Membership declining?

[nickb834]

I can't find somewhere on this forum I'm entirely sure this should be - so this place being "general discussion" is the least bad option.....

Anyhoo - periodically I've been looking at the total forum member count, just to gauge how popular this forum / shooting is or is not getting - I could swear we were above 800 at one point but now we're back down in the low 600's - what gives?

Is it the case that we've pruned inactive / "anti" members?

I noticed another uk based shooting forum appears to have just shy of 6000 members - I'm not necessarily equating quantity with quality, merely curious as to the significant difference in member numbers between two forums on the same (superficially at least) topic?

Any thoughts?

[dromia]

The membership list is regularly thinned and inactive accounts removed, only inactive accounts are removed, no other criteria. Christel has had a cull recently that is why the membership has dropped.

If we didn't cull then our membership total would no doubt be significantly higher.

We prefer a contributing membership so that is what the total reflects rather than just a signed up membership.

[Rockhopper]

I common with many other forums that I'm a member of you find that there is a hardcore of fifty or so regular posters, then of the remainder say 50% are lurkers who read but don't post much then 50% who sign up to ask a specific question and are never seen again.

[Christel]

Wot Dromia says.

Also we do not activate accounts until we have had a reply to the welcome email which means they are real people. We have many inactive account because we have had no reply, either they are not interested after all, have not read the welcome email or are trolls.

Normally I deactivate after 6 months of inactivity.

[nickb834]

Ah ok - folks, at least in this instance I'm not going mad.