysis is fairly complicated, requires an expert user, and I'm not done/have other things to attend to here. However, google analytics indicate that traffic is pretty much back up to normal, and we hope to be on an uptrend very soon. This is not to say that there are not issues with the new system. However, it is a new, hopeful thing, while are old system was lumbering towards destruction.

Edit - they are now officially on an uptrend.

This is really interesting stuff, thanks. I'll switch to Chrome for my home usage.

 

[foodguy]

i'm a slow adapter and i'm still getting used to the new system and learning how best to use it. but on Firefox, it is just blazing for me. Change is always difficult, but i'm already finding things i like better about my new neighborhood.

 

[HORNS]



i'm a slow adapter and i'm still getting used to the new system and learning how best to use it. but on Firefox, it is just blazing for me. Change is always difficult, but i'm already finding things i like better about my new neighborhood.

Ditto

 

[acidboy]

regarding the changes: it did took a while to "adjust" to the changes, and even now it still takes a few moments for me to look over stuff and post, but like anything else I'm getting used to this and now I am beginning to think this format is x1000 better than ye olde styleforvm. hope the ones that are still holding back return.... the water's fine!

 

[KitAkira]

:/ Spam's getting through. Had to blast away 2 posts from SW&D today

 

[kwilkinson]



:/ Spam's getting through. Had to blast away 2 posts from SW&D today

Defensio, Huddler's spam filter, is a smart system that over time will begin to recognize what we flag as spam, and will change its filtering patterns to meet our individual forum needs. Problem is, I've been way too busy, and lazy by the time I get off work, to properly do my job with the spam.

 

[nootje]



Defensio, Huddler's spam filter, is a smart system that over time will begin to recognize what we flag as spam, and will change its filtering patterns to meet our individual forum needs. Problem is, I've been way too busy, and lazy by the time I get off work, to properly do my job with the spam.

*shakes head in disbelief* No time for SF?

 

[Douglas]

Thanks for all the work you guys are continuing to do, guys. It's showing. I've noticed things changing (like stickies) in response to suggestions, and I know you're working hard. Fok, thanks for the site traffic stats. I noticed you didn't comment on post volumes (I know it's probably hard to compare apples to apples with the spammers gone) but it just does seem to me like the threads I'm used to seeing have a lot of activity have a bit less now.

I am also finding new features as I learn how to use the site better that I like. For example, the "recent activity" feature on the main page functions just like a "my posts" only much, much better than the old version.

Keep up the good work.

Also, thanks for shrinking the avatars. I hated them all huge like they were.

 

[itsstillmatt]

all you people with your special titles.

 

[LA Guy]



Defensio, Huddler's spam filter, is a smart system that over time will begin to recognize what we flag as spam, and will change its filtering patterns to meet our individual forum needs. Problem is, I've been way too busy, and lazy by the time I get off work, to properly do my job with the spam.

Dear Kyle,

Kindly do your job. Or I'll send Kunk to you. Kthnx.

Fok.

 

[LA Guy]



*shakes head in disbelief* No time for SF?

Indeed. Seeing his post history, I find this extremely difficult to believe. It's sort of like "My neighbour's pet elephant ate my homework. And my mom. I'll also need the day off."

 

[emptym]

I've been very impressed with the new changes. Love the lightning-quick drop down menu for "Forums," for example. Am still getting to know other new features too. THnaks for the "Recent activity" tip, Douglas. Readability was tough w/ all the white space, but it's much better now. And I prefer the small avatars, especially if it means less dead space.

 

[Manton]

I didn't like it at first. Mostly because I hate change. Now I think it is pretty good.

I still have two basic concerns.

First, I think one's experience is now VERY hardware dependent. That is, the site is fabulous on a newer computer with some speed but slow and frustrating on an older and/or heavily networked/firewalled machine. On the old software, it hardly mattered. One machine was as good as another.

Second, while it is now easier to keep up with threads that I have already posted in, I don't find it quite so easy to spot threads that I have not posted in but might be interested in. I have to do a lot of clicking to scan all the forums for new stuff.

Oh, and I find that the search function also requires a great deal more clicking. Having it default to "relevance" for instance is not that useful as I would much rather search by date.

I guess that was three things.

 

[LA Guy]



Thanks for all the work you guys are continuing to do, guys. It's showing. I've noticed things changing (like stickies) in response to suggestions, and I know you're working hard. Fok, thanks for the site traffic stats. I noticed you didn't comment on post volumes (I know it's probably hard to compare apples to apples with the spammers gone) but it just does seem to me like the threads I'm used to seeing have a lot of activity have a bit less now.

I am also finding new features as I learn how to use the site better that I like. For example, the "recent activity" feature on the main page functions just like a "my posts" only much, much better than the old version.

Keep up the good work.

Also, thanks for shrinking the avatars. I hated them all huge like they were.

Glad you are liking some of the new features and getting used to the new system,

Post volumes are just harder to check on. Google analytics is good for generalized analysis, but is definitely not geared towards forums, so that measure is just not there (or at least, nowhere I've been able to find.) We do have that data, but it is internal to the Huddler system, and I cannot access it directly. However, I will have regular reports on that, including specialized information that no other webmaster has seemed to ask for, and I will be doing ongoing analysis of post histories from all types of users, from those who post 50 times a day, to those who post 1 or 2 a day. This is something that I am actually quite good at - quantitative analysis of qualitative measures (though, post count is not really a qualitative measure) is a larger and larger part of my academic research.