Membership Numbers

[ztnoo]

I've been watching this statistic for quite a while as the site has grown in membership enormously since I joined in February.
I believe I was #790.
No big deal about that number, but during this week I was watching this count and it was like 1197 or 1198.
On the verge of 1200 members!
Suddenly yesterday it went back to 1183 or so......

Today the membership count is at 1185.
Did some "purging" occur.....and if so...........why???
This is kinda strange related web administration stuff, as I see it.
I'm sure few others would note this trivia.....but still my question remains.

Richard? Steve Reed? Anyone?

Regards.
Steve

[Toystoretom]

I used to help run a bike forum and strange things happen. I don't know if this applies to your question but we used to get spambots sign on and try to insert ads or steal email addresses and so on. These "members" were not actual human beings and we used to delete them from time to time.

We also had people try and join the forum multiple times using different names, I guess just in case they got banned they could simply pop back up under a different user name and cause more trouble. We set it up so that we would be alerted if any one IP address had more than one member name. We would delete the duplicates, but every once in awhile it would be a guy and his son or wife, and they all wanted to be different members.

People also tried to hack the site, or got banned and so on.... some of those got deleted.

There are "spiders" that search engines use to record posts on a site. If the admin allows those they can walk right in and sometimes cause goofy numbers. I think different forum software treats this differently.

Or maybe they are just cleaning out inactive users for whatever reason.

It also could be something harmless like switching to a new server and using a point in time that had a lower number. Sometimes this is how posts get lost also. Also, servers need maintenance and it could have resumed at an earlier point in time.

Or... it might be aliens.....

[ztnoo]

Toystoretom,
Well, all of those are very reasonable and plausible explanations.
I guess I'll await formal reply from those persons responsible for site affairs and mechanics.

Maybe those that have the ultimate liability, have been "throwing spanners" at cats.

Thanks for your reply...... its just a weird thing I noted.
I think 1200 members is significant.
When that number got backed up for no known reason, I took note of the change, and inquired.

Regards,
Steve

[reed]

ztnoo
Richard will answer your questions when he is back!
Don't worry.
Thanks.
Steve.

[coxy]

i bet $5 on the aliens

[paul]

Could it be those same jealous japanese motorcycle companies that forced our beloved Bridgestone out of the market place 40 years ago. Maybe they fear a BS/Rockford revival. Im sure Honda has all kinds of computer knowledge, just look at their humannoid robot. And Yamaha has electronic musical instruments, so they could be using a sound wave that humans cant hear in order to manipulate the internet.  In other words, HAPPY LABOR DAY. Lets work to get 12 THOUSAND members.

[Richard Clark BS parts]

Watching membership numbers?  Wow....

Yes; membership numbers will go up, when people join the board.  They go down when people either drop out or
get deleted by me or the moderators, why?

Some people join the site, just to send or harvest emails for spam.  I do delete people who are only on the site
to send spam.  and those who join under different names, using same IP address.

When we hit 1200 or 2000 members, we will that many REAL members.

This is one of many things that go on behind the scene, all trying to keep the site, safe and free of spam for all.

There is much to do on a discussion board based site, than just "put it on the web and walk away"



Thanks
Richard Clark
 

Questions? or need Bridgestone parts? call:

Richard Clark
812-944-1643  8am-6pm EST Weekdays

[ztnoo]

Richard,
Thanks for your reply.
Reed filled me in on some stuff that has been going on by phone message.
I just was kinda lost for words then the numbers suddenly decrease by about 15 in a day's time.
I don't pretend to know much, I just observe a lot......

This place has grown by leaps and bounds since February!
I think that is likely to continue.

Thanks for keeping things safe and clean here.

Regards,
Steve

[Mike Anderson]

Yeh Richard,
Well stated.
Call me. Mike