Don't feel bad,
I've been here almost nine years and the rough difference between the top poster and me is my current post count.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Top 50 Posters Extrapolated, July 2020
- Thread starter chown33
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I've been here almost nine years and the rough difference between the top poster and me is my current post count.
I need to step up my posting game. @Abazigal will pass me. Sorry, friend. I can’t allow that to happen.
For me it’s just I have no social life, also I’m not a member of any other online sites (including FB and Twitter). That’s why my post count looks high.
Well that and I like hanging out here.
Yup, I enjoy being here as well.
We enjoy having you! It’s actually the people on here that make it such a pleasant place to hang out on the internet. Yes the common interests help of course, but the social aspect is also a big plus.
Feels like I'm posting here all the time yet not even top 250, I can only admire those true MR veterans who are putting some proper numbers on the board I've visited here a bit more than usual during lockdown and have found some great threads, maybe my post count will start creeping up...
I've visited here a bit more than usual during lockdown and have found some great threads, maybe my post count will start creeping up...
I think if you find threads or sub forums that interest you, it just happens. But posting just to appear on a table is a bit of a waste of time!Feels like I'm posting here all the time yet not even top 250, I can only admire those true MR veterans who are putting some proper numbers on the board
Of course if you do get to number one, @arn buys you a new MacPro (maxed out). But I think @maflynn has that all sown up!
Pretty similar here, too.
Apart from Twitter (which is useful, and where I rarely post a tweet), I am not a member of any other online sites or social media, this was my first.
And yes, I like hanging out here.
@Scepticalscribe I notice you have to try a little harder to beat @cmaier average post per hour of 1h13m. Let's get the lead out of the feet...shall we?
@Scepticalscribe I notice you have to try a little harder to beat @cmaier average post per hour of 1h13m. Let's get the lead out of the feet...shall we?
Yes, clearly, I've been seriously slacking off in the posting posts department; the almost vertical trajectory of his (@cmaier's) post record - as represented on one of the graphs posted by @chown33, was, quite spectacular. And rather unexpected.
LOL. If that were true, he needs to make it retroactive to include former top posters! Although, I'd rather have the iMac than the Mac Pro!
Fun With Graphs
Welcome to the July 2020 version of "Fun With Graphs". We'll see some graphs of things other than the usual semi-annual and weekly posts.
Top 50 Changes: Details
Race Into the Top 10
This graph shows two changes of rank in the Top 10, and one change just outside the Top 10.
The upper change shows @Apple fanboy passing @GoCubsGo. A projection for this was made in Jan 2020, using old-school mechanical drafting techniques. The projected date was for 13 weeks from 2020-01-03, which is the week starting 2020-04-05 on the graph. The actual date was a couple weeks later than that.
The middle change shows @Relentless Power surpassing @mad jew. The Jan 2020 projection for this event was made in Table 5, and was predicted to happen on 2020-Apr-03. It actually occurred a few weeks later, in the week of 2020-04-12. Checking the actual counts of 2020-04-12, Relentless Power had 32189 posts, and mad jew had 32199.
The last change in rank is @Weaselboy overtaking @mkrishnan. No date for this was projected in Jan 2020, but it was predicted in Table 4 of that time.
Since Relentless Power surpassed mad jew, it puts mad jew at rank 10, and Weaselboy must now move past mad jew to enter the Top 10. According to the current projections in Table 5, that won't happen until the second half of 2021.
Around Rank 25
In the first post of this thread, I mentioned a horse-race in the range around rank 25. This graph is a week-by-week picture of that contest. Inactive users were removed.
User @alphaod is nearly idle, with under a dozen posts added over the 6-month period. All the other users are more active, with different rates and regularity.
We can also see some distinct upticks for the last couple weeks of June, likely due to Apple's WWDC in the last week of June.
In Pursuit of Doctor Q
In the first graph above, we saw @Apple fanboy passing @GoCubsGo. January's projection for that event included another projection: when @Apple fanboy would pass @Doctor Q.
That projection was more complex than a simple linear extrapolation, because Doctor Q gained so many posts in the November Anomaly. The mechanical projection was for about 30 weeks after 03 Jan 2020, while Q's numerical projection was for about 48 weeks later.
In this statistics cycle, there wasn't a post-count anomaly, so we can use the linear numerical projection, with a reasonable belief it won't be too far off.
The calculation uses the differences in the ending post counts for each user, along with the differences in their daily post rates, and calculates a number of days until the counts are equal.
The numbers are extracted from Table 1:
Calculation:
The projected 13 weeks puts the crossover date around the end of September or the start of October.
Likes
When post-count data is collected for MacRumors users, their Likes counts have also been collected, when possible. The graph below shows the growth in weekly Likes counts for the top-Liked users I collect data for.
You'll see some users with high Likes who don't appear in other post-count graphs. There can be different reasons for this, such as posting in an uncounted forum (where Likes nonetheless count), or by making posts that often get multiple Likes.
This shows the growth of Likes for the Top 10 Likes-recipients over the last 6 months.
The lines show different shapes. Most are increasing fairly smoothly, but a few have periods with faster and slower rates of increase.
Several lines show an unusual "jump" between 02-16 and 02-23. This happened when Likes were recounted near the end of that week, after some unexplained inaccuracies had been seen. The result is a February Anomaly, similar to the November Anomaly of 2019, but mainly affecting Likes counts. Not everyone shows a jump, or at least not an obvious one. That just means their counts were correct, or nearly so.
A more detailed view of the Likes Anomaly is next.
Above are two graphs showing more detail around the Feb Anomaly. I've chosen a few users who had pretty obvious jumps, and one who didn't.
The 1st graph shows the Likes growth with the usual 1-week intervals. Here, @cmaier jumps up noticeably, then continues in a similar trajectory. Users @LizKat and @Relentless Power have a jump, but then continue with their previous growth rate. User @Apple fanboy looks to have no jump, just a normal weekly growth.
The 2nd graph adds a single data point, taken one day before the Likes recount occurred. We thus have a "before" and "after" picture with 1-day resolution. In this graph, we see that @cmaier 's growth in Likes had already begun when the recount occurred. That is, his line is already sloping upward more strongly before the recount, and the 1-day jump from the recount just increases it even more. We also see that @LizKat and @Relentless Power gain significantly from the recount, but otherwise have relatively regular growth. Finally, we see that @Apple fanboy had a small jump up, but it's not much more than his usual growth, so it was masked by the rest of the Likes he gained that week.
Posts per Week
The above graphs showing weekly growth are cumulative. That is, each line represents the cumulative growth of a user's post count relative to their post count at the start of the overall interval.
In the following, we look at the number of posts per week. This will make changes from week to week more obvious. For example, if someone makes exactly 20 posts every week, then their line in this graph would be flat at a level of 20. In the cumulative post-growth graph, their line would rise at a constant upward slope of 20 units per week. If they then drop to 18 posts per week, their posts-per-week line would drop by 2 units, a step that would easily be visible here, while their growth line would show only a slight flattening.
This graph shows the Top 5 prolific posters, from Table 3. Within this handful of users, we see some different posting styles: fluctuating, regular, cyclic, etc.
The most obvious feature of this graph is the range shown by @cmaier. @The Game 161 also shows quite a range, but with a somewhat cyclic pattern: a few rising, then a few falling.
Compare those with the more regular postings of @Apple fanboy or @Relentless Power, who both hover around 80-90 posts per week, and don't deviate much. @Scepticalscribe also has a fairly regular weekly rate, except for the week ending on 2020-02-02.
Welcome to the July 2020 version of "Fun With Graphs". We'll see some graphs of things other than the usual semi-annual and weekly posts.
Top 50 Changes: Details
Race Into the Top 10
This graph shows two changes of rank in the Top 10, and one change just outside the Top 10.
The upper change shows @Apple fanboy passing @GoCubsGo. A projection for this was made in Jan 2020, using old-school mechanical drafting techniques. The projected date was for 13 weeks from 2020-01-03, which is the week starting 2020-04-05 on the graph. The actual date was a couple weeks later than that.
The middle change shows @Relentless Power surpassing @mad jew. The Jan 2020 projection for this event was made in Table 5, and was predicted to happen on 2020-Apr-03. It actually occurred a few weeks later, in the week of 2020-04-12. Checking the actual counts of 2020-04-12, Relentless Power had 32189 posts, and mad jew had 32199.
The last change in rank is @Weaselboy overtaking @mkrishnan. No date for this was projected in Jan 2020, but it was predicted in Table 4 of that time.
Since Relentless Power surpassed mad jew, it puts mad jew at rank 10, and Weaselboy must now move past mad jew to enter the Top 10. According to the current projections in Table 5, that won't happen until the second half of 2021.
Around Rank 25
In the first post of this thread, I mentioned a horse-race in the range around rank 25. This graph is a week-by-week picture of that contest. Inactive users were removed.
User @alphaod is nearly idle, with under a dozen posts added over the 6-month period. All the other users are more active, with different rates and regularity.
We can also see some distinct upticks for the last couple weeks of June, likely due to Apple's WWDC in the last week of June.
In Pursuit of Doctor Q
In the first graph above, we saw @Apple fanboy passing @GoCubsGo. January's projection for that event included another projection: when @Apple fanboy would pass @Doctor Q.
That projection was more complex than a simple linear extrapolation, because Doctor Q gained so many posts in the November Anomaly. The mechanical projection was for about 30 weeks after 03 Jan 2020, while Q's numerical projection was for about 48 weeks later.
In this statistics cycle, there wasn't a post-count anomaly, so we can use the linear numerical projection, with a reasonable belief it won't be too far off.
The calculation uses the differences in the ending post counts for each user, along with the differences in their daily post rates, and calculates a number of days until the counts are equal.
The numbers are extracted from Table 1:
Code:
Current Top 50 Cur 6-Mo Cur Delta Prev Delta 6-Mo Likes Avg of one
Rank on 2020-07-03 Posts Posts Rate Rate Rank Rank Likes /Post post every
---- ---------------- ----- ----- ----- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----------
6 Doctor Q 37988 658 3.62 -4.68 6 0 857 1.30 6h 38.3m
7 Apple fanboy 36908 2786 15.31 -2.55 8 +1 2591 0.93 1h 34.1mCalculation:
Code:
( user1posts - user2posts ) / ( user2rate - user1rate ) = numberOfDays
( 37988 - 36908 ) / ( 15.31 - 3.62 ) = 92 days = 13 wksThe projected 13 weeks puts the crossover date around the end of September or the start of October.
Likes
When post-count data is collected for MacRumors users, their Likes counts have also been collected, when possible. The graph below shows the growth in weekly Likes counts for the top-Liked users I collect data for.
You'll see some users with high Likes who don't appear in other post-count graphs. There can be different reasons for this, such as posting in an uncounted forum (where Likes nonetheless count), or by making posts that often get multiple Likes.
This shows the growth of Likes for the Top 10 Likes-recipients over the last 6 months.
The lines show different shapes. Most are increasing fairly smoothly, but a few have periods with faster and slower rates of increase.
Several lines show an unusual "jump" between 02-16 and 02-23. This happened when Likes were recounted near the end of that week, after some unexplained inaccuracies had been seen. The result is a February Anomaly, similar to the November Anomaly of 2019, but mainly affecting Likes counts. Not everyone shows a jump, or at least not an obvious one. That just means their counts were correct, or nearly so.
A more detailed view of the Likes Anomaly is next.
Above are two graphs showing more detail around the Feb Anomaly. I've chosen a few users who had pretty obvious jumps, and one who didn't.
The 1st graph shows the Likes growth with the usual 1-week intervals. Here, @cmaier jumps up noticeably, then continues in a similar trajectory. Users @LizKat and @Relentless Power have a jump, but then continue with their previous growth rate. User @Apple fanboy looks to have no jump, just a normal weekly growth.
The 2nd graph adds a single data point, taken one day before the Likes recount occurred. We thus have a "before" and "after" picture with 1-day resolution. In this graph, we see that @cmaier 's growth in Likes had already begun when the recount occurred. That is, his line is already sloping upward more strongly before the recount, and the 1-day jump from the recount just increases it even more. We also see that @LizKat and @Relentless Power gain significantly from the recount, but otherwise have relatively regular growth. Finally, we see that @Apple fanboy had a small jump up, but it's not much more than his usual growth, so it was masked by the rest of the Likes he gained that week.
Posts per Week
The above graphs showing weekly growth are cumulative. That is, each line represents the cumulative growth of a user's post count relative to their post count at the start of the overall interval.
In the following, we look at the number of posts per week. This will make changes from week to week more obvious. For example, if someone makes exactly 20 posts every week, then their line in this graph would be flat at a level of 20. In the cumulative post-growth graph, their line would rise at a constant upward slope of 20 units per week. If they then drop to 18 posts per week, their posts-per-week line would drop by 2 units, a step that would easily be visible here, while their growth line would show only a slight flattening.
This graph shows the Top 5 prolific posters, from Table 3. Within this handful of users, we see some different posting styles: fluctuating, regular, cyclic, etc.
The most obvious feature of this graph is the range shown by @cmaier. @The Game 161 also shows quite a range, but with a somewhat cyclic pattern: a few rising, then a few falling.
Compare those with the more regular postings of @Apple fanboy or @Relentless Power, who both hover around 80-90 posts per week, and don't deviate much. @Scepticalscribe also has a fairly regular weekly rate, except for the week ending on 2020-02-02.
Fascinating stuff. I love a good graph. It’s the long necks that make them look funny!
Thanks for putting this together. Very interesting read. As for passing @Doctor Q I’ll get there at some point.
Still nowhere near the top though!
Interesting to read and a target for me to drop out of the top 50 most prolific posters as I evidently spend far too much time here .
Thanks for sharing!
. Thanks for sharing!
Again, absolutely fascinating to read, and thank you, @chown33, for all of the incredible work you have put into this.
I love both the stats and the graphs. Thanks once again, chown33!
Apparently, mad jew will live to be in Top 10 for yet another round. That's the first thing I look for.
Apparently, mad jew will live to be in Top 10 for yet another round. That's the first thing I look for.
So true! Tats the second thing I look for. The first is to see how far behind you I am!
Number 71? I know I've been gone over 10 years, but I was in the top 10. 😁
😁
Welcome back!Number 71? I know I've been gone over 10 years, but I was in the top 10.
Number 71? I know I've been gone over 10 years, but I was in the top 10.
Wow.
Welcome back.
When trawling through old threads (especially the ones that become somehow resurrected), I am always struck by the number of names that I do not recognise, and I have been around for a little over a decade.
Welcome back!
Thanks!
I wonder how many of us went silent after the iPhone.
I worked as a channel operator on the MacRumors IRC channel before the iPhone, and then, as a moderator in the forums through the first generation iPhone. The attitudes got to me, along with my failing health.
I still remember some crazy person at the original Orlando, FL Apple store pushing an iPhone inches away from my face, telling me how beautiful it was and all that. Things have calmed a bit, and I even have an iPhone now.