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I'll have a cup of tea thanks or an instant. It's all the same right?

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This is true, by coming on here everyday we will see more repetition than the occasional poster. Although I wish some new members would use the search function a little more.

Tea? Oh, what a heretic, and one who is missing one of the great joys of life.

(Do drop in to our lovely espresso thread should you wish to explore this topic further…..)

I think that the point with new members not using the search engine is that some of them may not know how. Truly, I don't mind new members joining to ask a question; it is how - and why - most of us joined in the first place, and - if I can be of assistance - I usually try to do so.


Not using search is just human nature, people, want to have their issue heard and addressed. Just look at the plethora of, should I buy a laptop now threads occurring in the laptop forums. Could they have searched, sure, but to them, its an important question and they feel their needs may be more unique, and to a degree I'm sure it is.

I don't mind answer them as best I can, but it does a little repetitive

Well, it does depend on what is asked; if it is a problem, or an issue, then, this forum exists - in part - to answer questions people ask about Apple products.

While many on this forum are genuine honest-to-God nerds, I'm not sure that all who buy Apple computers are; most simply want to know how they work, and what to do in the event that they cannot work it out for themselves.

However, I'll concede that the 'when is the next update out?' type of question occasionally - just occasionally - irks me.
 
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For whatever reason, I looked at the calendar today and thought, "I wonder how MacRumours' Top 50 Posters thread is tracking?" :p I'm only here to check out this thread. That, and ask about Apple TVs and new iPhone 6 rumours.

Thanks Q. I wasn't disappointed.



Thanks for putting these together again. Always interesting reading. The bit I can never understand is why members become inactive. Surly they don't go over to the dark side and buy a PC or android :eek:

I can't believe the number of Top 50 posters who don't post anymore. It's like an MR graveyard.

I know why I left, but it's incredible that so many people left at around the same time. I'm sure part of it is due to life committments, but the other reason for me, personally, is because MR suddenly became incredibly different from the forum I knew.

And once again, there may be several factors for this. One could be due to the size of MacRumours. It had already become a large site well before I quit posting, and yet I managed to know all the regulars who posted. However, beyond a critical size, it becomes impossible for anybody to keep up with every other regular member. It becomes impersonal. I don't know if MR has grown at the same rate that it was growing before, but I still see some regulars here that I know of, so maybe not!

Second could be mod and admin changes, which changed the overall "feel" of the forums. I have always liked MR (still do), and understand how difficult it must be for mods to manage a horde of people in a large forum, but I felt the interpretation of the rules, or the level of enforcement of the rules, must have changed at some point after getting new mods and admin, which resulted in a change to the MR that I was accustomed. And I doubt I'm alone, because a lot of us old-timers had discussed it (outside of MR). After that, I haven't heard from them since, and I've stopped posting here. Apparently, they have as well, because they quit before I quit.

Mods had tighter rein over what was considered "tolerable behaviour." Well....there is a caveat. I say this because I had survived 7-8 years without ever receiving a warning or temporary ban, but suddenly received multiple warnings and a 1 week ban within a year. Perhaps new mods = new interpretation of the rules (or stricter interpretations of existing rules). Perhaps it was a group decision that the rules weren't being enforced tightly enough. Perhaps all of this is true and I had been posting like a douche for 8 years. I don't know. :p

But again, it's hard to manage an ever-growing site like MR, mods try their hardest to enforce the rules while also being fair, and perhaps the rules were too relaxed, and someone felt had a detrimental effect on the quality of the posts.

It's still a nice place to eat, but I was accustomed to a certain flavour, and then the restaurant suddenly changed chefs.
 
For whatever reason, I looked at the calendar today and thought, "I wonder how MacRumours' Top 50 Posters thread is tracking?" :p I'm only here to check out this thread. That, and ask about Apple TVs and new iPhone 6 rumours.

Thanks Q. I wasn't disappointed.





I can't believe the number of Top 50 posters who don't post anymore. It's like an MR graveyard.

I know why I left, but it's incredible that so many people left at around the same time. I'm sure part of it is due to life committments, but the other reason for me, personally, is because MR suddenly became incredibly different from the forum I knew.

And once again, there may be several factors for this. One could be due to the size of MacRumours. It had already become a large site well before I quit posting, and yet I managed to know all the regulars who posted. However, beyond a critical size, it becomes impossible for anybody to keep up with every other regular member. It becomes impersonal. I don't know if MR has grown at the same rate that it was growing before, but I still see some regulars here that I know of, so maybe not!

Second could be mod and admin changes, which changed the overall "feel" of the forums. I have always liked MR (still do), and understand how difficult it must be for mods to manage a horde of people in a large forum, but I felt the interpretation of the rules, or the level of enforcement of the rules, must have changed at some point after getting new mods and admin, which resulted in a change to the MR that I was accustomed. And I doubt I'm alone, because a lot of us old-timers had discussed it (outside of MR). After that, I haven't heard from them since, and I've stopped posting here. Apparently, they have as well, because they quit before I quit.

Mods had tighter rein over what was considered "tolerable behaviour." Well....there is a caveat. I say this because I had survived 7-8 years without ever receiving a warning or temporary ban, but suddenly received multiple warnings and a 1 week ban within a year. Perhaps new mods = new interpretation of the rules (or stricter interpretations of existing rules). Perhaps it was a group decision that the rules weren't being enforced tightly enough. Perhaps all of this is true and I had been posting like a douche for 8 years. I don't know. :p

But again, it's hard to manage an ever-growing site like MR, mods try their hardest to enforce the rules while also being fair, and perhaps the rules were too relaxed, and someone felt had a detrimental effect on the quality of the posts.

It's still a nice place to eat, but I was accustomed to a certain flavour, and then the restaurant suddenly changed chefs.

Thanks Abstract for an insight as to why you (and possibly others) have moved on.
The truth is with MR today it is still possible to form friendships and get to know regulars. Probably only in a smaller section of the forum as opposed to everyone. For me I spend a lot of my time on the digital photography subsection here. But when I joined I didn't even own a camera.
I also enjoy a bit of banter with the community discussion forum regulars as well. However it is no longer possible IMO to know most of the crowd on here.
So I come I learn about stuff, I enjoy the social aspect and get great feedback from a great bunch of people.
I think it's difficult for the mods to a) manage a site this large, b) to always understand that comments are meant tongue in cheek and not meant to breach the rules. Humour that is written down can often be misinterpreted. But that is life.
Maybe as your life style changes, you might find it suits you to come back to the fold as a regular poster. You'd be more than welcome.
 
Here's another caveat, in case nothing had actually changed except my own personality:

When I was forced to stop posting at MR for 1 week, I spent my online time visiting other sites, and started visiting there more (sports, Engadget, and later This Is My Next (now The Verge)).

Perhaps MR hasn't changed, but I found out that every restaurant serves similar food.
"Same s---, different smell." ;)



And I used to be a regular in the Digital Photography forum. Well......before there were many regulars. And then there WERE lots of regulars, and I took a backseat because other people knew more than I did. I liked reading their posts more than I enjoyed writing my own. ;)
 
here's another caveat, in case nothing had actually changed except my own personality:

When i was forced to stop posting at mr for 1 week, i spent my online time visiting other sites, and started visiting there more (sports, engadget, and later this is my next (now the verge)).

Perhaps mr hasn't changed, but i found out that every restaurant serves similar food.
"same s---, different smell." ;)



and i used to be a regular in the digital photography forum. Well......before there were many regulars. And then there were lots of regulars, and i took a backseat because other people knew more than i did. I liked reading their posts more than i enjoyed writing my own. ;)
Come back! This place just hasn't been the same without what I would call your "unique" sense of humor. :eek:

I'm not part of the old, old ranks of MR members, but I can't help but notice that my join date of 8 years ago come September, and a time span of a couple years before and after that date, seems to be a bit of an uncommon sight around MacRumors these days. Just from casual observation, it seems like the place really started picking up new members around 2008 and 2009, and at the very least has remained steady in that uptake. Sadly, this also seems to be around the time when a large number of well-known MR members stopped dropping by, or at least greatly reduced their participation in the community.

It's easy to see why when you take a step back and look at the big picture; for one, Apple began to take a whole new direction in their products and designs, changing the "culture" of the community. I believe personally that the Apple of six, seven years ago doesn't really exist anymore: they're basically a different company altogether. Consequently, a new generation of Apple fans has largely replaced the older group not just here, but throughout the entire Apple fanbase. It's undeniable that MR has changed with the company, and for me and many other older members, it's largely been negative from our point of view.

But, that's not to say MacRumors has gone to the dogs; there are still wonderful people around, many of whom may not have ever joined were it not for the Apple's "cultural shift". There's a bit more riff-raff these days for certain, but its also usually dealt with in a timely manor. Plus, a lot of it seems to be concentrated in certain areas of the fourms, so as long as you don't go loitering for too long around them, you can avoid it pretty easily. ;)

All that said, I suppose I should say something about the actual topic at hand. :p I always love seeing these statistics and predictions. It's always fascinating to see which members join, and which ones leave the list and why. A long time ago, I imagined myself joining those ranks, someday. Such dreams dropped off my goal list a while back, but sometimes I can't help but think of the "fame" and what that might be like. ;)

I must say though, it's quite disheartening to see that 8 years worth of posting only amounts to roughly half of what I would need to join the club. :eek:
 
Four evolutionary changes to the site that I've observed:
  1. an influx of portable device users who are non-Mac users (less dedicated to the Apple platform)
  2. an apparent lowering of the average member age
  3. an increase in the number of forums and subforums
  4. expansion of the site's editorial staff
I think #2 and #3, and maybe even #4, were natural results of #1.

These factors make it harder to feel like you know everyone else here. We're silo'ed into subsets of forums, and even posts by frequent posters are lost in the daily flood.

After going over a year without seeing posts by a forum member who is a real-world friend of mine, I did a search to see when he last posted. It turned out that he had been posting all along, and I was too, but never in the same threads!

When I joined there were fewer than 15,000 members. I clearly didn't know them all but I had the illusion that I did because I knew those who posted most often. Now we've passed 900,000 members so the illusion of a small community isn't sustainable, unless you're in a tightly circumscribed area like the Folding@Home team.

But that's how it goes. Tracking the rise and fall of members still active and members who are gone is part of this exercise.
 
It is not calculated based on what you have as a current post rate. It is 50% past 6 months and the other 50% is divided into the previous two years in a weighted fashion.

So to be in the "Top 50 End of Time" you have to be active for a bout 2 years at the same or higher post rate.

That said, I dropped down significantly from last time. Ugh.... I hate that. Time to post it up. Now not through rule violation, but through helpful insights. MacBook Forum... here I come again.

Now it makes sense..... Thanks for that!

On another note, kinda cool to see one's name on this!! whoohoo! :D
 
[...]
These factors make it harder to feel like you know everyone else here. We're silo'ed into subsets of forums, and even posts by frequent posters are lost in the daily flood.

After going over a year without seeing posts by a forum member who is a real-world friend of mine, I did a search to see when he last posted. It turned out that he had been posting all along, and I was too, but never in the same threads!

When I joined there were fewer than 15,000 members. I clearly didn't know them all but I had the illusion that I did because I knew those who posted most often. Now we've passed 900,000 members so the illusion of a small community isn't sustainable, unless you're in a tightly circumscribed area like the Folding@Home team.

But that's how it goes. Tracking the rise and fall of members still active and members who are gone is part of this exercise.

Could we get a graph that represents the influx of new members as far as 8 years ago? Would be interesting to see where the peaks of membership subscription really are.
 
End-of-Time Top 50

Nermal, who made just shy of 300 posts in the last 6 months, missed the End-of-Time Top 50 by a mere 0.1852 posts/day, the number needed to edge out Sky Blue. That's equivalent to one post every 5.4 days.

We'll see about that!
 
I always enjoy these threads. Thanks for creating them Doctor Q.

I have two things, one a request, and the other a question.

The first, is it possible to make one showing the heaviest posters each period, not necessarily the top 50 all-time? I think that would be fascinating.

The questions is sort of related. Do the numbers of total posts come from somewhere other than the posters' statistics page? I've found some odd things there. For instance, one poster I know of, his statistics page says he has under 1000 total posts. Yet, when you do a search, he has over 1000 posts in the last month alone. So he can't possibly have under 1000 posts total. I'm wondering what's going on there.
 
Do the numbers of total posts come from somewhere other than the posters' statistics page? I've found some odd things there. For instance, one poster I know of, his statistics page says he has under 1000 total posts. Yet, when you do a search, he has over 1000 posts in the last month alone. So he can't possibly have under 1000 posts total. I'm wondering what's going on there.

The post count is not including forums like the PRSI sub-forum, but the post search does so.
 
I always enjoy these threads. Thanks for creating them Doctor Q.

I have two things, one a request, and the other a question.

The first, is it possible to make one showing the heaviest posters each period, not necessarily the top 50 all-time? I think that would be fascinating.

The questions is sort of related. Do the numbers of total posts come from somewhere other than the posters' statistics page? I've found some odd things there. For instance, one poster I know of, his statistics page says he has under 1000 total posts. Yet, when you do a search, he has over 1000 posts in the last month alone. So he can't possibly have under 1000 posts total. I'm wondering what's going on there.

The answer to your second question is that the person likely spends a lot of time in forums, such as PRSI, that have posts which are not counted in a person's post total.
Posts made to the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum, the Console Games forum, the Code Sharing and Software Promos forum, and the Marketplace forum are not counted.
 
Here's another caveat, in case nothing had actually changed except my own personality:

When I was forced to stop posting at MR for 1 week, I spent my online time visiting other sites, and started visiting there more (sports, Engadget, and later This Is My Next (now The Verge)).

Perhaps MR hasn't changed, but I found out that every restaurant serves similar food.
"Same s---, different smell." ;)



And I used to be a regular in the Digital Photography forum. Well......before there were many regulars. And then there WERE lots of regulars, and I took a backseat because other people knew more than I did. I liked reading their posts more than I enjoyed writing my own. ;)
Most of the old guard left and moved on to twitter. This is about when the original revolt took place, A lot of the old school members found twitter and that really became the old Private Forum. I agree that the iPhone killed the MacRumors star.
 
It's not like the old MR was sacred or anything. :p

Things change. I'm sure some of the older members still communicate, but I was certainly not part of the inner inner circle (or even the inner circle, for that matter), so I don't know what's going on with Twitter. To me, Twitter is for celebrity-stalking (I don't use Twitter), Facebook is for friends and "Facebook friends", and email is for really old relatives who think the internet is "groovy".


Near "the end", people still had close relationships, but I think the problem was that the regulars enjoyed participating in the "Teh Private" forum more than the rest of MR, and enjoyed the real closeness they felt in Teh Privates.

Suddenly, with so many private/contributing MR members joining the Private forum, and not realizing that everything that goes in inside that forum should remain private, people stopped feeling comfortable there and left entirely. Then, people bitched and moaned about MR elsewhere, but it wasn't like I felt the same. Well.....until I got a 1 week ban. :p


Anyway....I'm sure MR is still a nice place to spend time. Even after 5 years, not much has changed.
 
It's not like the old MR was sacred or anything. :p

Things change. I'm sure some of the older members still communicate, but I was certainly not part of the inner inner circle (or even the inner circle, for that matter), so I don't know what's going on with Twitter. To me, Twitter is for celebrity-stalking (I don't use Twitter), Facebook is for friends and "Facebook friends", and email is for really old relatives who think the internet is "groovy".


Near "the end", people still had close relationships, but I think the problem was that the regulars enjoyed participating in the "Teh Private" forum more than the rest of MR, and enjoyed the real closeness they felt in Teh Privates.

Suddenly, with so many private/contributing MR members joining the Private forum, and not realizing that everything that goes in inside that forum should remain private, people stopped feeling comfortable there and left entirely. Then, people bitched and moaned about MR elsewhere, but it wasn't like I felt the same. Well.....until I got a 1 week ban. :p


Anyway....I'm sure MR is still a nice place to spend time. Even after 5 years, not much has changed.
I've been here what 13 years now? I signed up to complain about the new desk iLamp. Then lurked off and on. Then around 2004 the place saw a huge insurgance of people. That is when it got active. That stayed up until about 6 months after the iPhone release. Then the floor dropped out and the bitch fest began. After that the site wasn't the same and the rules either changed or got tighter. Or people just turned into a holes.:p Either way a newer younger group appeared that would not know what Apple was before the iPhone existed.
 
Interesting to see this. I guess people come and go.

When I first started checking the forums there was a user called MadJew who was very active and very helpful. And then just seemed to disappear.

I used to spend far more time in the forums than I do now. I guess that's what comes of not being at university any more.
 
Is it possible to make one showing the heaviest posters each period, not necessarily the top 50 all-time? I think that would be fascinating.
Good suggestion, but it took some work to put the lists together. I used the data for the last 3 years (6 six-month intervals). Use the horizontal scrollbar to see the entire table.

Each of the 6 lists shows the Top 50 Posters during the preceding 6 months, and their post count during that period. No weighting is used.

It's interesting to see how the number of posts by the top poster fluctuates, and the number of posts by the 50th poster also fluctuates. It's also fun to notice how some users have a fairly consistent position (Applejuiced or gnasher729, for example) while others jump around in position (annk or balamw, for example). Some users have joined or left the lists, while overall 44% of the Top 50 6-month posters in the first and last lists are the same.


Top 50 Posts During Each 6-Month Period

Computed by Doctor Q in July 2014

Code:
Rank Jan-12          Posts  Jul-12          Posts  Jan-13          Posts  Jul-13          Posts  Jan-14          Posts  Jul-14          Posts
---- --------------- -----  --------------- -----  --------------- -----  --------------- -----  --------------- -----  --------------- -----
 1   GGJstudios       4770  GGJstudios       7124  GGJstudios       5717  simsaladimbamba  3147  maflynn          3708  maflynn          5267
 2   simsaladimbamba  3535  simsaladimbamba  5643  Applejuiced      4170  SandboxGeneral   2592  SandboxGeneral   2722  Weaselboy        2872
 3   KnightWRX        2984  maflynn          2797  maflynn          2685  maflynn          2427  Weaselboy        2469  SandboxGeneral   2149
 4   Applejuiced      2548  miles01110       2523  simsaladimbamba  2549  GGJstudios       2402  GGJstudios       1699  Rogifan          1824
 5   miles01110       2483  Applejuiced      2438  KnightWRX        2496  Applejuiced      2368  Bear             1681  Intell           1562
 6   maflynn          2381  KnightWRX        2376  samcraig         2129  Weaselboy        2118  Applejuiced      1630  Shrink           1411
 7   Hellhammer       1737  Peace            1707  GoCubsGo         2037  samcraig         2058  Macman45         1604  MacRumorUser     1393
 8   Surely           1625  GoCubsGo         1581  dhlizard         1412  MacRumorUser     1877  GoCubsGo         1425  Applejuiced      1140
 9   GoCubsGo         1490  balamw           1533  darngooddesign   1293  Macman45         1710  jav6454          1411  Renzatic         1092
10   samcraig         1318  r.j.s            1238  MacDawg          1236  Intell           1502  Intell           1364  IJ Reilly        1075
11   rdowns           1306  Surely           1161  annk             1147  Bear             1358  MacRumorUser     1345  samcraig         1050
12   Peace            1269  -aggie-          1150  stridemat        1118  Peace            1272  ucfgrad93        1298  Macman45         1019
13   r.j.s            1244  Bear              982  balamw           1070  gnasher729       1219  charlituna       1297  Huntn            1005
14   Doctor Q         1244  rdowns            920  ucfgrad93        1052  GoCubsGo         1202  gnasher729       1243  alphaod           998
15   MacDawg          1183  gnasher729        906  miles01110       1052  ucfgrad93        1103  Night Spring     1091  ucfgrad93         974
16   AidenShaw        1181  dejo              878  OllyW            1019  alphaod           992  darngooddesign   1004  simsaladimbamba   902
17   balamw           1028  kdarling          836  gnasher729        999  dhlizard          952  old-wiz           970  roadbloc          848
18   robbieduncan      997  Chupa Chupa       830  dejo              994  balamw            899  roadbloc          935  GGJstudios        793
19   kdarling          982  dhlizard          825  alphaod           875  KPOM              827  samcraig          923  kdarling          780
20   Jaffa Cake        976  AidenShaw         807  jav6454           864  jav6454           814  mcdj              863  gnasher729        777
21   stridemat         948  dukebound85       777  kdarling          864  darngooddesign    773  KPOM              840  BaldiMac          610
22   gnasher729        931  samcraig          757  dukebound85       855  daneoni           768  annk              836  charlituna        604
23   QuarterSwede      868  Small White Car   747  Peace             778  mrsir2009         752  BaldiMac          822  Chupa Chupa       589
24   Consultant        845  alphaod           727  daneoni           742  dejo              748  ChrisA            783  Bear              586
25   nanofrog          823  Jaffa Cake        718  Chupa Chupa       686  Night Spring      718  OllyW             773  Sky Blue          572
26   Eidorian          793  annk              709  Small White Car   645  Chupa Chupa       638  Chupa Chupa       735  Night Spring      563
27   Small White Car   791  stridemat         648  Doctor Q          642  SnowLeopard2008   625  cube              706  mattopotamus      537
28   OllyW             752  daneoni           634  flopticalcube     636  stridemat         595  kdarling          703  dejo              529
29   mkrishnan         665  MacDawg           630  MacRumorUser      633  Nermal            585  alphaod           686  rhett7660         529
30   alphaod           610  rhett7660         595  Jaffa Cake        594  SilentPanda       510  dhlizard          683  blueroom          518
31   darngooddesign    605  Doctor Q          586  MacNut            539  KnightWRX         506  simsaladimbamba   666  MacNut            505
32   dukebound85       598  OllyW             585  SilentPanda       531  dukebound85       505  balamw            659  cube              489
33   annk              593  Lord Blackadder   579  Surely            520  old-wiz           484  IJ Reilly         647  Peace             488
34   yg17              591  Consultant        579  AidenShaw         517  ChrisA            465  Peace             638  GoCubsGo          462
35   rhett7660         588  robbieduncan      577  rhett7660         517  AidenShaw         464  dejo              621  AidenShaw         457
36   MisterMe          549  yg17              570  NT1440            460  robbieduncan      447  robbieduncan      594  Lord Blackadder   451
37   Dagless           548  ucfgrad93         526  thejadedmonkey    448  rhett7660         412  SilentPanda       568  dhlizard          451
38   diamond.g         540  Hellhammer        491  r.j.s             435  thejadedmonkey    399  MacNut            537  OllyW             425
39   aristobrat        538  aristobrat        490  aristobrat        431  IJ Reilly         375  twoodcc           535  ChrisA            405
40   TwinCities Dan    529  Eidorian          480  jsw               429  Jaffa Cake        370  stridemat         532  NT1440            396
41   Kilamite          526  Kilamite          475  Nermal            410  Small White Car   369  rhett7660         530  Doctor Q          372
42   arn               511  thejadedmonkey    457  SnowLeopard2008   343  OllyW             359  Nermal            514  thejadedmonkey    351
43   dejo              509  MacNut            436  robbieduncan      333  notjustjay        348  Doctor Q          500  yg17              332
44   appleguy123       508  LethalWolfe       402  Dagless           324  cube              331  milo              495  balamw            331
45   MacRumorUser      501  IJ Reilly         395  840quadra         314  Digital Skunk     330  AidenShaw         488  Digital Skunk     327
46   jav6454           488  TwinCities Dan    395  Eidorian          300  Lord Blackadder   322  aristobrat        428  SilentPanda       304
47   Nermal            477  QuarterSwede      390  IJ Reilly         297  MacNut            318  Consultant        420  Nermal            299
48   Lord Blackadder   472  Digital Skunk     389  MisterMe          288  grapes911         290  Sky Blue          407  annk              299
49   dmr727            469  twoodcc           386  Lord Blackadder   276  aristobrat        282  840quadra         364  milo              294
50   Chupa Chupa       464  MisterMe          373  ChrisA            271  NT1440            256  thejadedmonkey    346  old-wiz           290
 
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That's a fascinating look at things. Would you consider adding this to your list every six months now?
 
Nice exhibit Q, it helps put things in perspective.

Its like what I have my running app set up. I don't like looking at averages, but rather my split times. You basically set up the posting in splits, showing what people did in each time period.
 
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