Top 50 Posters Extrapolated, January 2019

This is the 32nd round in the series of semi-annual statistics, and the 2nd time I've produced them.

The legend of column headings follows each table. There were minor changes to the tables:

- The "Active" column in Table 1 was changed to a 6-mo-posts count.
- The tables other than Table 1 have been renumbered.
​

Table 1: Current Top 50 Posters

Measurements taken 03 Jan 2019 by chown33.

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo   Cur    Delta   Prev  Delta  6-Mo   Foll-  Avg of one
Rank  Current Top 50    Posts  Posts  Rate   Rate    Rank  Rank   Likes  owers  post every
----  ----------------  -----  -----  -----  ------  ----  -----  -----  -----  ----------
  1   maflynn           61464   3017  16.40   +4.76    1      0    4258    23   1h 27.8m
  2   C DM              45613   1927  10.47   -1.99    3     +1     977    22   2h 17.5m
  3   GGJstudios        44211    182   0.99   +0.51    2     -1     206    15   1d 0h 15.8m
  4   Applejuiced       40650    ---   0.00   +0.00    4      0      11   144   ---
  5   Scepticalscribe   37470   5900  32.07  +12.98    8     +3    3714    36   0h 44.9m
  6   GoCubsGo          35741      5   0.03   -0.00    5     -1       6     8   36d 19h 12.0m
  7   Doctor Q          35185    329   1.79   -0.38    6     -1     401    43   13h 25.3m
  8   mad jew           32194    ---   0.00   +0.00    7     -1       0     4   ---
  9   mkrishnan         29641    ---   0.00   +0.00    9      0       0    11   ---
 10   Eidorian          29077      9   0.05   -0.00   10      0      25    63   20d 10h 40.0m
 11   Weaselboy         27738    995   5.41   -0.18   12     +1     945    77   4h 26.3m
 12   rdowns            27343      5   0.03   -0.05   11     -1      19    24   36d 19h 12.0m
 13   Apple fanboy      27252   3823  20.78   +2.98   15     +2    3073    13   1h 9.3m
 14   Relentless Power  26105   4170  22.66   -2.69   20     +6    4001    19   1h 3.5m
 15   robbieduncan      24480    ---   0.00   +0.00   13     -2       0    23   ---
 16   Abstract          24372     49   0.27   +0.18   14     -2      39     7   3d 18h 7.3m
 17   SandboxGeneral    24177    768   4.17   +3.30   16     -1    1367    23   5h 45.0m
 18   jsw               22816      3   0.02   +0.02   17     -1       2     2   61d 8h 0.0m
 19   Mr. Anderson      22408    ---   0.00   +0.00   18     -1       0     3   ---
 20   Hellhammer        22076    ---   0.00   +0.00   19     -1       0    53   ---
 21   alphaod           21868    378   2.05   +1.33   23     +2     273     5   11h 41.0m
 22   Blue Velvet       21651      6   0.03   +0.02   21     -1      18     2   30d 16h 0.0m
 23   Dagless           21540    ---   0.00   +0.00   22     -1       3    14   ---
 24   Newtons Apple     21294   2963  16.10   +6.78   40    +16    2895    23   1h 29.4m
 25   MacNut            20893    417   2.27   +1.17   24     -1     359     8   10h 35.4m
 26   eyoungren         20156    993   5.40   -0.16   32     +6    1402   119   4h 26.8m
 27   Jaffa Cake        19801    ---   0.00   +0.00   25     -2       0    16   ---
 28   bartelby          19794      1   0.01   -0.01   26     -2       0    23   184d 0h 0.0m
 29   iGary             19583    ---   0.00   +0.00   27     -2       0     6   ---
 30   MacDawg           19407    207   1.12   -3.27   30      0     542     3   21h 20.0m
 31   Rogifan           19362    946   5.14   +1.20   38     +7    2694    18   4h 40.1m
 32   miles01110        19264    ---   0.00   +0.00   28     -4       1     0   ---
 33   PlaceofDis        19232    ---   0.00   +0.00   29     -4       0     3   ---
 34   Peace             19214     73   0.40   +0.07   33     -1     139     5   2d 12h 29.6m
 35   iBlue             19174    ---   0.00   +0.00   31     -4       2    11   ---
 36   edesignuk         19078    ---   0.00   +0.00   34     -2       0     1   ---
 37   balamw            19074     12   0.07   -0.13   35     -2       6    12   15d 8h 0.0m
 38   Intell            18851     25   0.14   -0.38   36     -2      18    24   7d 8h 38.4m
 39   Nermal            18497     57   0.31   -0.62   37     -2      69    13   3d 5h 28.4m
 40   ~Shard~           18386      1   0.01   +0.01   39     -1       1     1   184d 0h 0.0m
 41   dukebound85       17986    100   0.54   +0.06   41      0     187     3   1d 20h 9.6m
 42   IJ Reilly         17915     46   0.25   -1.47   42      0      32     2   4d 0h 0.0m
 43   DoFoT9            17494    ---   0.00   -0.04   43      0       0   122   ---
 44   AidenShaw         17462    341   1.85   -0.59   45     +1     341    13   12h 57.0m
 45   kdarling          17311     57   0.31   -1.21   44     -1      84    18   3d 5h 28.4m
 46   ucfgrad93         17016    374   2.03   +1.29   48     +2     921     8   11h 48.4m
 47   The Game 161      16980   1572   8.54   +0.70   58    +11    1050    10   2h 48.5m
 48   jav6454           16778     87   0.47   -7.27   47     -1      90     9   2d 2h 45.5m
 49   -aggie-           16762     47   0.26   +0.26   46     -3      18    19   3d 21h 57.4m
 50   I7guy             16641   2049  11.14   +4.74   67    +17    1198     4   2h 9.3m

Table Columns:

• Rank = Position in order by post count, 1 (highest) to 50 (lowest).
• Current Top 50 = members with the 50 currently highest post counts.
• Cur Posts = current count of posts by this member (see Note below).
• 6-Mo Posts = count of posts made in this measurement period, or "---" if none.
• Cur Rate = average # posts per day by this member over the measurement period.
• Delta Rate = change in average daily post rate from the prior semi-annual period to the latest period.
• Prev Rank = previous rank, as of 6 months ago (July 2018); a number above 50 for those who are new to the Top 50.
• Delta Rank = change in rank, i.e., # of slots +higher or -lower in rank since prior semi-annual stats.
• 6-Mo Likes = count of likes received in this measurement period.
• Followers = current count of forum followers, or "---" if data unavailable.
• Avg of one post every = average time between member's posts, in days, hours, and minutes, based on a 24-hour day.

Note: Posts in any of the following forums are not counted in any post counts or post rates.

the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum
the Console Games forum
the Code Sharing and Software Promos forum
the Marketplace forum
the Wasteland​

Remarks

1. Once again, the Top 10 has no changes in membership, only movement within the Top 10.
   
   
2. Only half the members in the Top 10 made more than 10 posts in the last 6 months. Three of the Top 10 made no posts at all.
   
   
3. @C DM finally moved past @GGJstudios. This was projected in July 2018. It happened before the October 2018 interstitial statistics update.
   
   
4. @Scepticalscribe moved up 3 positions, passing @mad jew, @Doctor Q, and @GoCubsGo, which met the projection of Oct 2018, and exceeded the July 2018 one. She also had the highest post rate of all tracked users, and the only post-rate more than 1 post per hour.
   
   
5. @Apple fanboy and @Relentless Power came in at ranks 13 and 14, as predicted in July 2018. They also had 2 of the 3 post-rates above 20, the 3rd being the indefatigable @Scepticalscribe.
   
   
6. @Relentless Power fell off in his post rate by almost the same amount that @Apple fanboy increased his.
   
   
7. @Newtons Apple again had the largest change of rank: +16.
   
   
8. @MacDawg went from 0 Followers to 3, for a gain of 6 gazillion percent.
   
   
9. Please welcome @The Game 161 into the Top 50 at rank 47, and @I7guy at rank 50.
   
   
10. Please welcome back @-aggie- at rank 49, who resumed posting on 20 Nov 2018 with a compelling reason for the hiatus.
    
    
11. Let us tip our hats and bid fond farewells to @wdlove and @samcraig, now ranked 51 and 52, respectively.

Other Tables and Stuff

• Table 1: Current Top 50 Posters (this post)
  
• Table 2: Active Top 50 Posters
  
• Tables 3 & 4: 6-Month Top 50 and Other Projections
  
• More Data: Highlights and Full-Length Tables
• Graphs 1 & 2: Top 50 Post-Counts Over Time
• Bad Graphs: High-Count Posters
• Fun with Graphs: High-Rate Posters
• Fun with Graphs: Weekly Post-Counts
• Fun with Graphs: Weekly Post-Count Growth
• Fun with Graphs: Histogram of Post-Counts

Previous Threads

2018 (Jan, July); 2017 (Jan, July); 2016 (Jan, July)

2015 (Jan, July); 2014 (Jan, July); 2013 (Jan, July); 2012 (Jan, July); 2011 (Jan, July)

2010 (Jan, July); 2009 (Jan, July); 2008 (Jan, July); 2007 (Jan, July); 2006 (Jan, July)

2005 (Jan, July); 2004 (Jan, July); 2003 (July)

 

Some forum members in Table 1 (first post in thread) won't be familiar because they're no longer active. This table, Table 2, contains only members who posted in the last 6 months, so you're more likely to recognize the names. However, even a single post will cause a member to be considered active, so some may still be unfamiliar unless you've been around for a while.


Table 2: Currently Active Top 50 Posters

Measurements taken 03 July 2018 by chown33.

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo
Rank  Active Top 50     Posts  Posts
----  ----------------  -----  ----- 
  1   maflynn           61464   3017
  2   C DM              45613   1927
  3   GGJstudios        44211    182
  4   Scepticalscribe   37470   5900
  5   GoCubsGo          35741      5
  6   Doctor Q          35185    329
  7   Eidorian          29077      9
  8   Weaselboy         27738    995
  9   rdowns            27343      5
 10   Apple fanboy      27252   3823
 11   Relentless Power  26105   4170
 12   Abstract          24372     49
 13   SandboxGeneral    24177    768
 14   jsw               22816      3
 15   alphaod           21868    378
 16   Blue Velvet       21651      6
 17   Newtons Apple     21294   2963
 18   MacNut            20893    417
 19   eyoungren         20156    993
 20   bartelby          19794      1
 21   MacDawg           19407    207
 22   Rogifan           19362    946
 23   Peace             19214     73
 24   balamw            19074     12
 25   Intell            18851     25
 26   Nermal            18497     57
 27   ~Shard~           18386      1
 28   dukebound85       17986    100
 29   IJ Reilly         17915     46
 30   AidenShaw         17462    341
 31   kdarling          17311     57
 32   ucfgrad93         17016    374
 33   The Game 161      16980   1572
 34   jav6454           16778     87
 35   -aggie-           16762     47
 36   I7guy             16641   2049
 37   samcraig          16555      8
 38   OllyW             16519    509
 39   WildCowboy        16508    101
 40   gnasher729        16170    194
 41   Huntn             15639    837
 42   cube              15023    842
 43   r.j.s             14928      5
 44   yg17              14886     10
 45   Sun Baked         14865     24
 46   Fishrrman         14860   1922
 47   KPOM              14093    287
 48   arn               13759     25
 49   Mitthrawnuruodo   13451     52
 50   Consultant        13284     11

Here's an extract of the above data. It lists the Top 50 members with more than 900 posts in the prior 6 months, sorted by the 6-Mo Posts column. The Rank column still refers to total post-count, NOT the 6-Mo Posts value.

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo
Rank  Active Top 50     Posts  Posts
----  ----------------  -----  ----- 
  4   Scepticalscribe   37470   5900
 11   Relentless Power  26105   4170
 10   Apple fanboy      27252   3823
  1   maflynn           61464   3017
 17   Newtons Apple     21294   2963
 36   I7guy             16641   2049
  2   C DM              45613   1927
 46   Fishrrman         14860   1922
 33   The Game 161      16980   1572
  8   Weaselboy         27738    995
 19   eyoungren         20156    993
 22   Rogifan           19362    946

Table Columns:

• Rank = Position in order by post count, 1 (highest) to 50.
• Active Top 50 = members with the 50 currently highest post counts among those who have posted in the last 6 months.
• Cur Posts = count of posts by that member (has the same criteria as Table 1 for which posts are counted).
• 6-Mo Posts = count of posts in this measurement period.

Remarks

1. Nine members made more than 1000 posts in 6 months, which is three less than the prior 6-month period. Nine members also made less than 10 posts.
   
   
2. Some members who appear in this list, such as @Huntn and @Fishrrman, should soon appear in the Top 50 list if they keep posting at their current rates.

 

This post has two tables of projections based on current post-rate.


Table 3: Projected Top 50 Posters

Measurements taken 03 Jan 2018 by chown33.

Code:

Proj     Projection        Proj   Cur    Delta
Rank  A  for 2019-07-03    Posts  Rank   Rank
----  -  ----------------  -----  -----  -----
  1   *  maflynn           64431     1      0
  2   *  C DM              47508     2      0
  3   *  GGJstudios        44390     3      0
  4   *  Scepticalscribe   43273     5     +1
  5      Applejuiced       40650     4     -1
  6   *  GoCubsGo          35745     6      0
  7   *  Doctor Q          35508     7      0
  8      mad jew           32194     8      0
  9   *  Apple fanboy      31012    13     +4
 10   *  Relentless Power  30207    14     +4
 11      mkrishnan         29641     9     -2
 12   *  Eidorian          29085    10     -2
 13   *  Weaselboy         28716    11     -2
 14   *  rdowns            27347    12     -2
 15   *  SandboxGeneral    24932    17     +2
 16      robbieduncan      24480    15     -1
 17   *  Abstract          24420    16     -1
 18   *  Newtons Apple     24208    24     +6
 19   *  jsw               22818    18     -1
 20      Mr. Anderson      22408    19     -1
 21   *  alphaod           22239    21      0
 22      Hellhammer        22076    20     -2
 23   *  Blue Velvet       21656    22     -1
 24      Dagless           21540    23     -1
 25   *  MacNut            21303    25      0
 26   *  eyoungren         21132    26      0
 27   *  Rogifan           20292    31     +4
 28      Jaffa Cake        19801    27     -1
 29   *  bartelby          19794    28     -1
 30   *  MacDawg           19610    30      0
 31      iGary             19583    29     -2
 32   *  Peace             19285    34     +2
 33      miles01110        19264    32     -1
 34      PlaceofDis        19232    33     -1
 35      iBlue             19174    35      0
 36   *  balamw            19085    37     +1
 37      edesignuk         19078    36     -1
 38   *  Intell            18875    38      0
 39   *  I7guy             18656    50    +11
 40   *  Nermal            18553    39     -1
 41   *  The Game 161      18526    47     +6
 42   *  ~Shard~           18386    40     -2
 43   *  dukebound85       18084    41     -2
 44   *  IJ Reilly         17960    42     -2
 45   *  AidenShaw         17797    44     -1
 46      DoFoT9            17494    43     -3
 47   *  ucfgrad93         17383    46     -1
 48   *  kdarling          17367    45     -3
 49   *  OllyW             17019    53     +4
 50   *  jav6454           16863    48     -2

Table Columns:

• Proj Rank = Projected position in order by post count, 1 (highest) to 50.
• A = * for currently active users (at least 1 post over the last measurement period).
• Projection for 2019-07-03 (Y-M-D) = members with the 50 highest projected post counts based on current post count and rate for the last period.
• Proj Posts = projected # of posts by that member.
• Cur Rank = current rank, as of Jan 2019 (see Table #1 above), or a rank above 50 for members not in the current Top 50.
• Delta Rank = projected change in rank, i.e., # of slots +higher or -lower in rank over the next period.

Remarks

1. @Scepticalscribe is projected to advance past the currently inactive @Applejuiced.
   
   
2. @Newtons Apple should continue making big jumps in rank, although not quite as big as the last two rounds.
   
   
3. Members @Apple fanboy and @Relentless Power should continue their close race, with both advancing 4 positions, and keeping their relative order. Both should also break into the Top 10.
   
   
4. @I7guy, who entered the Top 50 in this round at rank 50, will skip the 40s entirely, bolting to rank 39.
   
   
5. @OllyW should enter the Top 50.

Table 4: Can mad jew be Stopped?

This is a historical benchmark achievement, measured against the once-prolific @mad jew.

Date When Top 50 Members Will Surpass @mad jew's 32,194 Posts

Code:

2019-Aug-29 for Apple fanboy
2019-Sep-29 for Relentless Power
2020-Nov-10 for Newtons Apple
2021-Apr-06 for Weaselboy
2022-Oct-31 for I7guy
2023-Nov-19 for The Game 161
2024-Apr-07 for SandboxGeneral
2025-Feb-11 for eyoungren
2025-Nov-03 for Rogifan
2032-Aug-29 for MacNut
2032-Oct-07 for alphaod
2039-Jun-14 for ucfgrad93
2040-Oct-08 for AidenShaw
2050-Feb-15 for MacDawg
2090-Aug-01 for dukebound85
2099-Jun-04 for Abstract
2108-Apr-10 for jav6454
2108-Aug-01 for Peace
2140-Jan-24 for Nermal
2150-Jul-18 for kdarling
2175-May-21 for IJ Reilly
2184-Jun-01 for -aggie-
2193-Jun-24 for Eidorian
2287-Nov-18 for Intell
2507-Oct-09 for rdowns
2569-Oct-19 for balamw
2904-Mar-23 for Blue Velvet
3593-Oct-22 for jsw
8265-Oct-25 for bartelby
8975-Feb-17 for ~Shard~

Projected using prior 6-month's post-rate.

In this projection, @Apple fanboy and @Relentless Power continue their neck-and-neck pace, with only a month separating their crossover dates. This won't happen before the next Statistics Day in July 2019.

 

More Data: Highlights and Full-Length Tables

The MacRumors Statistics Day has generally focused on a limited number of members, typically those with the Top 50 post counts, or the Top 50 Active posters. Since I automated the production of the tables, this limitation has omitted a lot of data.

When Doctor Q was doing the statistics, he collected semi-annual post counts of any user whose total post counts exceeded 5000. This was done before a user entered Top 50 range, so there would be some "previous post counts" available, in order to calculate post-rates when a member actually entered the Top 50 or the Top 50 Active lists. I've been doing the same thing.

This list of users had a lot of cruft in it, because it was begun in olden times, when even 1000 posts was exceptional, and storage was measured in trilobites. In this round, I cleaned up the list, removing bits of flint and users with a post count below 4000. This removed 88 users, many of whom were inactive, and so had no effect on the tables that were posted.

After the cleaning, and after adding the new members of the 5000-post club, there are still 395 members to collect data and make statistics for. Since table production is entirely automated, they include the whole set of 395 members.

There are some interesting entries farther down that list, and this post highlights some of them.


Table 2 Highlight: Active Posters

I started with the raw data used to prepare Table 2 (Active Top 50), which lists 245 users who made at least 1 post in this period. Then instead of using only the top 50 by rank, I used them all. I sorted the data by the 6-Mo-Posts count, and extracted those whose counts were 1000 or more. Here's the result:

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo
Rank  Active Hilites    Posts  Posts 
----  ----------------  -----  -----  
  4   Scepticalscribe   37470   5900 
 11   Relentless Power  26105   4170 
 10   Apple fanboy      27252   3823 
  1   maflynn           61464   3017 
 17   Newtons Apple     21294   2963 
 98   Shanghaichica      8812   2340 
122   DNichter           7648   2097 
 36   I7guy             16641   2049 
  2   C DM              45613   1927 
 46   Fishrrman         14860   1922 
 68   h9826790          11507   1625 
 33   The Game 161      16980   1572 
 79   BasicGreatGuy      9937   1294 
 85   macduke            9331   1198 
134   Clix Pix           7203   1187 
 78   thadoggfather     10164   1149 
 81   Abazigal           9764   1116 
153   The-Real-Deal82    6672   1111 
162   kazmac             6534   1078 
169   Dave245            6442   1008 

As in the earlier extract of Table 2, the "Rank" value is the rank when ordered by post-count. Any rank above 50 means the member is outside the Active Top 50.

Since we've already seen the Active Top 50 members in Table 2, let's keep only the members outside that range:

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo
Rank  Active Hilites    Posts  Posts 
----  ----------------  -----  -----  
 98   Shanghaichica      8812   2340 
122   DNichter           7648   2097 
 68   h9826790          11507   1625 
 79   BasicGreatGuy      9937   1294 
 85   macduke            9331   1198 
134   Clix Pix           7203   1187 
 78   thadoggfather     10164   1149 
 81   Abazigal           9764   1116 
153   The-Real-Deal82    6672   1111 
162   kazmac             6534   1078 
169   Dave245            6442   1008 

Here's their Table 1 statistics, ranked by their Cur-Posts counts:

Code:

                        Cur    6-Mo   Cur    Delta   Prev  Delta  6-Mo   Foll-  Avg of one
Rank  Member Hilites    Posts  Posts  Rate   Rate    Rank  Rank   Likes  owers  post every 
----  ----------------  -----  -----  -----  ------  ----  -----  -----  -----  ----------
 98   h9826790          11507   1625   8.83   -1.85  120    +22    1171    26   2h 43.1m 
119   thadoggfather     10164   1149   6.24   +3.37  136    +17    1092     5   3h 50.6m 
121   BasicGreatGuy      9937   1294   7.03   -2.02  148    +27    1545    14   3h 24.8m 
128   macduke            9331   1198   6.51   +2.43  162    +34    2879    10   3h 41.2m 
150   Shanghaichica      8812   2340  12.72  +10.49  240    +90    1761     5   1h 53.2m 
189   DNichter           7648   2097  11.40  +11.40  314   +125    2937     4   2h 6.4m 
208   Clix Pix           7203   1187   6.45   +3.41  277    +69    2606     3   3h 43.2m 
234   The-Real-Deal82    6672   1111   6.04   +6.04  310    +76    1788     3   3h 58.5m 
245   kazmac             6534   1078   5.86   +3.46  324    +79    1331     2   4h 5.8m 
254   Dave245            6442   1008   5.48   +5.48  328    +74     918     4   4h 22.9m 

NOTE: This rank differs from the Active Hilites rank because this number counts inactive members, while the Active Hilites rank counts only active members.


With 395 members in the list, this highlight is just a small sample. If you're interested in the bigger picture, or if you have more than 4000 posts and want to see where you are, I've attached the full-length versions of Tables 1-3 to this post.

You can download and decompress the zip file to see more. The Table files are plain text, so you can open them in TextEdit.app, or peek at them in QuickLook.

 

Graphs of Top 50 Post-Counts Over Time

These two graphs show the growth of semi-annual post counts for the Top 50 posters, starting with 2016 July 3rd (2016-07-03). Inactive users are omitted, except for the historical benchmark represented by @mad jew (dashed line in Graph 1).

Member @eyoungren appears in both graphs, with different colors. This overlap is intentional, as described below.

These graphs were produced using an automated process created for this purpose. For those interested in some of the technical details, I'll describe the process in a later post.


From measurements taken 03 Jan 2019 by chown33.


Graph 1: First Half of Top 50 Posters



Graph 2: Second Half of Top 50 Posters



The vertical (Y) axes are automatically determined, and are specific to each graph. The upper and lower limits of a graph are based on the range of post-counts in the subset of graphed data. This means that the steepness of line slopes can't be compared between graphs. Member @eyoungren appears in both graphs, with very different line slopes, showing that slopes between graphs aren't comparable.

Colors are also automatically assigned, from a rotating pool of 12 colors. This can make color-to-name conversion ambiguous.

Use each graph's legend or key on the right to disambiguate duplicate colors. The legend is arranged in the same order as the right-most points of each graph. For example, in Graph 1, the upper red line is maflynn (top of legend), and the lower red line is Abstract (lower in legend).

A dashed line is automatically assigned to inactive users (no posts in the latest measurement period), and a solid line to active users (at least 1 post in latest period). To reduce the clutter, the only inactive user shown here is @mad jew.


A horizontal line (or nearly so) is a member with a low post rate. The only user with a zero post-rate appearing in these graphs is @mad jew. Everyone else is shown with a solid line, and made at least one post in the last 6 months.

A steeply rising slope indicates a high post rate. If the segment slopes steepen over time, that user is increasing their post rate. If the segment slopes flatten, the post rate is falling off.

 

Bad Graphs

This post is about graphing, or more precisely, bad graphing.

The early graphs I made of the Top 50 posters looked much worse than what I eventually posted above as Graphs 1 & 2. They were big, dense, and confusing, as evidenced below.

I removed things to make them more readable, which was more fiddling than I first expected. Fortunately, the fact that production was automated meant I could tweak a few parameters in a text file, like line width or members per graph, and rapidly produce new graphs. If I'd had to adjust things manually, I would have gone crazy.


Bad Graph 1: All Top 50 Posters



This graph has every member in the Top 50, both active (solid line) and inactive (dashed line) members.

The legend is huge, and it just barely fits on the page. With 12 colors and 50 members, there are 4 members for each color, and 5 for the first two colors.

The top 15 or so members have lines that are fairly easy to follow. Below that, the lines are "thick and fast", like oysters scrambling to the shore. Even if colors weren't duplicated, the lines are such a tangled mess you can't see anything useful.


Bad Graph 2: Active in Top 50 Posters



In this graph I omitted every inactive member of the Top 50. There's a lot less clutter because there are fewer lines, but it's still pretty tangled in the lower part.

This is when I decided that a comprehensive graph of the Top 50 just wasn't going to work, so I split the data into two sets. Because each graph had less data, I could make the image dimensions smaller, and increase the text size. The result is the graphs you see in post 18.