Some Site Statistics

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

Since I upgraded my broadband some IP locators have moved me to Scotland.....

And me to either Cardiff or Poland. Plus I have checked in over the past 6 months from 8 foreign countries. Does this skew things?

[grahame]

Since I upgraded my broadband some IP locators have moved me to Scotland.....

And me to either Cardiff or Poland. Plus I have checked in over the past 6 months from 8 foreign countries. Does this skew things?

As IP addressed get reassigned, copy databases become less reliable if you're getting location from a site like GeoIP as we do for some stuff behind the scenes.  However, Google Analytics probably uses its own system and keeps it very much current, and I would suspect that averaged out the geographic mapping of visitors is somewhere between "quite good" and "very good".  I wouldn't trust individual splodges on the map, but I would accept the general pattern.

[bobm]

I looked earlier and I had been sent to Coventry.  Says it all really!   

[JayMac]

I'm not far from you, bobm. GeoIP has me in Walsall.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Since I upgraded my broadband some IP locators have moved me to Scotland.....

Brexit - with a vengeance. 

[grahame]

Every so often, I take a look at the forum stats at a different angle (more often than I tell members about to keep me finger on the pulse!) ... and I have looked at a couple of thins this morning - all about FEBRUARY.

Post numbers in February each year since our foundation in 2007:
309 - 3626 - 1741 - 1775 - 1719 - 1623 - 2011 - 2424 - 1684 - 1472 - 1376 - 1869

Boards with over 30 messages / replies during the month just gone:

Code:

+------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| post_count | board_number | board_name                              |
+------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
|        376 |           26 | Across the West                         |
|        147 |           51 | The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom |
|        130 |           30 | The Lighter Side                        |
|        122 |           14 | London to the Cotswolds                 |
|         93 |            5 | Buses and other ways to travel          |
|         86 |           21 | Bristol Commuters                       |
|         84 |           40 | Looking forward - 2018 to 2045          |
|         79 |           18 | TransWilts line                         |
|         78 |           31 | The West - but NOT the West's trains    |
|         76 |            3 | Smoke and Mirrors                       |
|         66 |           12 | London to the West                      |
|         60 |            4 | Fare's Fair                             |
|         43 |            7 | London to Reading                       |
|         43 |           35 | Frequent Posters Club                   |
+------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+

[grahame]

Number of posts for April 2018 - 2132 - up from 1213 in April 2017
Number of posts for March 2018 - 2361 - up from 1796 in March 2017
Number of posts for February 2018 - 1869 - up from 1376 in February 2017

Historically, our post count fluctuation has reflected the fluctuation in performance and satisfaction with our main train provider (FGW^▸ (First Great Western), now GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) with more posts suggesting more concerns.  So not a good couple of months for them in their customer / passenger's eye.

Please note though that our March and April figures have been distorted by our own issues on the forum, with our server crash over Easter which has reduced the number of posts remaining on our server by between 100 and 150 for each of those two months.

[Timmer]

Wow! That's quite a jump and yes as you say sadly reflects on how things have been on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network these past few months.

[grahame]

Number of posts for April 2018 - 2132 - up from 1213 in April 2017
Number of posts for March 2018 - 2361 - up from 1796 in March 2017
Number of posts for February 2018 - 1869 - up from 1376 in February 2017

Number of posts for August 2018 - 2270 - up from 1747 in August 2017
Number of posts for July 2018 - 2370 - up from 2135 in July 2017
Number of posts for June 2018 - 1852 - up from 1334 in June 2017
Number of posts for May 2018 - 2040 - up from 1158 in May 2017

[grahame]

Number of posts for April 2018 - 2132 - up from 1213 in April 2017
Number of posts for March 2018 - 2361 - up from 1796 in March 2017
Number of posts for February 2018 - 1869 - up from 1376 in February 2017

Number of posts for August 2018 - 2270 - up from 1747 in August 2017
Number of posts for July 2018 - 2370 - up from 2135 in July 2017
Number of posts for June 2018 - 1852 - up from 1334 in June 2017
Number of posts for May 2018 - 2040 - up from 1158 in May 2017

In September - 2346 posts. Down from 2499 in September 2017; interesting change in pattern ... first time this year we're down year on year.

September figure series, this decade ... 2311 - 2377 - 1430 - 1588 - 1782 - 1973 - 1487 - 2499 - 2346

[grahame]

Number of posts for April 2018 - 2132 - up from 1213 in April 2017
Number of posts for March 2018 - 2361 - up from 1796 in March 2017
Number of posts for February 2018 - 1869 - up from 1376 in February 2017

Number of posts for August 2018 - 2270 - up from 1747 in August 2017
Number of posts for July 2018 - 2370 - up from 2135 in July 2017
Number of posts for June 2018 - 1852 - up from 1334 in June 2017
Number of posts for May 2018 - 2040 - up from 1158 in May 2017

In September - 2346 posts. Down from 2499 in September 2017; interesting change in pattern ... first time this year we're down year on year.

September figure series, this decade ... 2311 - 2377 - 1430 - 1588 - 1782 - 1973 - 1487 - 2499 - 2346

Up again 10% in October - 2111 to 2322 year on year.   I would say "just general ebb and flow" except that there were a handful of exceptionally busy days which coincided with rail incidents such as "all stops" between Newton Abbot and Exeter, and between London and Reading.

[grahame]

November was our busiest month on the Coffee Shop for over a decade and our third busiest ever.



The correlation between GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) having problems and post numbers seems to have been broken - thank goodness.  In other words, although our post numbers have gone up, I don't think there have been worse problems - indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that things might have started heading in the right direction.  Ironically I started writing this on a freezing platform at Chippenham .. I'm going to be 80 minutes late home because of a connection failure, and the way it works at Chippenham is that when you relly need the waiting room (as it gets late and cold) they chuck you out.

Our growth ... is somewhat fertilised by a number of new members.  And nurtured by our existing members and team. I hope that I or another of the moderators / admins has welcomed each at their first post, and made the feel very welcome.  Changes at the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership this autumn have released me and others from a number of constraints put on the exposure of the Coffee Shop to potential new members, and I think that change may have helped us reach some new members already.  And, with this new more visible situation I have been looking and asking around at rail meetings of all sorts - finding and meeting a handful of members at most of them.  Interesting.


The graph is spikey - although just a few short of 3,000 posts in November, and headed past that landmark in the future, don't expect magic in December ...

[JayMac]

December was our busiest month on the Coffee Shop

December?

Can I have a go in your time machine?

[grahame]

December was our busiest month on the Coffee Shop

December?

Can I have a go in your time machine?

Oops. Post corrected.

[TonyK]

December was our busiest month on the Coffee Shop

December?

Can I have a go in your time machine?

It's broken. Can't understand it - it was fine next week.