we band of brothers.1 (Cain and Abel were brothers, right?)
Footnotes are below the orange mating octopi, as are definitions of terms.
First, I'm green with envy.
Jason Libsch has access to
data I can only dream about - but that is, after all, part of his job
2. ;)
Second, I was reading through some of aoeu's early diaries, since I realized recently that I am walking a path he pioneered, in an era of much worse Search functions, and this one struck me as fascinating.
From between the two of them, in a sort of Scylla and Charybdis situation, the following stats emerged.
As of 8/23/2014 -
All users: 1,086,813
Users who have ever commented (includes tip jars):117,887
Users who last commented 1 year or more ago: 89,548
Users who commented within the past year: 28,339
Comments: 3,134,194
Users who diaried within the past year: 7,406
Diaries: 61,090
Estimated recs: 19 million plus
MOJO |
Last commented prior to the last year |
Commented in the last year |
Total All users |
All |
89,548 |
28,339 |
1,086,813 |
5 bars |
115 |
1,908 |
2,023 |
4 bars |
928 |
2,960 |
3,888 |
3 bars |
3,440 |
4,186 |
7,626 |
2 bars |
30,051 |
9,853 |
39,904 |
1 bars |
1,595 |
3,049 |
4,644 |
0 bars |
45,902 |
3,800 |
851,138 |
BOJO |
7,456 |
2,426 |
177,647 |
|
|
|
|
TU Status |
4,483 |
9,054 |
13,537 |
Note: Some of the totals don't quite add up - I've left infinite MOJO, TimeOuts, NRs, and RIPs out of the breakdown.
So, what does all this tell us?
Well, first, that commenting is addicting. 24% of all the users who have ever commented on Daily Kos are still visibly here and commenting. 67% of all users who have achieved TU status are still visibly here and commenting. And 98% of all users who have stuck it out to 5 bars seem likely to go into the great beyond still typing with orange stained fingers. (Note: It is totally impossible to tell which BOJO'd users were in which category at the time of banning, or what percentages have at some point reached a higher MOJO level and then slipped down, so I have stuck with optimistic percentages throughout.)
Second, that the BOJO stats are misleading. The overall total includes all bannings for all reasons, including trolling, sockpuppetry, spam, etc, including accounts which are deemed spurious from the beginning by administration. That rate, on an overall basis, is about twice that of the banning rate for actual commenters, which seems to have held steady at about 10% of all commenters over the life of the site.
Third, we're not nearly so few as all that. Twenty six thousand users in good standing and active on the site in various ways is one hell of a triumph for any internet site, and I think a round of applause is in order.
Note: Strictly speaking, this diary should have been published on October 25th
3 I suppose. Oh, well.
Footnotes and Definitions
1. And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
William Shakespeare - Henry V, Act IV, Scene III
2.
3. Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the French Christian patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers. The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is 25 October. http://en.wikipedia.org/...
MOJO: the Daily Kos ranking system, a secret algorithm for determining status. Frequently gamed by users who think they've figured out the algorithm, with varying success.
BOJO: Bony MOJO, named after the skull and crossbones which appears below a banned username.
TU Status: Trusted User Status, which confers the dubious pleasure of a) being able to read the comments which have been Hidden by other TUs, and b) being able to participate in community moderation(yay!) and/or pie fights(boo!) by giving out HRs (Hide Rates, also known as donuts or hydrates).