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Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics


Bilbo
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In a moment of autistic delight, I have collated some statistics relating to the use of this forum, specifically identifying what we, the 4,514 registered members, use it for, assuming that these are the things that matter to us most as a collective.

Firstly, we have a list of forums/ subject areas in order of frequency of usage:

Forum Number of threads

Off Topic 3,341
General Bass Discussion 2,866
Items Wanted 2, 749
For Sale: Amps, Cabs & Effecs 2,567
For Sales: Basses 2,203
Bass Guitars 1,889
Amps & Cabs 1,436
For Sale: Other musically
related stuff 1,400
Ebay Links 1,280
Repairs and Technical Issues 1,025
Introductions 831
Effects 798
Gear Porn 717
Miscellaneous Equipment
And Accessories 648
Feedback Section 607
Gigs 531
Recording 524
Theory & Technique 296
Bassists Wanted/Available 291
Double Bass 211
Recycling Unwanted Items 195
Basschat Affiliates 194
Build Diaries 178
Site News 132
Basschatter’s Reviews 120
Ask an expert 90
Bass Tutors 85
Groove Library 25

The headlines are that the greatest percentage of threads, at 15.89%, are Off-Topic. So, in a nutshell, we use it most to talk about stuff that has nothing to do with basses (actually it means that 84.11% of our discussions do relate to basses so that’s encouraging!). General bass discussiosn form the second largest group at 13.63% with the next 35% of our threads going to the movement of gear of some description from one set of sweaty Basschatter mitts to another. Ogling each others gear forms the basis of 3.41% of the threads with only 1.4% of the discussions realting to theory or technique. The statistics also reveal that we are collectively more interested in knowing what everyone thinks of each other (2.88%) than we are about knowing how to play the bass.

Things change little when we look at the posts per subject group:

Forum No. of posts

Off Topic 71,002
General Bass Discussion 55,532
For Sales: Basses 26,170
Bass Guitars 25,621
Amps & Cabs 17,870
For Sale: Amps, Cabs & Effecs 17,814
Gear Porn 11,586
Ebay Links 9,920
Effects 9,514
Items Wanted 8,546
Repairs and Technical Issues 6,974
Build Diaries 5,892
Miscellaneous Equipment
And Accessories 5,855
For Sale: Other musically
related stuff 5,696
Introductions 5,043
Recording 3,003
Theory & Technique 2,917
Feedback Section 1,884
Gigs 1,841
Basschat Affiliates 1,818
Double Bass 1,583
Site News 1,565
Basschatter’s Reviews 1,144
Recycling Unwanted Items 1,105
Bassists Wanted/Available 900
Ask an expert 645
Bass Tutors 213
Groove Library 87

Again, the greatest percentage of our posts, 23.53%. are Off-Topic. That means nearly a quarter of all posts submitted here are not bass related at all. To be fair, 18.4% are general bass discussion but then the statistics plummet sharply to less than 9% on discussions about bass guitars. The real saving grace, however, is that, in actual post terms, were are more interested in playing the bass (0.96% of posts) than we are in talking about each other (0.62%). The fact that we are more interested in building instruments (1.95% in Build Diaries) than we are in actually playing them (Theory & Technique 0.96%) renders this to be a shallow victory. Compare this to the fact that 4% of the posts relate to us drooling over basses in Gear Porn and we can only conclude that bass players can’t read but do like looking at the pictures.

And, before anyone asks, no, I don’t have any friends.

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Obviously, Bilbo, I won't be so foolish as to take your humorous post too seriously.

But you're wrong, WRONG I tell you!

Going all po-faced for a second, because this is the sort of statistical interpretation that causes so much grief in real life, you have to put ANY set of stats into some form of context.

Ask yourself how many distinct bass-related topics it is possible to imagine. Call it 100,000 for the sake of the argument.

Next, ask yourself how many distinct NON-bass-related topics it is possible to imagine. Call it 100 million for the sake of the argument.

We have 23,888 bass-related threads on this site. On the number above, that would mean that we had discussed 23.9% of all possible bass-related subjects.

We have 3,341 NON-bass-related threads on this site. On the number above, that would mean that we had discussed 0.003% of all possible NON-bass-related subjects.

Not that I'm taking this too seriously, of course.

:)

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It also doesn't account for how LONG each post is i.e. a gear porn thing would have a post that says 'WOW' or (+1) whilst a theory post may be 400 words or more.

My subtle point was that all of the stuff we talk about here and only 1% of it is about actually PLAYING the instrument

I just thought it was funny! :)

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[quote name='bilbo230763' post='343950' date='Dec 3 2008, 12:17 PM']In a moment of autistic delight, I have collated some statistics relating to the use of this forum, specifically identifying what we, the 4,514 registered members, use it for, assuming that these are the things that matter to us most as a collective.

Firstly, we have a list of forums/ subject areas in order of frequency of usage:

<massive snip>

we can only conclude that [b]bass players can’t read but do like looking at the pictures[/b].[/quote]
And you really needed all those stats to work that out? :)

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LOL Bilbo you're not telling Ped and I anything we weren't already aware of. :) This forum is used as much as a networking/socialising site as it is as a place to talk about bass. That was what prompted my last 'consultation' thread to include the social networking development option. Offtopic is the place where people tend to sound each other out about things beyond basses.

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='344597' date='Dec 3 2008, 07:09 PM']LOL Bilbo you're not telling Ped and I anything we weren't already aware of. :)[/quote]

I never doubted it, CK. I just think people should know what they are doing with their forum!

Plus it lets me have a dig at people that don't study properly! Perhaps I should be doing that on guitar forums! :huh:

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[quote name='bilbo230763' post='345101' date='Dec 4 2008, 09:22 AM']I never doubted it, CK. I just think people should know what they are doing with their forum![/quote]
Absolutely! Thanks for posting it too, (always better for that kind of info to come from someone other than Ped or I!) :)

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[quote name='bilbo230763' post='345101' date='Dec 4 2008, 09:22 AM']Plus it lets me have a dig at people that don't study properly![/quote]
You are Jeff Berlin and I claim my five pounds :):lol:

[size=1]Speaking of that argumentative beardy (JB, not Bilbo), did you see his answer to the guy's letter in the latest BGM? WHAT A KNOB![/size]

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