Blonde Stats Page

[tikay]

Anyone else find themselves going to this page to have a mooch.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?action=stats

I love looking around but do worry about the lowering post counts! Tikay loves his Y-O-Y figures December has gone from 17k to 11k to 7k over the last 3 years. Difficult to revive things I know but Blonde misses the DTD updates I think I still check blonde every day but mainly the betting threads.

Big surge in new members last month so lets hope we can pull these guys in to post more! The post figures are up slightly this month as well so lets hope 2015 can be a better year in terms of posts on blonde! I know things are moving towards Facebook etc but I feel like a right loser when i come on here refreshing looking for new things!

Also anyone price up who will win the race to 100k posts and when they will pass that mark?!?

TightEnd      90549
tikay      86078

Yes, the January Post count is running 36% above last month's number, though last month was the lowest monthly total since July 2005.

It's, hopefully, a sort of controlled descent.

After it fell to a very bad number in August, I (& others) made a concerted effort to "pump" the Forum, resulting in much improved numbers in September & October. I could not help with that in November or December though as I was very busy with work, mainly getting the UKPC nitty gritty sorted, & the numbers rapidly dwindled again. It just needs that bit of "priming" to arouse interest. 

[tikay]

It's easy to say "we are not doing much wrong", but no matter how critically we self-examine, the truth is all UK Poker Forums are in rapid, perhaps terminal, decline. We could do a few things better, I suppose, as we are frequently told, & they may be right, but it's not for want of effort.

Our traditional "rival" used to be The Hendon Mob, but then Joe & Co sold it. It is, to all intents & purposes, dead now, very very low post count, almost unmeasurably low.

They then opened, for commercial reasons, "Poker Mob". No disrespect to my very good friends Joe & Barny, but that's "very quiet" too. At this exact moment, as I write, it has "6 Users" Online. The biggest ever "Daily Users" there was 56.   

AWOP is struggling too. Right now (as I write) they have 61 Users Online, 50 of those are "Guests", & 11 are Members. (On blonde right now, this minute, we have 106 Users, of which 23 are Members).   

Gutshot has long gone, & Newcastle Poker Forum closed last year.

APAT Forum, which is very focused, is doing OK, as they particularly "engage" with Members for Events. As of now,k they haver over 200 Online, of which 17 are Members. In total, all-time, they have 230,000 Posts in 14,000 Topics, compared to blonde, which has 1.98 million posts in 62,000 Topics. (For context as to size). 

I dare not look at Betfair Forum, it just makes my varicose veins flare up.

So there seems to be a decline across all of them.

Twitter, facebook, da de da have obviously changed the whole dynamic of course.

[tikay]

Good threads, & good thread starters, are key.

And we do have some good threads here, just not enough.

You may be surprised to know that Mr Camel is, probably, the most inventive & successful of the Thread Starters, leaving aside Tighty's daily efforts.  

Some of Camel's threads are very enduring & extremely popular - "What Happened to?", "Fred" & several others prove that.

But mostly - & perfectly understandably - regulars cba to start threads, they prefer to read "ready-made" threads.  

I'll try & address the contentious subject of "diaries" shortly.

[TightEnd]

in addition to all the issues discussed (updates, social media competition, lesser recreational involvement in poker from long time blonde members, not enough controversy etc) it is now easier to lurk on the forum rather than post than it ever was via mobile phones

For example when we first started people would have been looking at the forum on desktops and laptops. i know myself that these days that has changed a lot to tablets and phones

personally, when on the phone, its really easy to view every post in chronological order but not as simple, time consuming and fiddly to do a long post on a phone

easier on a tablet, but not as regimented as it was in 2005-2006 when everyone was using the forum in a more "static" manner

structurally, i feel this hurts post count too

the number of people who i see who say "i read it all, but i am not a poster" has risen a lot compared to a few years ago 

[TightEnd]

as one example..because i seed the forum all the time or attempt to

i posted on saturday a topic

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=64744.0

it may or may not be interesting, but its a "think" type thread

546 views, not so bad

5 replies. Bit of a headscratcher

things soon take off when there is a ruck though :-)

[arbboy]

Good threads, & good thread starters, are key.

And we do have some good threads here, just not enough.

You may be surprised to know that Mr Camel is, probably, the most inventive & successful of the Thread Starters, leaving aside Tighty's daily efforts.  

Some of Camel's threads are very enduring & extremely popular - "What Happened to?", "Fred" & several others prove that.

But mostly - & perfectly understandably - regulars cba to start threads, they prefer to read "ready-made" threads.  

I'll try & address the contentious subject of "diaries" shortly.

Blonde is holding up really well, imo, compared to the other forums you mention.  The poker area of the betfair forum is virtually dead and awop is literally just a G casino sponsored NW poker blog with hardly any interaction from outside of the NW hardcore fans they have always had.  The lack of live updates have definitely affected the forums in general, esp blonde and awop, in recruiting new members but the general decline in poker in general is the main cause for me as casual people just leave poker for good.

With regards to mobile i certainly fit into that category of always reading but never making anything other than a one line post on my ipad.  All my bigger posts are done via laptop just because it is so much easier to type.

Losing posters like Jason Herbert etc also cause post counts to fall massively.

[tikay]

in addition to all the issues discussed (updates, social media competition, lesser recreational involvement in poker from long time blonde members, not enough controversy etc) it is now easier to lurk on the forum rather than post than it ever was via mobile phones

For example when we first started people would have been looking at the forum on desktops and laptops. i know myself that these days that has changed a lot to tablets and phones

personally, when on the phone, its really easy to view every post in chronological order but not as simple, time consuming and fiddly to do a long post on a phone

easier on a tablet, but not as regimented as it was in 2005-2006 when everyone was using the forum in a more "static" manner

structurally, i feel this hurts post count too

the number of people who i see who say "i read it all, but i am not a poster" has risen a lot compared to a few years ago 

I think that's a a huge factor.

When blonde was in it's heyday, such as it was ever, there was no "mobile".

I view it on Mobile a lot - throughout most evenings - but almost never post from a Mobile device, for the reasons you mention.

I also switch blonde off completely when a bad ruck is going off, I don't populate recreational forums to get involved in bad blood, my recreational time has a very strict label on it - FUN.

Work is for pain, forums are for fun.

Each to their own, of course, I believe many others enjoy it when it kicks off.     

[celtic]

Good threads, & good thread starters, are key.

And we do have some good threads here, just not enough.

You may be surprised to know that Mr Camel is, probably, the most inventive & successful of the Thread Starters, leaving aside Tighty's daily efforts.  

Some of Camel's threads are very enduring & extremely popular - "What Happened to?", "Fred" & several others prove that.

But mostly - & perfectly understandably - regulars cba to start threads, they prefer to read "ready-made" threads.  

I'll try & address the contentious subject of "diaries" shortly.

Blonde is holding up really well, imo, compared to the other forums you mention.  The poker area of the betfair forum is virtually dead and awop is literally just a G casino sponsored NW poker blog with hardly any interaction from outside of the NW hardcore fans they have always had.  The lack of live updates have definitely affected the forums in general, esp blonde and awop, in recruiting new members but the general decline in poker in general is the main cause for me as casual people just leave poker for good.

With regards to mobile i certainly fit into that category of always reading but never making anything other than a one line post on my ipad.  All my bigger posts are done via laptop just because it is so much easier to type.

Losing posters like Jason Herbert etc also cause post counts to fall massively.

AWOP is going to be quieter now that Grosvenor have decided not to do 25/25 updates.

[tikay]

Diaries.

There is a view that these are, generally bad for blonde. 

I've thought long & hard about this, & I disagree. Sure, they have negatives - everything does - but the pros outweigh the cons by some distance, imo. 

The strange thing with them is how many people "view only" the Diaries, but rarely post. It's by far the majority. I guess it's easier to read, & requires less effort, than to write. Perfectly reasonable.

Specifically (this is not to criticise anyone)......

Conky

At one time, his was easily the most popular diary here. Then he moved abroad, & time differences meant that "convos" became stunted, & he got less feedback. He recently made it clear that without feedback, he was less interested in writing. I feel exactly the same, feedback is key. I don't blame him at all, but it's a fact in the decline.

Posh Alex

Similar thing, very very popular indeed, & a LOT of feedback. But then, for reasons of his own, & not connected with blonde or critical towards blonde, he chose to stop it, & do a standalone Blog. Lot of posts went down the swanee, just like that.   

He has returned recently, & he gets great feedback & bounce. 

Plinop

A hugely popular Diary.

Yesterday he announced he was closing it.

Bugger. I say, bugger.



These things are outwith our control, it's life, progress, it is what it is.

There are several other excellent Diaries, Up/Down'Middle Eso, Pretty Boy Russell, & many more. They all help.  Oh, & the "How to Make a Cup of Tea" Diary, too.

[Marky147]

The other forum that I post on is much smaller than Blonde, and it's gradually gotten quieter over there, too.

That said, we've managed to engineer a Ladbrokes reunion of sorts in April, and that should have upwards of 100 people there.

Our member base isn't very geared towards online poker, but they love a good drink

[tikay]

Fred

Far & away, & not even close, it tops all the blonde stats.

This, in itself, brings problems, because it can detract from other Sports Threads.

On balance though, the "Fred Effect" has livened up the Betting Boards overall, & that Board is now the (all time) 2nd most poplular Board on blonde.

It's quite a task to keep everyone happy though, no matter how hard we all try. It's already in decline, has been for a while, for a number of different reasons, mainly it's sheer size, which inevitably creates conflict & departurtes. It's the internet, that's the way popular threads go. Personally, I'm completely content that I left nothing on the table, I gave it my all. It would die within days if Tighty abandoned it, that's for sure. 

Pretty sure that without Fred, blonde as a Forum would be facing a severe problem now, because there has to be a "lower limt" post-count after which there is no point persevering.

We have to be mindful, too, that Flushy invested a bunch of money to save blonde, & so, up to a point, we have to try to protect blonde as much as possible, & the major decisions, if push ever comes to shove, sit with him.

I'll try & address Live Updates later. For the moment, don't be giving up, they may return, & quite soon, but they require time, effort (by Updater/s)& money to finance them. Maybe we overdosed on them previously, & they would not be taken quite so much for granted in future. Remember, someone pays for them, & they expect something in return for that cost. I'm not convinced the various sponsors got value for their money. Not many readers, when following an Update, actually convert into sign-ups.   

[tikay]

The other forum that I post on is much smaller than Blonde, and it's gradually gotten quieter over there, too.

That said, we've managed to engineer a Ladbrokes reunion of sorts in April, and that should have upwards of 100 people there.

Our member base isn't very geared towards online poker, but they love a good drink

Yes, it's a "market sector" thing really.

The internet changes our habits so quickly. Twitter only began 7 years ago, now it has 500 million accounts.

[AndrewT]

You have to remember that back in the day we didn't half post a load of crap.

Also someone would start a 'Blonde is dying' thread every couple of days so that would keep things ticking along.

[tikay]

Forum Competitions

We still have a few, but nothing like as many as previously.

They are up to Members to start, & run.

We had one on Tuesday evening, & it racked up 172 replies in just over a day. Great stuff.

They take a bit of time & effort though, & need someone to start them, & others to spread the word.

Mere generally runs a few each year, too - Cheltenham, Royal Ascot, WSOP, & they get huge traffic.

We used to have that "Sheep" quiz thing, but it lost a bit of buzz, due to familiarity I suppose, & the increasingly difficult way the questions were phrased. 

Deffo a net loss to blonde, but we can't expect Tighty, Mere & Scott to start them all. (Apologies to any I omitted due to memory failure).

[TightEnd]

You have to remember that back in the day we didn't half post a load of crap.

there was a thread "One word Story" that was in the top three of posted on threads until 2010 and top ten until earlier this year

it ran 2005-2007

all you had to do was post a word, then someone else followed on with another

it ran for thousands of posts

looking back, it seems incredible that people were energised by it

was that post count or forum traffic that meant anything? is it likely to be repeated? no and no?

there are plenty of other examples too where post count now compared to post count then is like comparing apples from Mars with Oranges from Saturn

things have moved on in t'internet world a long way...technological change, people's viewing and posting tendencies, why people view the forum, what they do instead etc etc