66% of the daniweb community doesn't post

[joshSCH]

I was just browsing through the Daniweb members list, and came across a rather surprising fact: 76,666 Daniweb members out of 115,914 have never posted once!:| That's about 66% of the entire community that hasn't contributed anything! Why is this? And why do these accounts not get deleted or in some way punished for not caring enough to contribute back to the community?

[Dani]

People register on DaniWeb for numerous reasons:

1 - They want to see what they're missing out on and are curious what features are included with a free membership

2 - They registered at their work and didn't realize they had to confirm their email, and by the time they had access to their email, they found the answer to what they were looking for and didn't need the site anymore

3 - They wanted to follow a particular thread and receive email updates

4 - They wanted to contact a particular member, and the only way to do so is to send them a private message

5 - They wanted to read member profiles

6 - They wanted to download attachments, or a thread they were reading had an attachment, and they needed to register to view it

7 - They are shy or not comfortable posting in online discussion boards, but want the full benefits of registration

8 - They registered to post their question, but then found the answer they needed and didn't need to ask after all.

I can think of more. :)

[Dani]

It appears that the main factor here are users who entered invalid email addresses, didn't want to take the time to confirm their email address (and forgot about the site), wanted to post something quick and didn't want to take the time to confirm their email, didn't have access to their email address when they registered and later found what they were looking for elsewhere, etc ...

Over 40,000 members have registered but not activated their memberships by clicking the link that was emailed to them.

[joshSCH]

ahh I see... I didn't think of all that. It just angers me when people commit to something, but never really follow through... and I guess I didn't pay attention to all the services Daniweb offers. Sorry for such an ignorant post:$

[Dani]

No, not ignorant at all. I mean, 40K people just haven't followed through with the registration process.

Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that, as we're legally bound to require email confirmation, and our ISP requires that any mail we send out be to a double opt-in mailing list (meaning we actually have to demonstrate proof as to the details surrounding, not just the registration, but the activation as well).

[John A]

It's pretty normal, and to be expected in all forum communities.
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=71393

[joshSCH]

ohhic.. Thanks for the link

[WaltP]

So why can't these 40000 people be deleted? Or is the number helpful in marketing the site?

[joshSCH]

hah.. that's what I figured... The active members of the forum may be only 40k, but it looks like there are 115k! Makes the forum look more successful..

[Dani]

The users can't be deleted because they are important for our records (As I said, I'm required to keep data about all members who register). Additionally, it's important to have the data to track growth trends so that I can improve the site. Knowing the percentage of users who fail completing registration each day lets me tweak the registration process to increase the conversion rate and track progress.

When users who don't activate their email addresses log into DaniWeb, they're presented with a page to update their emails. Additionally, they're sent reminder emails every so often in case it landed in their junk filters or something.

I'm not trying to hide true member count. You can see the number of active, contributing members in the statistics area of the forum index in addition to via the member list page.

[joshSCH]

The users can't be deleted because they are important for our records (As I said, I'm required to keep data about all members who register). Additionally, it's important to have the data to track growth trends so that I can improve the site. Knowing the percentage of users who fail completing registration each day lets me tweak the registration process to increase the conversion rate and track progress.

When users who don't activate their email addresses log into DaniWeb, they're presented with a page to update their emails. Additionally, they're sent reminder emails every so often in case it landed in their junk filters or something.

I'm not trying to hide true member count. You can see the number of active, contributing members in the statistics area of the forum index in addition to via the member list page.

Oh okay. What kind of registration tweaks do you do? Oh I never said that you tried to hide the true member count.. But, I think the inactive members definitely help Daniweb. We have tons of members, and I think Daniweb is one of the most successful tech forums on the web!:cool:

hah.. I initially just joined for a little help with java, and I didn't contribute much. But I'm trying to be more involved now..

[happygeek]

Also note that there is no compulsion to post as a member of DaniWeb, lots of members use us to get the help they need by reading the posts of others.

While it would be nice if more people contributed by posting, it would be quite wrong to punish those who do not.

Plus, there is an argument in favor of it being better for people with nothing to add, well, to add nothing...

[Dani]

Well the registration form is very simple and straightforward. It only asks essential information. Upon registering, people get a nice, friendly email from me (even with my "signature"!) saying to click the link. They get reminder emails every couple of days. When they log into DaniWeb, there's a message across the top indicating they haven't yet activated their account.

[MidiMagic]

I wonder how many of those attempts were for spam purposes.

[zandiago]

I have a quick thought. Many persons who join the forums are usually students who are required to take a course, for example C++. After the student has completed their course and have received the help from the forum, many never return here. So the inactive accounts/profiles...pretty much just hang around..

[MidiMagic]

What kind of bureaucratic clown requires you to keep records on registration attempts that are not completed? Sounds like either government (too nosy) or some pencil and bean counting red-tapeworm with nothing else to do.

[jbennet]

Doesnt daniweb have member pruning?

Like no activity for 12 months = deletion?

[Dani]

> What kind of bureaucratic clown requires you to keep records ...

Bill Clinton. Or rather, all of the details of Bill Clinton's 1996 anti-spam act. My web hosting company then has additional policies when it comes to sending out as much email as we do.

> Doesnt daniweb have member pruning?

Firstly, there are many users who log in but just don't post. Secondly, it's against the law for us to delete records. According to anti-spam laws and regulations, we have to retain detailed records on any user who we have ever sent any email to (including welcome emails, monthly newsletters, etc), and need to be able to produce that record upon being asked for it.

It all comes down to the sheer volume of email that we send out. Our monthly newsletters go to roughly 150,000 people in one shot, and that doesn't include the thousands of welcome emails and subscription emails that get sent out daily. Because we do sent out so much email, we CONSTANTLY have to keep proving ourselves to all of the big ISPs out there that we aren't spammers but that the users who receive email from us really did register with DaniWeb. We have to provide so many details about the users, such as the exact time they registered, the IP they registered with, the exact time they clicked the activation email link, the IP they clicked the link with, the actual unique activation link they had, etc., to prove that we didn't just buy a list off of spammers.

For example, I might get a message from Yahoo! with a list of two or three @yahoo.com email addresses and have 3 days to provide all of the details about those email addresses down to who they are and all of the details about when and how they registered and activated their accounts. If I can't provide that information, my webhosting company cancels my account and @daniweb.com gets blacklisted with Yahoo!.

Sometimes i would receive Monthly Digest on my bulk folder..;)