Comments on: Where the action is

Where the action is

landis — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:43:08 -0800

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

By: landis

landis — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:43:54 -0800

...just contributing my little part.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:46:49 -0800

Just as, in sex, 90 percent of my body does nothing at all, 9 percent contributes a little, and 1 percent does most of the work. Uh, make that 12 percent.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:49:26 -0800

So, pretty much like real life?

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:51:42 -0800

Define "action."

By: crunchland

crunchland — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:52:17 -0800

hot geek on geek.

By: taursir

taursir — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:53:31 -0800

Are you a lurker?

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:55:11 -0800

From the article: "On any given user-participation site, you almost always hear from the same 1% of users, who almost certainly differ from the 90% you never hear from." That's just stuipid. How can he be certain without them participating? And yeah, pretty much like real life. Although I do think the web is more representative because a lot of people who wouldn't normally be vocal in their communities are on the web.

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:56:11 -0800

and 1% of users account for almost all the action. Yes I do.

By: imperium

imperium — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:56:57 -0800

What about the figures for those that just snark?

By: crunchland

crunchland — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:00:04 -0800

hot geek on geek. In jonson's case, it's all solo.

By: tgrundke

tgrundke — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:00:52 -0800

And again - the online world imitates the physical world. I would say that this breakdown could pretty much be extrapolated to most of reality. Having said that, I would also have to say that people are members of many 'communities' in life. It's impossible to contribute 100% to each one of those communities, but they all seem to exist and thrive.

By: docpops

docpops — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:01:25 -0800

first!

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:01:32 -0800

1% Inner Party / 9% Outer Party / 90% proles?

By: Haruspex

Haruspex — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:01:58 -0800

Personally, I've perfected the swaggering lurk.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:05:08 -0800

I guess that would put me in the 9%, but I'm shooting for the big zero one! This could be a great (and irritating) pony request for MeTa: Matt, can you set it up so that I can see my percentige of contribution action when compared to the rest of MeFi? Please!

By: geoff.

geoff. — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:06:49 -0800

Wait this is from the early 90s? So much has changed technology wise I don't know if this is still valid -- especially in the realm of social networking. I notice that on social networking sites there is now a fairly strong feedback mechanism. Those who use and contribute receive respones, while those who don't ... don't. The demographics of an online community have changed so much from the early 90s. It's not just computer enthusiasts anymore.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:06:51 -0800

Also, 85% of the population has no knowledge of self, 10% have some knowledge of self, but use it to control the other 85%, and 5% do have true knowledge of themselves. So says Clarence 13X. This is indisputable.

By: klaatu

klaatu — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:07:08 -0800

Needs to be a pie chart. Mefite v. all other Mefites.

By: klaatu

klaatu — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:07:34 -0800

Or can we have WoW rankings?

By: willpie

willpie — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:07:37 -0800

I don't believe it!

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:13:22 -0800

Related MeTa thread from July.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:13:25 -0800

geoff. writes "So much has changed technology wise I don't know if this is still valid -- especially in the realm of social networking." I'm sure Orkut would be useful. If I could speak/write portuguese...

By: empyrean

empyrean — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:14:31 -0800

20% of the people doing 80% of the work. Everyone else is fired!

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:16:12 -0800

docpops said it best. This is common in any social group, as has been pointed out. In any club of any size, there is a vast majority of people who simply don't participate beyond receiving whatever the standard benefit is (newsletter, reading jerkoffs like me ramble online, whatever). Often you see pleas from the 1% begging for participation, but it never works and why should it? Just look at the 90% as underwriting the pleasure of the 10%.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:17:00 -0800

Think I'll just lurk this thread...

By: neustile

neustile — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:19:22 -0800

There are about 1.1 billion Internet users, yet only 55 million users (5%) have weblogs according to Technorati. Worse, there are only 1.6 million postings per day; Won't somebody think of the children!!

By: Flashman

Flashman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:21:13 -0800

Yup, it's a hard row to hoe for the 1%.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:23:16 -0800

i noticed this a long time ago on usenet when i discovered that in many of the newsgroups i went, i kept running into the same people ...

By: tpl1212

tpl1212 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:23:46 -0800

...almost all the action...

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:25:41 -0800

In other decades old net theory news, we should all enter a Temproary Autonomous Zone instead of Bowling Alone.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:26:07 -0800

geoff.: Wait this is from the early 90s? So much has changed technology wise I don't know if this is still valid -- especially in the realm of social networking. My data on late-elementary students from 2004 and 2005 supports Pareto's law or Zipf curve. 1% of the population posts hundreds or thousands of messages, and about 90% of the population posts one or two messages for any given time period. Nielson also cites some more recent data regarding Wikipedia, but honestly, I didn't find this to be well written summary of this phenomenon. Those who use and contribute receive respones, while those who don't ... don't. The demographics of an online community have changed so much from the early 90s. It's not just computer enthusiasts anymore. Not much have changed on either of these points since the 1980s when synchronous and asynchronous messaging were first developed. And the internet has rarely been just computer enthusiasts.

By: joelf

joelf — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:27:26 -0800

I never contribute

By: spilon

spilon — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:28:03 -0800

Wow -- Jakob has almost as many facial expressions as Paris Hilton!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:30:11 -0800

I get the point of the "High resolution pictures" but god does that look self indulgent...

By: mss

mss — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:31:30 -0800

This is as good a time as any to keep my 9% ranking.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:31:42 -0800

Is this a veiled criticism of me? 'Cuase if it is, I can give you all the meaningless one-link posts and snark you could ever hope for? Meta-meta-filter?

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:33:38 -0800

That's just stuipid. How can he be certain without them participating? Measuring IP traffic vs. meaningful site interactions? It's not rocket science—x number of people visit a website. y number of people leave a mark. z number of people leave a mark often and eagerly.

By: Roger Dodger

Roger Dodger — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:37:20 -0800

Says cortex eagerly, and often ;)

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:41:22 -0800

Like a couple of people said, its just like life. There are 3 kinds of people, those that make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder 'what happened?' I second the idea for a realtime public ranking system.

By: Urban Hermit

Urban Hermit — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:41:50 -0800

Lurking is hard work. Without constant vigilance, it can degenerate into mere lounging about, loafing around, and other thoroughly degenerate practices - all carried out often, and eagerly enough, to be sure, but somehow lacking the quiet satisfaction of a really good lurk.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:42:23 -0800

For the purposes of this study, does trolling count as contributing?

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:42:36 -0800

I don't participate because I am stupid.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:44:04 -0800

Says cortex eagerly, and often ;) *refreshes My Comments repeatedly*

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:47:06 -0800

Urban Hermit -Nice

By: Kwine

Kwine — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:49:36 -0800

*refreshes Cortex's comments repeatedly*

By: Kwine

Kwine — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:50:57 -0800

sorry about the capital C fuckup, cortex. i think you did the same thing to me the other day, oddly.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:51:51 -0800

quin : "Matt, can you set it up so that I can see my percentige of contribution action when compared to the rest of MeFi? Please!" Not exactly what you're requesting, but check out the Metafilter Contribution Index. By the way, you're nowhere close.

By: bobo123

bobo123 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:54:50 -0800

Well I guess I'm part of that 90%, I've signed up for digg, kuro5hin, slashdot, globeandmail, gamefaqs, amazon, geocities, blogspot, plastic, fark, imdb, youtube and dozens more and I never gotten around to posting on any of them. Maybe 5% or less of the sites I've ever joined I've bothered to contribute to, maybe 1% regularly. Really who would have the time to contribute for every site they signed up for?

By: Popular Ethics

Popular Ethics — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:55:48 -0800

Yeah, but you need our readership to validate the time you waste here. Ho ho, not so righteous now are we? (10%ers represent!)

By: tiny crocodile

tiny crocodile — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:57:28 -0800

Couldn't resist this thread for my first comment. Ok, lurking is shirking, but, for me anyway, it's partly to do with not wanting to be the kind of person who puts 60 high resolution photos of themselves on the internet just in case that's what the world needs now. (nice find tpl1212)

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:59:53 -0800

I blogged this here a week ago. Actually, I thought I got that link from here, but it might have been digg.

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:03:53 -0800

I would be interested in knowing what percentage of the top ten percent discourages the other ninety by snarking about how bad this place has gotten since they let the last 95% of the users into the memepool.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:07:33 -0800

Metafilter: it can seem as if they don't have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they're commenting on occurs. I don’t know about that reputation ranking/value business. Apart from some of the funniest damned things coming from people who have nothing to say (albeit often irritating stuff as well) you don’t want to wind up in an echo chamber. I mean I’ve said some witty and occasionally wise things, but I’m also a real asshole sometimes. The last thing you want is a popularity contest if any feedback is going to be meaningful. You wind up with a bunch of posts aimed at pleasing the majority and not trying to piss anyone off. Fuck that. I want my ass kissed by someone looking to please me all the time, I’ll buy a dog. In addition - many users don’t RTFA much less read the comments because they don’t want to wade through the swamp of postings - whether someone has something to say or not. The community is not responsible for someone’s lack of listening/reading skills. Lurkers lurk because that’s their psychology. They want to. It’s not some kid game where everyone needs to participate. If I find my own POV well represented and my position is well argued for, what am I supposed to do? Jump in and reiterate/belabor the point? You just comment: “What machogrande said” or some such and move on. You don’t clog the thread with needless rambling going on and on overstating the case and upping the “signal to noise” ratio with rants and...uh.... *defenestrates*

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:07:44 -0800

Christ, I'm up to 2.59 on the CI. I've come a long way, baby. And it's all good, Kwine. since they let the last 95% of the users into the memepool No, no, that's down the hall.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:09:16 -0800

This place has a memepool? Do I have to shower before I can get in?

By: furtive

furtive — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:16:01 -0800

I've always suspected the 1-10% is a constant cascade of temporarily core users who fade into popularity and then once they've fulfilled their social recognition needs either fade away or go supernova. I doubt I'm the only one who put the little extra muster needed to get a FPP on /., felt the urge to add something photoshopped to Fark, wanted to be the first to digg something...Mefi is no different, except that it's managed to keep things relatively small (can you imagine if Slashdot still only had 40,000 users... comments might still be readable!).

By: Holy foxy moxie batman!

Holy foxy moxie batman! — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:24:40 -0800

Lurk.

By: annieb

annieb — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:27:54 -0800

What Smedleyman said...

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:28:24 -0800

what furtive said

By: miskatonic

miskatonic — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:32:58 -0800

All the cool kids lurk. But the coolest kids of all lurk for fucking years before they even buy an account.

By: furtive

furtive — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:40:19 -0800

As a compliment to the 10% that speak up and also to the 90% that shut up on MetaFilter, I'd just like to say that what I enjoy most about this site is the level of thought and intelligence in most comments. Bravo!

By: WhipSmart

WhipSmart — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:40:21 -0800

I don't have anything to add, but the voices in my head told me to participate in some way...

By: Twang

Twang — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:42:30 -0800

It's you 1 percent zealots that keep us 9 percenters from getting a link in edgewise! Get ... a ... life !!! ;-|

By: Freon

Freon — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:43:09 -0800

This has to be the least amount of effort I've ever expended to be in the ninety-first percentile of anything.

By: Twang

Twang — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:43:50 -0800

Flash! (Ted) Sturgeon's Law: "90 percent of everything is crap!"

By: sharpener

sharpener — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:53:36 -0800

Contibuting here solely to pump up my overall comment stats.

By: AwkwardPause

AwkwardPause — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:54:15 -0800

Just lurking a little less, I guess.

By: MythMaker

MythMaker — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:54:43 -0800

The thing about lurking is, quite frankly, you've just got nothing to say. Nothing wrong with that.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:55:57 -0800

"I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud." Another version of the story has Sturgeon involved in a panel discussion of modern literature with a professor of English literature. The professor read a few selected passages of "purple prose" from popular science fiction works, and declared "90% of this Science Fiction is crap." Sturgeon replied "90% of everything is crap." The original Sturgeon's Law is: 'Nothing is always absolutely so.' The prior one is "Sturgeon's Revelation." *loquacious is a Theodore Sturgeon/Kilgore Trout fanatic and would probably go so far as to hump on his corpse. But Theodore Sturgeon is Alive and Well.*

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:58:06 -0800

I am in the 9% (contribute a little) and I am very happy here. No one hates me, no one has written songs or cartoons about me, and I have never been called out. Yet, I have had some comments favorited, and been personally emailed once or twice. Nothing wrong with where I am.

By: Maias

Maias — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:58:27 -0800

Would the internet crash if the 90% suddenly started posting? If you did somehow miraculously massively increase participation you'd have the "it's so popular no one goes there any more" problem.

By: WaterSprite

WaterSprite — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:03:41 -0800

Lurker here. Well, sometimes I post my unsolicited opinion.

By: trinarian

trinarian — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:07:53 -0800

getting ready to rush off to work, so can't track it down, but... NPR had a segment on research showing the active "decision making core" of society. Basicly the 5-10% of loud-mouths who talk politics and culture often enough to set the opinions and mentality of the other 90%. It sounded fascinating when I heard it last year while rushing to work. anyone else remember this?

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:12:14 -0800

Would the internet crash if the 90% suddenly started posting? The Earth woulld be knocked out of orbit.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:23:34 -0800

.01

By: echo0720

echo0720 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:35:27 -0800

I'm at the bottom of that 90%, but hey in preparation for my first Metafilter post, I made my first MeTa post today!

By: leftoverboy

leftoverboy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:39:49 -0800

I think I am in the 1% but the data always comes out wrong.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:40:57 -0800

1.32

By: Sparx

Sparx — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:42:37 -0800

Hmm- still 1.32

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:43:33 -0800

OK, so, everybody online has a blog. Only 1% of everybody reads .9% of all blogs. (See how quickly this breaks down?)

By: SonicBoom

SonicBoom — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:47:18 -0800

I just paid $5. First Comment Ever.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:51:47 -0800

So the next time someone invokes "Most people here..." as a way to bolster a point or argument, kick them in the nuts. Hard.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:52:36 -0800

Most people here can't resist that kind of bait.

By: washburn

washburn — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:55:20 -0800

Perhaps commenting is just an even more insidious form of lurking.

By: Token Meme

Token Meme — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:55:26 -0800

Sometimes you just have an embarassing username ... sometimes you have an embarassingly small user number. Me? Obviously the former.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:59:31 -0800

tgrundke writes "I would also have to say that people are members of many 'communities' in life. It's impossible to contribute 100% to each one of those communities, but they all seem to exist and thrive." Someplaces are a better fit than others. I check in at the Cellar every day for the IOTD but in five years I've made ~130 comments.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:00:15 -0800

HEY! Lurking is hard work! Dammit.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:02:48 -0800

I read this whole thread, and will now refrain from commenting.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:43:27 -0800

Is this one of those threads where the cabal has decided commenting is mandatory? I think I said too much.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:45:38 -0800

Heh -- what's funny is that I don't recognize most of the MeFi posters on this thread! But it's totally true on the lists I'm on. I think of myself as a "lurker" on several lists -- and then I get contacted offlist as a "person to talk to" and I realize that there are eg 10,000 people on the list and perhaps 100 post in any given week and I'm always in that 100. One of my great joys in the net is posting to people's blogs -- I particularly like coming in like the Wrath of God(tm) on people's badly-thought-out political postings -- and it's always hard to understand the people who read postings and don't automatically want to press the Reply-To: button or its moral equivalent.

By: Yeomans

Yeomans — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:46:55 -0800

I have nothing to add. That is all.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:58:03 -0800

shh! lurking ok?

By: coaster

coaster — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:59:52 -0800

Lurker since 2001. First comment ever. I've refrained from commenting because after reading metafilter so long, I decided that comments on weblogs are almost always degenerative. (though I read comments pages in the hopes of finding hidden gems). I've refrained from posting because I haven't found anything worth posting yet. I love metafilter and it has enriched my life.

By: winks007

winks007 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:00:02 -0800

I'm in.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:09:32 -0800

I'm just a flame warrior.

By: taosbat

taosbat — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:14:13 -0800

Hmmm...

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:41:28 -0800

The Longtail downside. Alienation, bowling alone.

By: graventy

graventy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:54:03 -0800

Dammit, will you lurkers keep it down? I'm having trouble finding the important comments from the 1%-ers among your babbling.

By: Absit Invidia

Absit Invidia — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:05:35 -0800

I wish I hadn't lurked in this thread. Now everything's ruined.

By: rfs

rfs — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:07:26 -0800

I wonder how many comments it takes to hit the 9 % elite and the 1 % cabal ? It would be nice to have a percentile ranking on our user page.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:10:22 -0800

Dammit, will you lurkers keep it down? I'm having trouble finding the important comments from the 1%-ers among your babbling. ---> ~~ROSEBUD WAS HIS SLED~~ <--- xoxo, cortex

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:30:57 -0800

cortex is a ruiner.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:31:44 -0800

Not exactly what you're requesting, but check out the Metafilter Contribution Index. By the way, you're nowhere close. Thanks bugbread, I may not be on the map yet, but I've only recently came out of my shell. Before long I'm hoping to have an in-thread flameout, gets me a callout on MeTa (a thread I may just use for said flameout) and finally get a couple of week timeout. I'm hoping once I hit a thousand comments, the ball will really get going.

By: casarkos

casarkos — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:41:52 -0800

::swarms out of the woodwork::

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:46:25 -0800

Haha, het woord lurker bestaat helemaal niet, nou ja misschien voor iemand die pijp rookt, en schuiler klinkt nergens naar dus dat kan ik ook niet zijn. By the way; isn't this an application of the Pareto principle? I haven't read the article or link. I don't have the time.

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:55:18 -0800

Do you top-percentiles find your position on mefi important? The self-appointed policemen who feel the need to react to any FFP or comment they do not approve of (yes, that's you ao delmoi); do they care? To me it's just bits and bytes on one of the millions of pages on the internet. It seems all so intangible and pointless. Like reacting on somebodies blog. So generally I don't make the effort.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:13:37 -0800

jouke Said like someone with only 332 total posts to the Metafilter engine. Stand in fear of amberglow. Stand in fear of 13839 [as of this moment]. This isn't about numbers, this is about the raw power of someone who clearly has something to say. You can be as dismissive as you want, but evidence has shown that history is told by those who comment. [yeah, I don't fall in that group, but I can admire from a distance.]

By: darkstar

darkstar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:17:06 -0800

Yeah, well...some of us have a real life. (If you can call that living.)

By: susanbeeswax

susanbeeswax — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:53:57 -0800

Coaster said it all above for me... except for maybe that part about comments being degenerative -- I like the discussions & snarks in the comments at least as much as the fpp itself. And it's not my first comment (I think it's only my third in the blue), but I've been reading since early 2001... I don't think a day goes by that I don't check in here & see what's going on.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:30:06 -0800

Action, madame, is my middle name.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:34:32 -0800

Do you top-percentiles find your position on mefi important? it keeps us off the streets too busy to make trouble ... do you have any idea what would happen if we were running loose away from our keyboards? truth is, most of us don't have a choice ... the warden said we didn't

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:02:46 -0800

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:03:16 -0800

That little dot is me.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:33:11 -0800

90% of Internet users don't actually exist, much like the profits of most dot-com companies. I think there is a relationship there.

By: imperium

imperium — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:39:22 -0800

Where's navelgazer gone? I, like, dedicate this whole thread to him!

By: dangerousdan

dangerousdan — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:44:01 -0800

For posterity and proving the FP.

By: salmacis

salmacis — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:37:08 -0800

Who are all you people commenting in this thread?

By: bystander

bystander — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:49:54 -0800

Don't you all post more when drinking? ...must drink more to get in top 1%

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:19:57 -0800

Well, everything I say is a lie, so...

By: drill_here_fore_seismics

drill_here_fore_seismics — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:24:09 -0800

Nothing to add to this thread (just thought I'd mention that).

By: surplus

surplus — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:39:04 -0800

I think the lurkers contribute way more than those who post.

By: DragonBoy

DragonBoy — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:44:28 -0800

Fine - here's my comment.

By: If I Had An Anus

If I Had An Anus — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:49:18 -0800

The Internet is for jerkers.

By: revfitz

revfitz — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 08:35:12 -0800

I lurked around here for a couple years, then paid the sign-up fee and immediately got tangled up with a real message board instead, one where I'm very much in that 1%. I'm not sure what changed, although my lurking here had more to do with the closed membership than anything else.

By: ob

ob — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 08:38:14 -0800

Say it loud, I'm 9% and I'm proud!

By: cptnrandy

cptnrandy — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:27:27 -0800

Excuse me. I am not a lurker. Now that's settled, see you next year.

By: Merlyn

Merlyn — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:49:15 -0800

Hey everybody! Sorry I'm late I... Dammit! ::crickets::

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:38:09 -0800

jouke : "Do you top-percentiles find your position on mefi important? The self-appointed policemen who feel the need to react to any FFP or comment they do not approve of (yes, that's you ao delmoi); do they care?" As, perhaps, one of the top-percentile people: No, I don't find my position on mefi important. And I don't know who the "they" you're referring to in the second question. Do you mean "do the top-percentiles care what the self-appointed policemen say"? Because I suspect they're the same people. jouke : "To me it's just bits and bytes on one of the millions of pages on the internet. It seems all so intangible and pointless. Like reacting on somebodies blog. " Yeah, but face-to-face conversation is just bouncing lightbeams and air compression waves. Everything reduces if you reduce it. I suspect most of us just like MeFi, enjoy being here, and are trying to prevent MeFi from becoming a place we don't enjoy. Like ravers drinking orange juice at the end of the night.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:41:04 -0800

lupus_yonderboy writes "I particularly like coming in like the Wrath of God(tm) on people's badly-thought-out political postings -- and it's always hard to understand the people who read postings and don't automatically want to press the Reply-To: button or its moral equivalent." Do you ever find yourself wishing there was a reply button on TVs and Newspapers? I swear, I can't read letters to the editor or watch the local news. Even the weather guy can get me going by saying something stupid and essentially not true. My wife especially hates it when I heckle commercials.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:57:25 -0800

I’m posting this as a blatent attempt to up my percentile. (anyone else think of a Vegas guy in sharkskin rolling bones or a guy named ‘Mickey’ with a racing form in his hand and a cheap cigar and an out of date hat when they read the term “action”)

By: b33j

b33j — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:20:53 -0800

1. I assume the 90% hang out because they like the opinions of the 1% (in general) so I don't know that it's really an unrepresentative sample. 2. I increased the partipation index on my own board by deleting the lurkers. (very effective). 2a. I had a dedicated lurker's forum before that, but that only smoked out a couple of them. 3. When I see people lurking, I pm with a blatantly cheery message which inevitably scares them away.

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:53:23 -0800

Still working on my easily-categorized online community group slogan: "The few, the proud, the 9%." "An Army of Some" "The Single-Nine Society" Oddly enough, I view this as an entertainment venue, not as a "community" per se - it's like going to Times Square (before the cleanup), buying a hot dog, and occasionally chatting with folks as they walk by me. Not quite lurking, but not quite participating, either.

By: primdehuit

primdehuit — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:04:50 -0800

.....

By: Twang

Twang — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:08:38 -0800

@loquacious I must defer to your Sturgeo-pedic lore. I was a fan of TS ever since I ran into "Killdozer" in a Groff Conklin anthology, but not enough to keep straight the Sturgeana. BUT I did catch Ted live, opining on a panel once somewhere (think it also included Jane and Algys Budris) where he repeated "90% ...crap" in person. With, no doubt, a ten-minute recitative attached. Or was that Budrys?

By: YaoPau

YaoPau — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:16:58 -0800

Slowly morphing from the 1st percentile to the 91st. It's quite a jump...

By: JDC8

JDC8 — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 17:24:02 -0800

I average 17.5 comments and 1.3 posts per year, according to my profile. What group am I in? Please show your work.