Who are these people?

[alanmcorcoran]

When I stumbled across this site, I was impressed by both the number of registered users and the rate at which they were growing. The stats on the bottom of the page show an impressive 6500 plus registered users and it seems to grow by ten or twelve a day.

However, in reality it seems that there's a core of about 25-50 posters and, after that, actual activity drops off precipitously. I leave the site open pretty much indefinitely in an IE7 tab, and when I take the occasional peek, I am often the only registered user.

None of this is particularly important, the content provided by the core users is well worthwhile. What I'm wondering is... who (or where) are the other 6400 registrants? Are they all aliases of spammers?

Just curious...

[patrick_777]

A lot are spam accounts that are hard to weed out from the real users. There's also a good portion of actual users that register and then move on without a post.

Indeed, a quick look at the Memberlist shows 6386 registered users with 0 posts. Click Memberlist on the top and descend-sort by number of posts. The zero count starts after about page 8 and goes through 133.

[jonathan180iq]

A lot of these sniveling know-nothings just come here looking to steal advice without contributing anything and then run off to fairy lovers land.

We should make the free-loader list and have a "Free-Loader of the Week" tribute to a different one each day.

[Dupo]

Yep, they are spammers. I get atleast 20-30 spam signups a day. I can't stop it. Theres one way ive seen effective but it requires me to edit php files for every theme i have installed which is like 7 themes. One screw up and poof goes a theme and you guys see php errors instead of a forum.

So the only thing that works for right now is that i require people to email me directly asking to be activated. Its unfortunate we live in a world of greed for money that assholes have to spam forums with worthless garbage just to try to get a few clicks to their website and make .05 cents.

[Sarris]

Maybe you could just delete everyone with zero posts??

:??:

[Magnar Infectus]

I used to be an avid poster on the (now defunct) Deathguard.org forum. It was the same way there. 7 or 8 thousand members. 6 or 7 thousand with 0 posts. Only about 20 or so regular posters. I've always assumed that was the norm.

[Dupo]

Originally Posted by Sarris

Maybe you could just delete everyone with zero posts??

:??:

Nope, cant do that. If someone signs up and doesnt catch that they have to reply to me ... for 2 weeks ... then asks, their account will be deleted.

Ive tried deleting them once and that exact thing happened .... a few stragglers got their accounts deleted because they didnt see to reply to me via the welcome email to get activated. Caused such a mess.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Sarris

Maybe you could just delete everyone with zero posts??

:??:

No, I don't think so. "Lurkers" are not necessarily bad people!
Some even speak up after a while.

[alanmcorcoran]

...I am the moderator of three groups on Yahoo. They all have a potential audience that is much smaller than the number of GZ owners (I think, anyway.) Two of the three are all but dead and the third is on life support. Even with the 50-60 or so active users here, this is a very lively forum and actually quite an achievement.

With my others I noticed that there was a lifecycle of user interest.

1) Overenthusiam - we're going to change the world!
2) Fighting - My idea for changing the world is way better than yours - and you're a big poopy head besides!
3) Boredom - I've spouted out all my great thoughts, pissed everybody off, and now it's time to move on. Later dudes!
4) Silence.

The fact that Dupo doesn't even own a GZ and has soldiered on with this would be enough in my book for sainthood if I believed in that sort of thing. There seems to be a rare condition on this site in that there is a palpable pressure NOT to be a dick in one's postings that is sadly absent from nearly everywhere else I go. I hate the word "kudo" (it's a MySpace thing), but...

kudos to you Dupo and Badbob!

[countrydad]

Alan is absolutely right. I am not an avid poster, but have benefited a lot from the expertise and knowledge of those of you who are regulars. So to all of you a huge thanks! :2tup:

One reason I don't post more often is that I am not really qualified to speak on a particular subject. I am still learning. However, if I know something I'll share. I think that there are probably a lot of "members" who feel the same way. Fear of inferiority maybe. That being said, I have never read a post that beats someone down because they posted without any real knowledge or insight, and like Alan says that is rare.

Thanks for the great site from a "Lurker."