Subject: It ebbs and flows.
Author:
Posted on: 2013-05-01 20:09:00 UTC
I think newbies are a bit of a cycle - there's a, say, 80% high turnover rate, but the remaining 20% usually wind up hanging around for a few years, at least.
And since these are all 'Board stats... probably not. Which is fine - they're two facets of the community, with quite a few differences in the nature of the group formed.
The PPC Board is a fluid place. People join, people leave, people post, people stay silent... not exactly unique to the PPC, I know, but there it is.
What is unique about the PPC is that I've taken the time to quantify that fluidity. Through immense effort* and toil** I have crafted a series of graphs and lists to show everyone exactly how the members of this Board work.
Some of this data goes back to the beginning of the year, and will be presented month by month. Some of it only goes back to the 9th March, since it that's how far the stats page went back when I found it.
*'looking at the stats page'
**'mucking about with Excel'
Do I still count as a newbie? It's nice being able to claim the Shield of Ignorance as an excuse.
Incidentally, you guys are, well, not, you know, awesome or anything...but I likes you!
Oh, well, I'm off. Things to do, shinies to be found!
Graphs graphs graphs graphs graphs and tables!
And I'm sort of active, I'm just...observing. As in, reading everything but then going back to the 'too-shy-to-post' state again for some reason. I don't know why. It makes no sense.
Anyways, nice job!
You're actually not in the active/inactive check - you only joined in April, apparently - but even if you were, it's not a definitive judgement. AelinTheAmazing, for instance, last posted on April 17th... except that s/he has since posted yesterday. All I'm doing is approximating things.
hS
(PS: Note that I had four posts in the whole of January. 'Observing' is perfectly compatible with being on the Board. ~hS)
I did indeed only join in April, but I thought it meant everyone. And thankee!
-Aila
This is fun. Thanks! ^_^
Phobos and I are putting our heads together now. Not for any particular reason, of course. But our powers combined could hypothetically be a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps we'll know more by Thursday next.
~Neshomeh
Because I think I could also contribute to the think tank. Just saying.
We're married, see. {= )
If you can come to Chicago sometime, though, we could totally hang out!
~Neshomeh
You've got me about this close to adding the ARC to the Wiki...
hS
Forgot about that. I'm sure I read it somewhere, but it slipped my mind when I said that. Oh well. Be sure to let us know when you have come to greater conclusions about what hS' cryptic chart means.
Sadly, Alaska and Chicago are a bit a ways away. Oh well, if I do find myself in the area, I will be sure to announce it and we can see if saying hello is at all possible.
I made the top ten? Sweet!
This is great, Huinesoron!
That was informative. It's pretty cool to see that kind of stuff. I would never have time to put all that together!
I can always look forward to randomness like this happening. Ah, I missed this side of the PPC.
But yeah, it seems crazy how the newbies are all taking high turnover rates. Just out of curiosity, Huinesoron: did you take the IRC into account? 'Cause I find that it's been getting a little more lively since how it was from when I first came back.
And I know that a bunch of people who posted only a couple of times on the Board are active on the IRC. I think we even have a Permission Giver who only posts on the IRC, though I may be mistaken.
So if anyone can come up with a way to quantify the people in the IRC, they're free to post their own graphs or data...
hS
I think newbies are a bit of a cycle - there's a, say, 80% high turnover rate, but the remaining 20% usually wind up hanging around for a few years, at least.
And since these are all 'Board stats... probably not. Which is fine - they're two facets of the community, with quite a few differences in the nature of the group formed.
Which shows because I'm sat here giggling like an idiot at having my name mentioned in a post. I feel so shiny!
But it's interesting to see all this data-type stuff, hehe.
You can definitely see my sporadic returns to the Board quite clearly there.
I guessed the newbie turnover rate - I always get kind of sad when I see a newbie thread, because I know everyone's going to jump on and welcome them and then odds are, they're never going to come back. Congrats to those who remained active. Especially DawnFire and World-Jumper, who stuck with it long enough to get Permission!
I'm amused by the way I'm in the top ten for three months in a row, top 5 for two of those, and one of the two out of five Permission requests to be granted in January. I feel special.
However, this does show me how I need to get a life...
I'm very glad that I stayed active too. The PPC is so much fun, and while I expected to be cranking out missions and just about only missions, I find that I want to explore this world a little more then I was expecting. If I had more time to write, I would get that bloody mission out of the way so I could get the interludes I am planning out of the way. I am writing a blackout story, but I need to get the first mission done first for it to make sense. Once I bring in Jumper though... Well, things are going to get interesting.
I love this community, and while I should probably spend more time on school work and less on the Board, I do have fun while being irresponsible. While I'm here, hs, I will be sure to get you those recordings this weekend.
I'm pretty glad I remained active too! But then again, I kind of grew up with the PPC, so it figures that when I finally ended up with the chance to join, I ended up being active. On the other hand, the sheer amount of my activity has been enabled by the fact that I'm on a gap year...I'm not entirely sure what will happen once I start university in September, but I'm guessing I'll unfortunately be around a little bit less. I'll still stick around, though; and if I leave, past history has shown that I'll be back, so that's something!
I'm amused by the fact that I'm in the top five for all four months, including the one I joined in, and so proud that I have Permission. Actually, let's take a short break for some gleeful and ecstatic jumping up and down to the cries of "I'm a PPCer! Aaaah!"
...ok, jumping over. For now.
(I probably really need to get a life). On the other hand...
This is my life now :)
... XD Ok, I couldn't help it. Anyone here ever read Dan Bergstein's 'Blogging Twilight'? It's hilarious, and in the...13th chapter, I think, he comments hilariously on this 'You are my life now' line. He says something about always signing his notes like that...and then gives a sample note about something like going out to buy tomatoes, and how the dishes in the washer are clean--and then he signs it, 'You are my life now' and his name. It's just--it's really hilarious. A bit less so out of context, but in context...tears of laughter.
I really do need to get started on that article-thing about how the PPC affects young writers, don't I? Sorry it's not going to be done quickly, hS.
(I can't even believe how long I've known about and been vaguely involved in the PPC for. I mean, it's been *years*. That's what all the jumping up and down is about: it's kind of like if your favorite childhood writer suddenly decides to co-write a book with you, or you get to join a band that's influenced the way you write your music, or something like that. It's just--it's pretty amazing. Does anyone else have a story like this? I'm curious...)
Here's to being in the top 5 posters for May as well! XD
~DF
But I'll leave it alone for now, because people might flip out if I went ahead and guessed the details about it
... but I'd be interested to see how far you got.
If there was a first thing.
Which there isn't.
hS
I apparently haven't fallen off the map as much as I'd thought. Not that I intend to fall off the map. I've just been very busy.
Also, I recognize some of the symbols in the non-existent first graph. I can only speculate as to what import that graph might have... if it existed. Which it doesn't.
Thanks for this, hS. This can be very useful information and I don't know if anyone else could have pulled it together.
-Phobos
... you would recognise three if there were any such graph. In theory you could know as many as six (and make a guess at a seventh), but there are three that I would expect multiple people to recognise. If there were anything to recognise.
I was actually surprised at how much some of the quieter people - like you - ended up posting... and on the flip side, how little people like Dann post to the Board. I was also quite baffled to find myself sitting in the Top Ten so often...
hS
PS: You're welcome.
I am trying to work out, from the hypothetical information, what some of the others might have been, had they existed. It's very much like a puzzle. I quite enjoy puzzles, and I am going to work on this made up game, which is totally made up and non-existent.
As far as me being one of the quieter people; that is probably true. I have always been the person in the corner who takes in everything but doesn't say much unless there is a good reason. There are exceptions to this, of course.
-Phobos
Let me know how many you would have gotten up to (if there were anything to discuss).
hS
(PS: By the way - top left, bottom left, middle in the bottom right three? Or did you beat the odds and spot one of the others? ~hS)
The two in the bottom row are, of course, well known. I am not familiar with the one top left (other than it being very similar to the cutie mark on a theoretical pony agent that I have rolling around in my head), but I believe I am familiar with the one below and slightly to the right of it. I could be mistaking it for something else entirely, though. It all kind of depends on if it is feline or canine, which is a little difficult to tell from the picture. I think it is a cat, which would add weight to my guess. On the other side of that particular scale is the fact that it is in a different box than the one bottom left. The boxes are a mystery, but also a clue, I should think.
I also have a hypothesis involving the pair in the top middle. Two different boxes, but both using a book as a central image. For some reason, I have always associated an open book in a crest with religion and, more specifically, with paladins. So, that is the direction my brain is taking when I look at those. Especially the one on the right, which has a stained glass feel to it.
Forgive my cryptic response, I am trying not to ruin the game for others.
-Phobos
I will not, of course, venture to judge whether your conclusions regarding these hypothetical symbols be anywhere near the mark. Rather, I will restrain myself to three comments, regarding the three sigils you have noted.
-The emblem which could be either feline or canine may indeed be considered in such light; however, its hue may also merit discussion.
-That book-centred device to the left is a reinterpretation of an older device, which may perhaps be found in the deep places of time.
-The other device to the right is, of those which can be found on the Internet, perhaps the most difficult to locate. I will say but this: all these symbols, if symbols there were, would have been drawn by hand in the simplest of programs, MS Paint. In the specific case in question, some distortion of dimensions may have taken place... mostly because I honestly haven't the faintest idea what's meant to be depicted on it. ;)
-A fourth point, for what good is consistency without inconsistency? The boxes may be considered a clue, but they may also be futile...
hS, having fun
...and I am a shoe...in that, I am all over it. Like a shoe.
On a foot.
-I have not neglected the hue of the ambiguous quadruped (which would be a great band name, I think). I simply felt that it didn't bear mentioning at the time.
-Interesting. I will assume you use 'device' to mean 'emblematic design', if only to avoid getting off track by pursuing the possibility that some of these represent actual mechanisms. The deep places of time, you say? Quite interesting.
-Again, that interesting use of 'device'. There are, I would assume, 7 of these that may be found on the Internet.
-I love a good exercise in futility. There are several factors about the boxes that could be considered clues. The most obvious being the grouping of emblems within each box. The color of the boxes may also act as a clue, though I believe that not to be the case.
My deductions trend ever curiouser and curiouser.
-Phobos
There are four symbols contained herein which were copied directly from the Internet, where they were identified as what they represent.
There are two additional symbols which were drawn from descriptions or very logical deductions concerning their symbols.
There is one further which is a modification of a visually-similar emblem which no-one ever looks at, but which nevertheless can be found on the Internet if one knows where to search.
(And all the words used to describe them - device, symbol, emblem, sigil - are intended as synonyms)
hS
I now know where the devilishly grinning face at the top left comes from. As they say, "Veni, Vedi, Lustici."
-Phobos, user of search engines
But I have no idea where it is from. Also, what does that little latin phrase mean? I came, I saw, I... what?
In which case, I'm further guessing that this would have something to do with an OFU, if the graphs existed. Which, of course, we all know they don't.
~DF
I'll just put this here in case someone does not want anything spoiled:
THERE ARE SPOILERS UP AHEAD PEOPLE. YE BE WARNED.
OK, so I have not managed to figure out all of them, but I have some theories and some that I know. The ones I know, surprisingly, are mostly from the pink box, aka, Mary Sue's. Going from left to right in the pink box, we have:
Enforcers of the Plot Continuum
I think that's Sparklev, or something like that. It was featured in the PPC musical, that's all I know.
League of Mary Sue Factories
PPC Bioengineering Inc
In the black box, I have less then no idea, but I have a sinking suspicion that the white dog has to do with the Black Cats. A sort of anti-Black Cats society, probably found within the PPC. The one with the book in it I suspect has to do with the Trans-Canonical Defense Authority. I don't know why, but I feel like it does. That or the OFU's. This would be the ones more directly connected to the PPC universe.
In the blue, we have the Discworld being peeled apart. At least, I think it's the Disc. Perhaps some wizards who have spent far too much time in the library stumbled across Word Worlds, and formed their own PPC of a sort. Then again, it also looks like Santorini, the island there Atlantis is rumored to have been. We also have something seeming to do with plotholes.
In the yellow, we have the Fairy Tale Police Department. Thought we would not know that one, didn't you? Well, jokes on you! Because of this, I suspect the yellow is not only the 'neutral' ones, but canons made to protect other canons or stories.
That is all the puzzle I have managed to decipher so far. If I find out more, I will let you all know. I can tell this is going to have to do with the PPC multiverse expanding a little, and hyjinks ensuing because of which. If so, Jumper and his 'section of the multiverse' might want to come in sooner rather then later. I'll keep this in mind.
You know, cause 'there is no spoon', and 'the cake is a lie', and this spanner (as you call it) looks very similar to something else I've seen recently, which I was assured didn't actually exist.
If this were to exist, then I would be able to recognise 3 of the symbols (incidentally, the ones in the top left, bottom left, and middle of the group in the bottom right), and could take some guesses based on the heraldry of the others. Although the axes are currently confusing me - my thoughts about the meanings of the individual symbols don't seem to tie up too well with where they are actually placed, which seems like it has some significance too.
If there were a spanner, I would note that the positioning on the axes is approximate, but intended to convey meaning.
hS
Once again, there will be spoilers ahead if anybody does not want to read any spoilers. So stop reading them. Now I'm just filling the space that is shown in the little preview section. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
Thanks Sweetie Derail. Now, onto what I think I know. Well, my theory on the atomic symbol with the book inside having to do with the TCDA was shot down, but replaced with one that absolutely must have to do with them. Come on, a gear around a book? It HAS to be them, has to. Therefore, my theory on the black box stands.
In the pink box, we have... Gondor!? No, wait, that can't be them. Who is it then... Oh, this must be the Mary Sue city. Afterall, the pink box is Mary Sues. It has to be them, there is no other explanaton.
Now, with the new symbol in the yellow box... It has to do with Star Treck, that much is evident. If I am correct, we have two different possibilities. One, we will interact with Mary Sue herself, the one who named all the Sues that have came since. Or, we will have a crossover with Ensign Sue Must Die. Which would be amazing.
As for the location of the symbols on the axis, that much is obvious. The only hesitation I have is: restricted access to what? Word Worlds? The PPC universe? No idea at the moment. We shall see...
I'd take Sweetie Derail, too, but I don't know if misspelling an internet meme creates a mini. Also, I don't know if you had misspelled Sweetie Belle Derelle deliberately to make some kind of pun. I am incredibly angry at my inability to detect most kinds of puns.
While I would be just as excited as you if we were to be mentioned in Ensign Sue Must Die, that symbol in the center of the yellow box could just as easily be Metroid as Star Trek. (faints after imagining a Star Trek/Metroid/PPC crossover) It's the two ovals balancing on a triangle in the blue box that has me stumped.
Besides, that's how I remember the meme, so I think there would be no mini. After all, it is used most times to derail a topic. Even if there was, the mini would be a mini meme. What would it look like, the mini of the meme itself, or a mini-Troll Face? Anyway, I'm just getting sidetrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Man oh man, I wish we could get a mention in Ensign Sue Must Die, but now that you mention it, it could be Metroid... I don't know...
The two ovals seem to represent plotholes, at least in my mind. I'm not sure why, but they do.
Not that I am admitting that you are anywhere close to correct in any way, but I am impressed that you were able to deduce so much, correct or incorrect.
(If it be the case that your final paragraph has any bearing on reality, rest assured that there will be opportunities to get involved. This is an advanced spoiler, not a notice of anything currently occurring)
hS
PS: Also, you've given me a couple of ideas to add...
As this apparent thing that may or may not even exist seems to resemble a biohazard sign...
...I'm in the top five posters every single month since I joined. That's...pretty cool, actually.
Thanks for making this! It's really interesting, and I was actually wondering how many Boarders we had, so now I have an approximate answer to work with.
(169 posts in April. Wow. I didn't realize I'd been so active!)
Are you going to do this every four months? Because that would be really cool. Alternatively, where did you find a stats page in the first place?
I suppose I'd better get to work on May...
~DF
I figure the monthly stuff and the updated top graphs shouldn't take too much time; the quarterly stuff obviously needs to be, er, every quarter.
(The stats page requires access to Nameless Admin tools; basically everything is in those graphs anyway. The monthly stuff is all from the Board itself, via Excel)
hS
What was the first graph for?
I like how you've organized everything. The data is clear and easy to understand. If anyone wanted to make some sort of academic paper based on your work, they could.
I see no cryptic spoileriffic first graph, nope.
hS
Muaha.
Muahaha.
Muahahahahaha.
hS
A spoiler tag such as World-Jumper has employed might be deemed prudent, of course.
hS
