Some Useless BANJO-L Statistics

OK. I confess to a strange curiosity about numbers and changes. Therefore, I have been following a few BANJO-L statistics for a while, including our numbers of subscribers each week, the List's growth rate, the numbers of posts by subscriber, and, beginning in Dec. of 1997, the numbers of posts per day. For those similarly afflicted with an interest in the boring, here are some graphs & comments...

WHO is BANJO-L?
As of 24 August, 1999, this list comprised 1,178 active subscriptions. I have been logging BANJO-L subscriptions since late September, 1997. The following chart shows what is a fairly linear growth rate (note the r-square value).

The percentages of banjo-interest among subscribers have remained relatively stable, i.e., a several-month-long survey showed that we hover at ca. 60% who are primarily interested in bluegrass banjo, 25% who are interested in old-time styles, mostly clawhammer, and some 10% whose interests lie with tenor and plectrum banjos. Of particular note is that this list serves each and every banjo interest, and we can all learn something from this mix every day.

The mean numbers of posts per day from 01 Dec 97 through 10 May 98, are shown below. The overall average during that time was 42.6 posts per day, SD=15.4), with a high of 87 and a low of 9. Weekends were usually slow, and mid-week was when almost everyone has something to say. Wednesdays and Thursdays were usually busy. As of 17 May 98, I have stopped collecting these data, as neither the mean nor the standard deviation had budged in six weeks. If there seems to be a major change, I shall again monitor these data.

As of 19 Jan 1998, there had been ca. 14,679 messages posted to BANJO-L.

Herewith are some stats about those posts and the posters:

There were 816 folks currently subscribed on 18 Jan 1998.
Those 14,679 posts were contributed by 967 subscribers, which tells us that ca. 150 posters have left the group.
There are many subscribers (current and departed) who have never posted to BANJO-L.
On average, people who have posted have done so 15.2 times (SD=44.3).
The graph above--or to the right, depending on how you're viewing this-- shows the number of posts by individual subscriber. Clearly, a few individuals are responsible for most posts:

The graph (theoretically) to the left shows these same data, in the form of cumulative percentages. I have indicated on this chart that 80% of all posts have been contributed by ca. 23% of all posters.

So there you have another snapshot of our posters' posting habits. All this, of course, still begs the question: "So what?"