Lots of people join to ask a particular question, and bow out once they have their answer.
Also, unfortunately this hobby has a very high turnover rate. 90% or more are done with rockets within 12 months or less. And I think that is more prevalent than people who just pop in to ask a question then never come back.
Now, those who are interested enough to get involved with a forum like TRF would tend to stay in the hobby more than average. But, only some percentage above the average.
Kind of how I got hooked into the hobby, there was Model Rocketry Magazine, and by that I found out abut the NAR. Without Model Rocketry Magazine showing me all the things possible (including many things I knew I could never do but were interesting to see.... but over time have done), I might have been among the "few months and done" group. I see this forum as being one of the positives that help to draw in new people who will stay with the hobby longer, whether months longer or years longer (or decades).
Kind of like NAR member statistics. IIRC from when I created & maintained the NAR membership database that the NAR HQ used from 1997 to about 2007, and kept the member statistics because I was also NAR Secretary for most of that time, about 80-90% of NEW members did not renew their memberships (especially the younger members). Many who did not renew were done with rockets by renewal time. But those who have been in the NAR for say at least 5 years, tend to remain members for many more years/forever.
So I expect a similar thing for those who join forums, % and timeframe may vary but the same general trend.
When I was creating the diabetes thread, I took a look at how many members the forum has. It's nearly 21,000. Well, OK, that's nearly 21,000 who have joined over time, not how many have been recently active. Still, and impressive #. By my reason for looking for it, statistically it means that about 2,100 people who ever joined TRF have diabetes (or had....since statistically some would not longer be alive, whether due to disease, accident, natural causes, etc).
So, how many are active? I see the most viewers on the forum at the same time was 1,319 at 8:30 PM on March 13, 2014.. But that is not how many in total read the forum on that day, the way I understand it, that was how many were actually online live at 8:30 PM. There would have been many hundreds more, maybe into the thousands, that were on the forum during that day. A lot of those as lurkers, not members.
How many have been active on the forum in let's say the last year? Could be an interesting statistic. But does it really matter for anything of substance? Other than bragging rights, or someone twisting into a reason to complain, is there anything useful for the general public to know?
Maybe there is…..
I do know that if some who have not posted in.... let's say over a year, had their accounts deleted for lack of use, then a tiny handful who hide out in another forum, and routinely complain about TRF , ironically would raise hell if their old long unused TRF account was actually deleted.
- George Gassaway