The Monthly Report - February 2012 Edition

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

Here's a little something I want to try. Everyone loves numbers, right? This "Monthly Report" will contain a selection of statistics from the month of February, mostly for the fun of it but also to give everyone an idea of our growth. If it's well-received, I might make this a recurring thing.

 

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February 2012

The number shown after a metric is the daily average of that metric for the month. Selected metrics may include an additional short-term average, which will be in parentheses.

Vital Stats

• Pageviews: 1,127,085 - 38,865 avg. (27 pageviews per minute)
• Visits: 92,353 - 3,185 avg.
• Unique Visitors: 40,355 - 1,392 avg.
• Hours Spent: 25,155 - 867 avg. (2.87 years total)

Forum Stats

• Posts: 59,585 - 2,055 avg. (1.43 posts per minute)
• Topics: 2,600 - ​90 avg.
• New Members: 693 - 24 avg.
• Sent Private Messages: 1,948 - 67 avg.

Tech Stats

• Total Data Transfer: 232 GB - 8.00 GB avg.
  • Server Transfer Used: 124 GB - 4.28 GB avg.
  • CDN Transfer Used: 108 GB - 3.72 GB avg.
• Total Files Served: 16,709,486 - 576,189 avg.
  • Files Served (server): 6,750,208 - 232,766 avg.
  • Files Served (CDN): 9,959,278 - 343,423 avg.

Lifetime Stats

• 3,096,732 pageviews
• 82,081 unique visitors
• 72,546 hours spent - 8.28 years total

Lifetime Pageviews Graph

 

Hope you enjoyed this! It took a fair bit of time to put this report together.

[Key Gear 6,663]

I love numbers - especially numbers that have anything to do with ponies, and these are some seriously hardcore stats for a MLP forum.

 

All of these are amazing, but I find it really amazing that 1/3 of the lifetime pageviews occurred in just this past month. On top of that the number of unique visitors is pretty impressive as well.

 

Yes... The population is increasing! Soon the whole world will be a member of this forum!

 

Edit: (And is that 6,750,208 files from the mlpforums server and 9,959,278 cdn files served for the one month? Wow. That is amazing...)

 

Edit 2: And over 25,000 hours spent by all of us in February? That's almost 3 years worth of time.

 

Edit 3: Ok ok. I need to stop editing this but really. With these kind of stats, this forum is like a city on the internet. We need to make it a metropolis!

Edited March 2, 2012 by HAL 9000

[Zoop 8,384]

I think we can do better than this. These statistics, we must double them.

[HomuraBL 851]

This little forum I joined when it first started is really growing ain't it.

 

I've meet all sorts of people and have new friends also. Its hard to imagine it would grow this big.

[LowfatEnvelope 335]

That's a fast growth rate 0_o Thanks for the stats! I like to read them

[Nah 3,182]

We need moar members! This is honestly the best pony forum on the web.

[Key Gear 6,663]

I hate to post twice so soon, but the first one was getting messy. These numbers are like catnip to me, they made my day.

 

Thank you Feld0 for putting this report together. It was worth the time that you spent to do it because it shows everyone how amazing this community is.

 

I'm happy I found this place, and I am happier that it has a healthy growth rate. That is a definite sign of a strong community that will remain active for a long time.

Edited March 2, 2012 by HAL 9000

[Electrobolt 2,069]

I think we can do better than this. These statistics, we must double them.

 

... For whatever reason, I have Luna going "Haha! The stats have been DOUBLED!!!" in my mind thanks to you

 

But back on topic... Pretty nice idea Feld0! I wonder what kinda stats we'll see at the end of March

Edited March 2, 2012 by Trixie Helper Electrobolt

[Zoop 8,384]

... For whatever reason, I have Luna going "Haha! The stats have been DOUBLED!!!" in my mind thanks to you

 

But back on topic... Pretty nice idea Feld0! I wonder what kinda stats we'll see at the end of March

Oh God. Now I feel a bit dim for having not thought of that myself - "The [X] has been doubled!" is a favorite of mine.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Here's a little something I want to try. Everyone loves numbers, right? This "Monthly Report" will contain a selection of statistics from the month of February, mostly for the fun of it but also to give everyone an idea of our growth. If it's well-received, I might make this a recurring thing.

 

---

February 2012

The number shown after a metric is the daily average of that metric for the month. Selected metrics may include an additional short-term average, which will be in parentheses.

Vital Stats

• Pageviews: 1,127,085 - 38,865 avg. (27 pageviews per minute)
• Visits: 92,353 - 3,185 avg.
• Unique Visitors: 40,355 - 1,392 avg.
• Hours Spent: 25,155 - 867 avg. (2.87 years total)

Forum Stats

• Posts: 59,585 - 2,055 avg. (1.43 posts per minute)
• Topics: 2,600 - ​90 avg.
• New Members: 693 - 24 avg.
• Sent Private Messages: 1,948 - 67 avg.

Tech Stats

• Total Data Transfer: 232 GB - 8.00 GB avg.
  • Server Transfer Used: 124 GB - 4.28 GB avg.
  • CDN Transfer Used: 108 GB - 3.72 GB avg.
• Total Files Served: 16,709,486 - 576,189 avg.
  • Files Served (server): 6,750,208 - 232,766 avg.
  • Files Served (CDN): 9,959,278 - 343,423 avg.

Lifetime Stats

• 3,096,732 pageviews
• 82,081 unique visitors
• 72,546 hours spent - 8.28 years total

Lifetime Pageviews Graph

 

Hope you enjoyed this! It took a fair bit of time to put this report together.

 

 

Watch out y'all, MLP Forums is going to rank #1 on Alexa in the near future.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Devin McCourty

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

Glad you're all enjoying this report. HAL 9000's post gave me the idea to convert those hours into years, so I added those to the report! Amazing to think that over eight years have already gone into this site in a matter of several short months.

 

I also grouped the data transfer numbers from the CDN and my main server into totals.

 

Watch out y'all, MLP Forums is going to rank #1 on Alexa in the near future.

 

We're 576,975 right now. We can do this!

[Stoner Spike 185]

We must not double, but TRIPLE these stats in the next two months. Those are pretty damn amazing for a pony forum, setting aside EqD (even though it ain't a forum); and it's quite a young one at that.

 

Feld0, you haven't yet failed to amaze me.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Midnight

[Radiance64 7,053]

We need moar members! This is honestly the best forum on the web.

Fixed. Pretty great statistics we got here... hopefully we can make the March statistics even larger!

[Fox 5,330]

We need to recurit more bronies and pegasisters! For pony loving domination.

[Jadefire 2,797]

MLP forums is best forum.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

I remember when I joined there was about 100 members or something like that...

[HomuraBL 851]

I remember when I joined there was about 100 members or something like that...

 

When I joined there was 14...

[Fghik 360]

I remember constantly eyeing the 3DS forums' "Official My Little Pony Thread" reading all about the future plans for this site...Oh and that sexy teaser image (Oh that Pinkie!)

Sometime in October...I also remember opening up about three different browsers to refresh the mlpforums webpage in hopes of it updating (first to join is a pretty prestigious thing dontchaknow?) In fact, this was the reason I downloaded Google Chrome (I love it by the way...Another thing to thank ponies for!) I also used these browsers to refresh the 3DS forum thread for any new information.

Eventually...at like...the next morning...I decided to go to bed...I figured it probably wasn't worth it anymore... I'm not so good with name-snipes anyway; and the chances of being first were pretty low (especially considering the fact Feld0 may have had other people work on the site.) I woke up a few hours later, and opened up Chrome...OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG I made an account, and got user #42. Not in the top 10, but man, who doesn't love 42?

 

This chart totally brings back all these memories...Feld0 rules.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Fghik

[Marcato 2,143]

I like. Me gusta! must make this place look more... SCIENTIFIC...maybe the word im looking for is nerdy. OKAY WE ARE ALL PONY NERD LETS ADMIT IT. WE NEED A MOST POPULAR PONY OF THE MONTH STATISTIC.

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

It's interesting to see that initial spike in pageviews before the progression began to climb much more naturally, or at least as one would expect of a growing internet forum. Any idea what led to that immediate flood of pageviews followed by relative calm?

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

It's interesting to see that initial spike in pageviews before the progression began to climb much more naturally, or at least as one would expect of a growing internet forum. Any idea what led to that immediate flood of pageviews followed by relative calm?

 

Kurtiss and I ran a promotional campaign for one month prior to the site's launch. The thing is, I was a bit tight on funds and had to be quite careful with my personal spending to be able to afford the then-$150 IP.Board license. Having launched several forums before, I know how easy it is for the first bunch of a site's members to leave because they simply find it boring compared to established, active forums.

 

The solution I came up with was to have a ton of people there right on day 1. And to do that, we created a gorgeous "give us your email address!" page and spent all of September promoting the heck out of it in every way we could - Twitter, RainbowDash Network, PonyChan, Equestria Daily, 3DS Forums, YouTube - everything we could.

 

The result? We collected over 200 email addresses while working on designing the site, writing up all the initial texts (rules, forum descriptions, etc.), configuring and setting up permissions, and all-around getting everything exactly into its place so the forums would be totally ready to fill with ponies come launch day. I knew we had a few minutes to make a good impression on each of these new members, so the forums had to look their part when the content itself was still yet to be made. I used every ounce of professionalism a 16-year-old could muster during the pre-reg period and actual launch thereafter.

 

When I launched the site and later sent a mass email out the next day, our 200+ pre-registrants stormed onto MLP Forums and filled the place with activity very, very quickly. Some of the original members here will surely recall the legendary locking of the 3DS Forums pony thread in all the excitement when we took the site online at 3 in the morning. Almost 2600 posts were made that day, which was the record for several months afterwards.

[Zoop 8,384]

The color scheme and general appearance of the prereg page gave me the impression that the forum-to-be might not make my eyes bleed in the same way that most other forums do, and also provided me with a bit of confidence that whoever it was that was operating the place was decently intelligent. After registering I promptly forgot about the place entirely until I happened to get an email about it during my lunch break at work.

 

Good times were had shortly thereafter.

[Klopp 2,050]

The color scheme and general appearance of the prereg page gave me the impression that the forum-to-be might not make my eyes bleed in the same way that most other forums do

 

This one one of the first things that appealed to me. Most other places I had seen just had an odd and difficult to follow format, with unappealing colors, with either too much content, or not enough at all. I really enjoy the color scheme, and it wasn't the kind of place I could easily get lost in, like many other forums I have seen about the internet. It wasn't just the fact that it was pony themed, as the other MLP related forums just aren't pleasing to the eye.

 

Of course, what actually kept me here was the good community, but to be honest I think that was mostly due to it being rather small when I first joined. Things have gotten a little crazier since then (Refer to closing of the chat, for an example) but all around, it's had a much better atmosphere than the rest of the entire internet. And I must say, these forums have supplied me with greater pleasure than any other website, and I intend to stay here until the forums die. Which I expect to happen maybe in 20 years

[Ron Jeremy 2,032]

Woah, almost three years total in February alone. That's awesome. This thread makes me wish I had joined earlier. Long live the most awesome forum ever.

 

Would definitely like seeing future monthly reports. Being able to see the stats like this every month sounds interesting, to say the least.

[Zalgo 593]

I'll have to show this to my friend when I finally build up the guts to tell him about bronys.