Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
07:41:33pm
listed 137 viewers online. Is that a club record ?
Is there a club record ?
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I don't know what the record is, but this morning there were 185 online. That's the highest I have seen.
Login to Like
this post
Wow! That’s impressive!
Login to Like
this post
Right now, 48 as I type.
Login to Like
this post
I also saw that 185 yesterday morning.
Login to Like
this post
A few days back I saw well over 200....most all were guests.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
The number of signed-in SOR members is always significantly lower than the number listed as on line. Right now, 3 signed in members and 66 on line! I suppose some members don't sign in, although most of the time I am signed on automatically, so to sign off requires work on my part. Could there be that many "voyeurs"?
rrr...
Login to Like
this post
Och Aye!
There's lies, damn lies and statistics!!
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
It is not unusual forums to have many more lurkers than those signed in.
Login to Like
this post
84 visitors and 8 members. If you click on the number, it will show you which members are on line right now.
Login to Like
this post
If you are a member, you do not have to be logged in. Of course, you won't be able to do alot of things on the site, if you are not logged in.
Login to Like
this post
I'm logged in on both my Ipad and my PC - and I only count as one person - no Siamese twins or anything. But when I logged off the Ipad, now I'm two people of course. Heh heh! Soooo, we could all log in on multiple devices and see how high a number we can get just to be incredibly silly, eh? 
Login to Like
this post
I stay logged in all the time. I think about once a month I have to sign in again because they automatically sign me off or something like that.
BTW: Geez! I hate that name lurkers. can't y'all think of anything better?
"Voyuers" sounds a little better. I can see "folks in the peanut gallery".
Login to Like
this post
How about "sneakers and peekers?" LOL
Login to Like
this post
"Voyeurs" tends to have - need I say it - sexual undertones of a not so clean nature.
Login to Like
this post
How about:-
Sightseers,
or
Fellow Collectors,
or
Future Members,
or
Friends,
or
Chums,
or
Mates,
or
Buddies,
Remember, the Visitors can read everything. OOOOoooooohhhhhhh
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Good point!
So to all you folks visiting, come on in and join us! The water is fine! You have many friends here that you haven’t met yet.
Login to Like
this post
154 on line just now. But not me for long - I'm off to bed.
Login to Like
this post
161!
ps. I'm one of those, logged in for good guys ;-)
Login to Like
this post
Good list, Ian....
I like 'future members'.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
12:00:38am
".... I like 'future members'....."
Some are probably refugees from a certain other
stamp board, checking how we treat newbies to
see what they might be getting into here.
I know I was a lurker for several months before
I started to join.
" Whatever you do for one of the least of these,
you do for all of us."
(Paraphrasing)
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
So - you could be considered a 'future member' at that point, Charlie.
Login to Like
this post
01:37:01am
" .... So - you could be considered a 'future member' at that point, Charlie. ...."
And I am quite sure I applied in '09 or '08, and after a month or two forgot abut it. Then sometime later I reapplied and after waiting, I think, two or so months, sent an email to whoever was the president, asking why it was neither accepted nor rejected.
I believe th response was that whoever was doing admissions had been ill for some time.
That must have lit a fire somewhere because here I am.
Login to Like
this post
And we are glad that you are.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Holy Cow!!! 254 right now.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Yeah, I fell off my chair when I saw that. When I got off the floor, it was 251.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
'
Q/ How many are robots & spiders?
Their behavior - walking their way thru all of the topics & threads - would give them away, as would their use of multiple 'near-adjacent' IP addresses.
I am not volunteering Tim's time.
Though I am thinking that there must be open source code for webmasters who care to know - and I would think that the larger advertisers would demand to know - the "net wet eyeballs" count.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who already knows his next software project, should he ever go back to programming, and this ain't it)
Login to Like
this post
I know about web spiders and such, but this has been pretty consistent with the higher volume of those online here. Even at night it is still pretty high (50 or so) compared to what I have seen.
I noticed that we have many new members who are from countries outside of the US and Canada.
I find it hard to comprehend how web spiders and such would keep the online count so high for so long a time. I would think that the spiders would do their job, and off they'd go. But, this understanding can just be related to ignorance on my part of those web thingies.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
The increase in ‘visitors’ that Stamporama is seeing are bots; both Stamp Smarter and SCF have seen a similar jump in traffic due starting on 11/19. On both Stamp Smarter and SCF this sudden increase is currently accounting for an additional 200-300 ‘visits’ per day. I have not yet been able to determine what bot is doing this, Stamp Smarter server logs only have this entry, “Unknown robot (identified by hit on 'robots.txt')”. I know for sure it is not a US based bot address, nor is it any of the typical bots like Google, etc.; I suspect it may be Chinese.
A better gauge of the site health would be increases memberships, number of posts and sales.
Don
Login to Like
this post
Interesting.
Login to Like
this post
01:32:10am
It must be the X-mas doldrums, only 44 on-line.
Ooops, right before my eyes the number dropped
to 35 online and then tiptoed back up to 39.
Login to Like
this post
Slow during holidays
Login to Like
this post
We restrict access to just a few of the Club resources to non-members. I wonder if making more items accessible only to members would change the dynamics of how many are on line, and how many participate rather than just watch, or for robots mine our data. I know for example that all the posts of the discussion boards are on Google, and I have often wondered about the legality of this. I suspect other resources as well, and on other search platforms as well I am sure. Have we questioned if we really want that, in today's technological (out of control) information environment?
rrr..
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
.
The big advantage to all of our posts being hoovered-up by Google is that people searching for something may get SOR in their results.
In fact, this might be a significant source of such new members as come our way, so I would not be too quick to require Google (and any other search engine that obeys the standard instructions) to pass us by.
For example, I searched on the exact text "American Air Mail Catalogue" and, there we were, at the bottom of the 4th page of results.
/s/ ikeyPikey
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I have seen posts show up in a google search within 10 to 15 minutes.
Most groups benefit from the visibility since a lot of people find forums through searches.
Login to Like
this post
63 visitors online at 9:45 on Christmas morning!!
Login to Like
this post
Many forum traffic tools do not include/count non-human (bots and spiders) automatically. But if the Stamporama traffic code is including them, the admin should be able to avoid counting the non-human traffic by manually excluding the IP addresses for common the most common bots and spiders.
The non-human traffic issue exists over on SCF; for example the forum software is currently showing a total of 1,419 users viewing the SCF section. But this number includes some non-human traffic and a number of these ‘visitors’ are actually permanent bots and spiders from Google, eBay, Amazon, and other affiliate links bots. Permanent affiliate link bots like these generate income for a site by giving credit to the source websites when folks click on a link. For example, the SCF code automatically creates a eBay link anytime a poster types the name ‘eBay’. If other users click on it and go to the eBay from that link, SCF gets a micropayment. But these permanent bots can also provide VERY quick search engine indexing of the SCF topics and having a business relationship also makes SCF threads get a higher ranking on a search engine.
It is these kinds of thing that I mean when I previously have posted that ‘free’ sites are not really free. Google, Facebook, StampWorld are all selling your data. What sites you go to, what site you just came from, everything you click on becomes the ‘product’.
Recently we had a SCF member who got angry because I deleted a rude, pornographic joke he posted. He then start posting complaints that that the SCF ‘no porn’ rule was lame because the SCF has a banner ad program and it was showing him porn sites. So how could SCF have a ‘no porn’ rule when we were displaying porn banner ads? The part he did not understand was that the SCF banner ads are totally based upon the websites you have visited. The only reason he was seeing porn banners was because those are the sites he had been visiting.
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
My count is based on my own transactions on the site.
I am selling to about 25 forum members and I buy, or have bought stamps from another 50 members. With some members I end up exchanging stamps by adjusting my invoice based on what I bought from them.
So, 50 to 75 active members for me is about the right count.
I still cannot help but wonder what happened to a couple of good members who disappeared all of a sudden after years of being regulars on the board. One of them had his complete profile deleted. Hope they are well and active somewhere else!
Login to Like
this post
As I check the forum this morning, there 6 members (including me) signed in with 60 as guests.
Login to Like
this post
As of right now there are 66 visitors online, but when checking the members currently using the system it says five and my name is not even in that short list, I wonder how the system itself works.
Login to Like
this post
At 7:15 Eastern, I see 61 online with 5 members (including me).
Login to Like
this post
'
Our watched pot is not boiling.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
"the system it says five and my name is not even in that short list, I wonder how the system itself works."
If you are not logged in, you will appear as a "guest".
Login to Like
this post
I'm always logged in unless I'm clearing my history and cookies on the pc, as a matter of fact under the welcome sing there's the logoff button which I assume is telling me that I'm login, how otherwise would I be able to post messages?
Login to Like
this post
For this morning log in, I see 54 online with 6 members logged in. It does bounce around.
Login to Like
this post
I did some analysis of the Visitors Online that are showing up as Guests. Some of them are just normal people who are looking around. The vast majority of the Guests are bots or crawlers. There is a lot from Microsoft. Some from Google. There is a lot from companies in the Netherlands that I didn't recognize. There are a few from Australia and a few from China. Interestingly there was quite a few from the company that hosts Stamporama's server.
Over all, nothing much to get excited or worried about.
Regards ... Tim.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I am a little dismayed to learn that by clicking on the visitors button I can see my full name and home town displayed. Is it available to non-members?
FF
Login to Like
this post
I just tried it logged out and, no, I could not see any names, only a count of people online.
Login to Like
this post
Thanks, Philatelia, good to know.
FF
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
I agree 100%. The website designers for Stamporama have done a good job separating member only areas from nonmembers.
Login to Like
this post
Email addresses are also displayed and of course anyone with malicious intent can become a member. And once a member, a person can programmatically harvest the emails of the other Stamporama members. A lot of forum software does not reveal member’s personal information or at a minimum hides it by default and allows members to opt in into displaying it.
This is also why it is a good idea to build a ‘throw-away’ email account to use when signing up for memberships online.
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
I use a different mailing account for membership in clubs and social networks, totally separate from my personal account. rrr...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
21 Nov 2019
07:41:33pm
As of three minutes ago the gadget on the upper right
listed 137 viewers online. Is that a club record ?
Is there a club record ?
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
I don't know what the record is, but this morning there were 185 online. That's the highest I have seen.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
Wow! That’s impressive!
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: How many on line ?
I also saw that 185 yesterday morning.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
A few days back I saw well over 200....most all were guests.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant
24 Nov 2019
01:37:39am
re: How many on line ?
The number of signed-in SOR members is always significantly lower than the number listed as on line. Right now, 3 signed in members and 66 on line! I suppose some members don't sign in, although most of the time I am signed on automatically, so to sign off requires work on my part. Could there be that many "voyeurs"?
rrr...
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
It is not unusual forums to have many more lurkers than those signed in.
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: How many on line ?
84 visitors and 8 members. If you click on the number, it will show you which members are on line right now.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
If you are a member, you do not have to be logged in. Of course, you won't be able to do alot of things on the site, if you are not logged in.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
I'm logged in on both my Ipad and my PC - and I only count as one person - no Siamese twins or anything. But when I logged off the Ipad, now I'm two people of course. Heh heh! Soooo, we could all log in on multiple devices and see how high a number we can get just to be incredibly silly, eh?
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: How many on line ?
I stay logged in all the time. I think about once a month I have to sign in again because they automatically sign me off or something like that.
BTW: Geez! I hate that name lurkers. can't y'all think of anything better?
"Voyuers" sounds a little better. I can see "folks in the peanut gallery".
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
How about "sneakers and peekers?" LOL
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
"Voyeurs" tends to have - need I say it - sexual undertones of a not so clean nature.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: How many on line ?
How about:-
Sightseers,
or
Fellow Collectors,
or
Future Members,
or
Friends,
or
Chums,
or
Mates,
or
Buddies,
Remember, the Visitors can read everything. OOOOoooooohhhhhhh
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
Good point!
So to all you folks visiting, come on in and join us! The water is fine! You have many friends here that you haven’t met yet.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
154 on line just now. But not me for long - I'm off to bed.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
161!
ps. I'm one of those, logged in for good guys ;-)
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
Good list, Ian....
I like 'future members'.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
29 Nov 2019
12:00:38am
re: How many on line ?
".... I like 'future members'....."
Some are probably refugees from a certain other
stamp board, checking how we treat newbies to
see what they might be getting into here.
I know I was a lurker for several months before
I started to join.
" Whatever you do for one of the least of these,
you do for all of us."
(Paraphrasing)
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
So - you could be considered a 'future member' at that point, Charlie.
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
30 Nov 2019
01:37:01am
re: How many on line ?
" .... So - you could be considered a 'future member' at that point, Charlie. ...."
And I am quite sure I applied in '09 or '08, and after a month or two forgot abut it. Then sometime later I reapplied and after waiting, I think, two or so months, sent an email to whoever was the president, asking why it was neither accepted nor rejected.
I believe th response was that whoever was doing admissions had been ill for some time.
That must have lit a fire somewhere because here I am.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
And we are glad that you are.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Auctions
re: How many on line ?
Holy Cow!!! 254 right now.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
Yeah, I fell off my chair when I saw that. When I got off the floor, it was 251.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
'
Q/ How many are robots & spiders?
Their behavior - walking their way thru all of the topics & threads - would give them away, as would their use of multiple 'near-adjacent' IP addresses.
I am not volunteering Tim's time.
Though I am thinking that there must be open source code for webmasters who care to know - and I would think that the larger advertisers would demand to know - the "net wet eyeballs" count.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who already knows his next software project, should he ever go back to programming, and this ain't it)
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
I know about web spiders and such, but this has been pretty consistent with the higher volume of those online here. Even at night it is still pretty high (50 or so) compared to what I have seen.
I noticed that we have many new members who are from countries outside of the US and Canada.
I find it hard to comprehend how web spiders and such would keep the online count so high for so long a time. I would think that the spiders would do their job, and off they'd go. But, this understanding can just be related to ignorance on my part of those web thingies.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
The increase in ‘visitors’ that Stamporama is seeing are bots; both Stamp Smarter and SCF have seen a similar jump in traffic due starting on 11/19. On both Stamp Smarter and SCF this sudden increase is currently accounting for an additional 200-300 ‘visits’ per day. I have not yet been able to determine what bot is doing this, Stamp Smarter server logs only have this entry, “Unknown robot (identified by hit on 'robots.txt')”. I know for sure it is not a US based bot address, nor is it any of the typical bots like Google, etc.; I suspect it may be Chinese.
A better gauge of the site health would be increases memberships, number of posts and sales.
Don
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
24 Dec 2019
01:32:10am
re: How many on line ?
It must be the X-mas doldrums, only 44 on-line.
Ooops, right before my eyes the number dropped
to 35 online and then tiptoed back up to 39.
Login to Like
this post
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant
24 Dec 2019
02:25:23pm
re: How many on line ?
We restrict access to just a few of the Club resources to non-members. I wonder if making more items accessible only to members would change the dynamics of how many are on line, and how many participate rather than just watch, or for robots mine our data. I know for example that all the posts of the discussion boards are on Google, and I have often wondered about the legality of this. I suspect other resources as well, and on other search platforms as well I am sure. Have we questioned if we really want that, in today's technological (out of control) information environment?
rrr..
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
.
The big advantage to all of our posts being hoovered-up by Google is that people searching for something may get SOR in their results.
In fact, this might be a significant source of such new members as come our way, so I would not be too quick to require Google (and any other search engine that obeys the standard instructions) to pass us by.
For example, I searched on the exact text "American Air Mail Catalogue" and, there we were, at the bottom of the 4th page of results.
/s/ ikeyPikey
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
I have seen posts show up in a google search within 10 to 15 minutes.
Most groups benefit from the visibility since a lot of people find forums through searches.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
63 visitors online at 9:45 on Christmas morning!!
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
Many forum traffic tools do not include/count non-human (bots and spiders) automatically. But if the Stamporama traffic code is including them, the admin should be able to avoid counting the non-human traffic by manually excluding the IP addresses for common the most common bots and spiders.
The non-human traffic issue exists over on SCF; for example the forum software is currently showing a total of 1,419 users viewing the SCF section. But this number includes some non-human traffic and a number of these ‘visitors’ are actually permanent bots and spiders from Google, eBay, Amazon, and other affiliate links bots. Permanent affiliate link bots like these generate income for a site by giving credit to the source websites when folks click on a link. For example, the SCF code automatically creates a eBay link anytime a poster types the name ‘eBay’. If other users click on it and go to the eBay from that link, SCF gets a micropayment. But these permanent bots can also provide VERY quick search engine indexing of the SCF topics and having a business relationship also makes SCF threads get a higher ranking on a search engine.
It is these kinds of thing that I mean when I previously have posted that ‘free’ sites are not really free. Google, Facebook, StampWorld are all selling your data. What sites you go to, what site you just came from, everything you click on becomes the ‘product’.
Recently we had a SCF member who got angry because I deleted a rude, pornographic joke he posted. He then start posting complaints that that the SCF ‘no porn’ rule was lame because the SCF has a banner ad program and it was showing him porn sites. So how could SCF have a ‘no porn’ rule when we were displaying porn banner ads? The part he did not understand was that the SCF banner ads are totally based upon the websites you have visited. The only reason he was seeing porn banners was because those are the sites he had been visiting.
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: How many on line ?
My count is based on my own transactions on the site.
I am selling to about 25 forum members and I buy, or have bought stamps from another 50 members. With some members I end up exchanging stamps by adjusting my invoice based on what I bought from them.
So, 50 to 75 active members for me is about the right count.
I still cannot help but wonder what happened to a couple of good members who disappeared all of a sudden after years of being regulars on the board. One of them had his complete profile deleted. Hope they are well and active somewhere else!
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
As I check the forum this morning, there 6 members (including me) signed in with 60 as guests.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
As of right now there are 66 visitors online, but when checking the members currently using the system it says five and my name is not even in that short list, I wonder how the system itself works.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
At 7:15 Eastern, I see 61 online with 5 members (including me).
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
'
Our watched pot is not boiling.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
"the system it says five and my name is not even in that short list, I wonder how the system itself works."
If you are not logged in, you will appear as a "guest".
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
I'm always logged in unless I'm clearing my history and cookies on the pc, as a matter of fact under the welcome sing there's the logoff button which I assume is telling me that I'm login, how otherwise would I be able to post messages?
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
For this morning log in, I see 54 online with 6 members logged in. It does bounce around.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: How many on line ?
I did some analysis of the Visitors Online that are showing up as Guests. Some of them are just normal people who are looking around. The vast majority of the Guests are bots or crawlers. There is a lot from Microsoft. Some from Google. There is a lot from companies in the Netherlands that I didn't recognize. There are a few from Australia and a few from China. Interestingly there was quite a few from the company that hosts Stamporama's server.
Over all, nothing much to get excited or worried about.
Regards ... Tim.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
I am a little dismayed to learn that by clicking on the visitors button I can see my full name and home town displayed. Is it available to non-members?
FF
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
I just tried it logged out and, no, I could not see any names, only a count of people online.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
Thanks, Philatelia, good to know.
FF
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: How many on line ?
I agree 100%. The website designers for Stamporama have done a good job separating member only areas from nonmembers.
Login to Like
this post
re: How many on line ?
Email addresses are also displayed and of course anyone with malicious intent can become a member. And once a member, a person can programmatically harvest the emails of the other Stamporama members. A lot of forum software does not reveal member’s personal information or at a minimum hides it by default and allows members to opt in into displaying it.
This is also why it is a good idea to build a ‘throw-away’ email account to use when signing up for memberships online.
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant
29 Dec 2019
02:21:15pm
re: How many on line ?
I use a different mailing account for membership in clubs and social networks, totally separate from my personal account. rrr...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.