2013 numbers
 

The 2013 forum activity statistics can be found in a Google docs spreadsheet at

https://drive.google.com/a/mail.flye...it?usp=sharing

Please let me know if this link works or not. If it doesn't work I won't be able to fix it until tonight.

Im prompted to log in with my [email protected] and my pw but when I login in, I'm presented with the following:

"These characters are not allowed: @"

Apparently google docs is restricting access to people who have a mail.flyertalk.com email address. If true, that's lame. Email me and I will email you the spreadsheet. I'll email it to Sharon now.

Here's the best I can do pasting the Excel file as ASCII. You'll have to imagine the column lining up correctly!

This is something IB can change in the Google Apps control panel.

The author of the document should also be able to change this. I have a company-based Google Apps account and I am able to assign permissions as strictly or liberally as I want on every document I create.

When I'm logged in as nsx, Google docs does not allow me to share the document with anyone who does not have a mail.flyertalk.com address. I can't see any way to override that.

Oh okay, didn't realize that was different between companies. Now I know!

Well I didn't even know there was such a thing as a mail.flyertalk.com email. Just tried to log in w/ my handle & FT password & get a message saying either user id or password is incorrect. When I click on can't access my account, it then takes me to some message saying sign in to my google account or whatever email I associated w/ my google account. Huh?

nsx, I think you changed something w/ 2013 spreadsheet though - perhaps the sharing part? Because I can read the spreadsheet you posted in both 2011 & 2012 (go up thread for those) without having to do some type of log-in, but I can't w/ the 2013 one.

And you mention in this post from '12 (see below) that you changed something/did an "end run" to make it public & then others such as kipper were able to read it/it was public then w/o people having to do the google log-in thing.

How about go back to whatever you did last year that made it public & do it for this one?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19605191-post35.html

Cheers.

I'm a Google Apps administrator. It's something the admin has to enable. If it isn't, then users cannot share outside the organization.

It's something for moderators so we don't have to expose our personal addresses when replying to RBPs and things.

Since its a tiny file, I just attached it to the OPs post. Remember that attachments upto 100kb are possible on vb 3.x ;)

I hate to say it, but some of the numbers are incorrect in the spreadsheet. It has the Dec 18th numbers for Coupon Connection as 1487 threads, 47741 posts, when the current actual statistics seem to be 71,712 threads, 227,103 posts (as of this writing).

I didn't check any other fora, but that one jumped out at me because of the negative average numbers. Sorry, nsx. :(

Thanks. I fixed that error (TalkBoard Topics was also wrong because I was logged out and CC was not shown) and put the document on a different Google drive where everyone should be able to get it:

http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7D-...U5yT3ZtTnhjRkU

How do 5 forums have negative post rates? There were more posts on 10/31/12 than on 12/18/13? Others have more threads in 2011 than in 2012, then back up in 2013.

The number of threads could be reduced when mods make megathreads or if threads are moved into another forum, possibly one that is newly created. If threads are moved, this could lower the total number of posts.

That's my understanding & is what nsx posted a year ago IIRC.

Cheers.

:eek:

You might use up all of the space on the floppy in the A: drive running the FT server at that rate!

The 2014 forum activity statistics can be found in a Google docs spreadsheet at

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Please post here if this link does not work. Enjoy!

Is the annual forum traffic review TB conducts underway or will be posted shortly? I understood it was being done in February.

As mentioned in this thread some of the Budget airline fora have been very lightly used since their creation and I was curious as to whether TB had made an decisions and/or recommendations about closing or merging some of these fora.

Would you envision some regions having dedicated budget airlines fora (in addition to their other full service airlines fora respectively) but not some other regions (I'm not guessing at the moment how the count would go here)? Alternatively, are you thinking about either merging all of the budget airline fora together or keeping some separate and then combining others and placing them together in a more general "budget airlines of other regions" forum?

It could be argued that simply eliminating two of the budget forums, the Budget Middle East and African Airlines and the Budget Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines , would barely cause a ripple as the former saw only 39 posts in the 14 months after its creation while the latter recorded only 1400 posts over the same period. To put that into some context those two budget forums attracted fewer posts than every destination forum save two: Cuba and the perennial frozen wasteland that is the Antarctica forum.

While it may look a little out of kilter to have four "other" and only two "budget" forums if TB wanted balance then I'd favor simply merging all eight forums together as a combined forum should be able to accommodate both topics.

Here are some of my initial reactions:

There's an argument that budget Asian airlines are burgeoning. In the near future, separate fora could be needed even if the statistics don't look so good now.

In the case of Africa, I suspect that the continent's major full service carriers are generally already located in the Other African Airlines (or whatever it's called) forum. OTOH I can't recall ever seeing the name of a budget African airline (aren't plane tickets in Africa very expensive?) but I'm not sure how genuinely "full service" their major or legacy carriers are either.

Latin America might have the same issues if it weren't lumped in with USA, where there are some budget airlines (although most USA full service airlines have their own dedicated fora, all 3.5 of them).

Seems regardless of future promise the reality is the "Budget" forums have not drawn as much traffic as expected and should come up for consideration for closure. Has the annual TB forum traffic review been conducted?

Not yet.

Part of the issue seems to be that with few exceptions, budget carriers don't have (any) (useful) (interesting) FF programs. Hence the only thing to discuss is travel on those airlines, including interiors, seat space and comfort, home airports (but does this belong in the relevant destination forum?), fares, ticketing, IROPs rather than all this and also how to book award tickets, elite status requirements, status benefits, etc. These aspects of LCCs aren't IMO likely to change soon. In fact, the few LCC FF programs, such as WN's, seem to be changing to become less generous.

Not many days left in Feb. which is when I understood the mandated review is supposed to take place.

The lack of a FFP was not seen by many including a current TB member as an issue or an obstacle to creating these four fora so it shouldn't be used as an excuse for low traffic numbers now.

Let's talk numbers...
 

Borrowed from another thread:
(emphasis mine)

Even though numbers are not the only factor on forum reviews, let's focus on numbers for the time being.

Three new destination fora were created since August 2012: Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar Forum, Korea Forum, & USA Forum.

USA Forum has about 84 new threads since it went live 8.5 months ago, roughly 10 new threads monthly (84/8.5=9.88).

Korea Forum generated 221 new threads since created 30.5 months ago, about 7 threads per month (221/30.5=7.25).

Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar Forum was established about the same time as Korea Forum and has about 281 new threads since, roughly 9 threads per month (281/30.5=9.21).

These numbers show USA Forum fares the best among the 3 newly created destination fora, and Korea Forum is the lightest trafficked. If one TBer, or more, considers USA Forum doesn't gain enough traffic, probably TB should start the annual review from say Korea Forum, the bottom performer among the 3.

(I didn't go further into post/threads ratio. If taken into account how many posts per thread generates, the low performer might be even lighter trafficked.)

In general, count me among those who'd prefer to see little-utilized fora eliminated.

Since it's being actively discussed, all of the budget airline threads should be moved to their respective "other airlines" fora, and the four budget fora should be eliminated. They seem to have been added somewhat arbitrarily, and their value, in terms of adding clarity, facilitating site navigation and/or effectively managing content, has been negligible at best. (They seem to actually cause confusion and complicate navigation and content management.)

In addition, slightly off-topic but actually a related point, the three Somewhere-Based Airlines fora (see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...nes-forum.html) are nothing more than "Other Airlines" fora with a bit more specificity and a different naming convention. IMO, for the sake of consistency, it would be much more logical for them to be renamed and listed among the other "other airlines" fora.

The reformatted index would look something like this:
In my experience, systems with more uniformity and less fragmentation lead to a better user experience.

Just because a forum isn't heavily used doesn't mean it isn't useful - especially the destination forums. But I think aBroadAbroad's proposal for the airline forums is a good one.

Omni/Games, like Mr. Blutarsky - zero... point... zero.

(Thought that's topped by MilesBuzz which appears to have a negative rate of new thread creation. Fascinating)

OMNI/Games... Isn't that forum where posts don't count, that was created so that all forums could be equal, and posts would count, except for that one?

You're correct. Posts do not count in the Omni/Games forum.

Cheers.

:D I know they don't count. I'm just pointing out the silliness of creating a forum where posts don't count, so that posts in all forums could count, and all forums could be equal.

Exactly.....

All are equal, some are just more equal than others.

Any update on the TB forum traffic review?

Guess not TB so busy arguing about the friendly amendment matter. Meanwhile the Budget Middle East and Africa Airlines hasn't seen a post for over a month as of a moment ago.

Arguing about the friendly amendment matter or about personal spats?

Yes as lately those two converged.

I get that few including probably several TB members find this an important topic but don't think it's unreasonable to ask why the mandated annual review written into TB guidelines as adopted in this thread is being ignored.

Especially when some are up in arms about missing a vote, citing that it's in written rules. Apparently, rules only matter when convenient to some.

Has the Talk Board decided that there won't be a forum activity report prepared in 2015? I wanted to link to it in a response to a member on another thread, but don't see it here or in a forum search.

nsx normally posts annual forum traffic activity between Oct. - Dec. each year so it may be a little early yet. I do appreciate the time taken to compile and share these statistics every year.