Bogleheads talk:Wiki membership ratio

Barry, the number of forum members who've posted at least once is 4757 as of the moment I write this note. I've put this information in your table. Ken Schwartz 16:50, 26 May 2008 (EDT)

I'm a bit confused. I don't see how to interpret the "Wiki Membership Ratio" related to the "Forum Members" for "Posters" and "Members". Are you referring to Forum statistics as well as Wiki statistics? Perhaps a different header would help. A more meaningful statistic: There are 89 wiki members today (statistics special page). If 26 of the 89 members post articles (or edit), then the Wiki contribution percentage is 26/89 = 29 %. To me, that says how many people volunteered vs. how many followed through on the offer to help.LadyGeek 02:22, 16 April 2009 (UTC)


 * The ratios provide clarification of our realized and potential contributor base. We have 86 actual wiki members (3 false accounts) out of a potential 12,830 forum members (0.67% of potential contributors). However, many of these forum members have never posted a single post on the forum (and therefore should not be considered potential contributors to the wiki.) Likewise, a substantial number of authorized editors have no intention of contributing to the wiki. Thus, our second ratio compares the number of participating wiki editors who have contributed to the wiki to the number of participating forum members who have posted on the forum (0.33%) --Blbarnitz 05:14, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

I would have never figured that out. Here's what makes sense to me:


 * Contribution ratio, Wiki / Forum: 49%

Assumption: All wiki members are also forum members.

Discussion: 30% of the wiki membership actually contribute (26 posters / 86 members), while 61% of the forum members contribute (7,869 posters / 12,830 members). This makes sense, as one would expect a lively discussion forum to entice people to participate. A wiki, on the other hand, requires a different mindset- you have write objective articles which take time and organization. Compare that to getting in the middle of a heated forum debate or surfing the forum for something interesting. That might explain why only half the number of wiki members actually contribute vs. the forum (49%). Forum wins, wiki is later.LadyGeek 00:24, 17 April 2009 (UTC)