OT: file manager forum stats

[admin]

I visited the competition's user forums and was surprised by the following numbers:

Code: Select all

     posts users  posts/user
xy   32199   848    37.97
x2   41772  3797    11.00
do   50185  4148    12.10
tc  166480 85419     1.95

The differences in posts/user ratios are so large that it's hard not to see three different "user cultures" at work, with x2/do sharing the middle, and xy and tc at both extremes. Does anybody dare to interpret those numbers?

[serendipity]

There are two ways to interpret this, i will take the extremes here, XY and TC:

A negative interpretation:
1) TC is so perfect that no user is asking questions (reporting bugs or requesting features) while in XY since its new has not yet completely evolved. There is a flaw here, then why the hell are users isigning up in TC?
This leads to a positive interpretation.

2) In XY when a user asks a question its dealt with properly and admin himself adresses why and how some feature works. This kind of user support makes users to keep coming back and ask more questions. I would say XY is very user friendly and respects what users ask for.

All said, i would say the stats are done wrong. the formula uses:
Total posts (32206)/ Total members (848) = 37.97

While if you browse the members page and sort by posts you will see many users posted nothing at all. Maybe many users thought that to get betas you need to register. Or many just want to follow the topics discussed here and keep track of development, especially those who have not bought a license and continue to use XY after 30 day trial. Also include people from other file managers who sneak peak on ideas here and (you never know) might implement it before XY (while i strongly doubt anyone can code or churn out betas faster than Don ).
OK, I will shut up and get to work.

[jjk]

Hello all,
I calculated number of users who posted at least once :
tc ~ 8700
xy ~ 650
so posts/user is about
tc ~ 19
xy ~ 49
Now the variation is less, but what interpretation ? I don't know.

[admin]

Hello all,
I calculated number of users who posted at least once :
tc ~ 8700
xy ~ 650
so posts/user is about
tc ~ 19
xy ~ 49
Now the variation is less, but what interpretation ? I don't know.

Ah, I see. So 90% of registered user at tc never post. I wonder why they register. Well, not my business.

[zer0]

Not really sure how to interpret those numbers. I never used any of "alternatives" so I can't say how compelled I would be to visit that products' forums.

I don't think that posts per user is a good number to use because it doesn't take into account the extremes. For example, on our forum, Don's messages form a third of the total and only 35 (out of 849) people have more than 100 posts to their name. What does that mean? It could mean that there is only a small group of people that are active in XY's community. It could also mean that a lot of people only register to post about a bug they encounter or a feature they'd like to see in XYplorer.

One can also suggest that a forum with more users is indicative of a product that is more popular. Whether that's true or not, I don't know.

I also think that high posts/user percentage may not be a good thing, especially if you take into account what I've said in the 2nd paragraph. Personally, I'd prefer if loads of people are evenly active than just a few dozen being VERY active. It creates a feeling that the product is developed for that group of people (would be interesting to know what % of them are on a lifetime license).

I think X2 and Directory Opus show healthy numbers. Total Commander has a lot of users and, therefore, a lot of posts. It's difficult to comment on that extreme because it's unknown how active users are there and whether certain users have high post counts ala Don.

As much as I like not being just another bee in the hive, I think more users would definitely benefit our forums, even if their average would never reach 37.97. More people = more opinions = more feedback = better product.

[j_c_hallgren]

I also think that high posts/user percentage may not be a good thing, especially if you take into account what I've said in the 2nd paragraph. Personally, I'd prefer if loads of people are evenly active than just a few dozen being VERY active. It creates a feeling that the product is developed for that group of people (would be interesting to know what % of them are on a lifetime license).

More people = more opinions = more feedback = better product.

As one of those who post count is abnormal ( !), I would also like to see more people post here more often, but I think those high-posters who do now do represent enough of a audience variety to help move XY in the right direction...but also remember that Don sees feedback in email, which we don't, so there are inputs other than ours to the process as well.

And I'm one of those who have a lifetime licence via older pricing scheme, but I donate at least once a year additionally to Don also, as I hope others do.

[zer0]

An interesting, and much more difficult, exercise would be to compare numbers of forum users to those of registered users. Call it ratio of involvement if you will, but it would be interesting to see how XY compares to other products.

[Lare2]

My opinion only

XYplorer forums has more activity because you (Don) are pumping out betas like there's no tommorow . So people have always something new to play with and hence ask questions or suggestions about it.

I also agree with the fact that TC is a very mature program that people really don't need that much help with it. Also most of its loyal users have been with that program since the old (Windows 3.1) days that most of them are really masters with the program by now.

Think of it like all TC users being clones of "j_c_hallgren" and you get the idea. Those users know that program from the inside out.

[zer0]

I think it is very difficult to evaluate quality of file managers just from the forum statistics. There are so many other factors that need to be taken into account. A better way would be to do a feature comparison table, but each file manager (apart from XY) is keen to show how good it is compared to competition so they aren't exactly unbiased