Trivia: Top-10 posters

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Diderot Mirabeau
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Trivia: Top-10 posters

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

I took a break from dissecting the CDS archive of acts passed by the RA to produce a list of the top-10 posters in our little forum:

1) Ashcroft Burnham - 574 posts = 20% = roughly 4,7 per day
2) Claude Desmoulins - 266 posts = 9,3% = roughly 1,5 per day
3) Patroklus Murakami - 213 posts = 7,5% = roughly 2 per day
4) Aliasi Stonebender - 207 posts = 7,2% = roughly 1,1 per day
5) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 179 posts = 6,3% = roughly 1 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 128 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
7) Pelanor Eldrich - 127 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
8) Sudane Erato - 121 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,7 per day
9) Chicago Kipling - 119 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,8 per day
10) Jon Seattle - 102 posts = 3,6% = roughly 0,6 per day

This means that 20% of all posts in the forum are made by ONE person; 50% of all posts in the forum are made by the top-5 posters; and that 70% of all posts are written by someone in the top-10.

Considering that we have 61 citizens at the last count I'd like to emphasise:

1) One can contribute to the CDS community in many ways. In fact, many citizens who have through time contributed to the CDS in invaluable fashion are not in this list.

2) Nevertheless, since the forums are and must remain the main way of political discourse formation for a community as dispersed in time zones as ours it is of vital importance that the viewpoints of all citizens are equally represented so that the full spectrum of opinion is available in the forums in all its diversity. I must therefore strongly encourage those who feel underrepresented with regard to the direction that our community is taking to voice their opinion in the forums so we are able to take it into account. The distribution above makes me concerned that some voices are heard more than others simply by virtue of these voices having the time, skill or patience to participate in forum discourse.

If the present distribution solidifies or becomes further concentrated around a small subset of individuals I would think it prudent to start a discussion of how we can ensure a greater quantitative representativity of the voices of our community in the forum.

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Post by Beathan »

Hear, hear.

So I'm not in the top ten? I wonder what this analysis would look like if a temporal element were added. I know that it wouldn't change the top, but it would change the rest.

I know that I am a very new resident to the CDS. I have (with a marked lack of success of late) to restrain myself out of a proper deferance to the people who have built what is a remarkable and wonderful virtual society that I had the good fortune to discover. (Well, the good fortune to be introduced by Ashcroft.)

The CDS is growing. The amount of speach in the CDS should also grow. Inworld meetings are prone to the same problems of real life meetings -- people talk over and passed each other, they move too quick for some, too slow for others. These forums, as any serial letter debate, compensate for much of that.

That said, the forums are also overwhelming and becoming moreso. To help myself work my way through them, when I was first introduced to them, I did the environmentally unfriendly thing of printing them out so that I could read them at my leasure and in a more eye-friendly form. There were thousands of pages.

However, there is no need for such a dive. I hope that the depth of these forums does not discourage anyone from participating. Most life, after all, happens at the surface.

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Post by Claude Desmoulins »

Beathan, you are at the moment #11, despite your recent arrival.

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Post by Aliasi Stonebender »

Also, of the top ten, one might reasonably expect Claude, Gwyn, and myself to be here; due to the function of RA transcripts, SC reports, executive announcements, etc, we have to post whether we like it or not.

I admit, I AM a loudmouth even so. :P

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Post by Chicago Kipling »

Ha, no comment Aliasi ;)

I think this also points out the very real need to continue our exploration of non-forum communication means, especially those in-world. I'm trying to do a little of that as I have time, but there is room for a lot more. A couple what-ifs:

- Proposed legislation could be put in notecard format on a table in the RA meeting places
- Judicial happenings could be summarized and put in notecard form wherever the judiciary ends up
- Events could be placed on some in-world community bulletin board
- We could make use of some of the recent RSS usage in-world to bring in some recent message board discussion

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Post by Ashcroft Burnham »

Another idea is that we could have more links to the forums in-world to remind people of their existence.

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Post by Chicago Kipling »

Let's just not rely on such links. I don't know about other users, but I rarely use them.

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Post by Ashcroft Burnham »

[quote="Chicago Kipling":2muojvtd]Let's just not rely on such links. I don't know about other users, but I rarely use them.[/quote:2muojvtd]

Ahh, I had ment it [i:2muojvtd]in addition to[/i:2muojvtd], rather than instead of your ideas.

Incidentally, I do hope to make court orders and judgments available in notecard form.

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Post by Aliasi Stonebender »

I'm intending to use my web profile to link to the Wiki, myself. :)

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2 week Update to Top-10

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

[quote="Diderot Mirabeau":1x6ziniu]I took a break from dissecting the CDS archive of acts passed by the RA to produce a list of the top-10 posters in our little forum:

1) Ashcroft Burnham - 574 posts = 20% = roughly 4,7 per day
2) Claude Desmoulins - 266 posts = 9,3% = roughly 1,5 per day
3) Patroklus Murakami - 213 posts = 7,5% = roughly 2 per day
4) Aliasi Stonebender - 207 posts = 7,2% = roughly 1,1 per day
5) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 179 posts = 6,3% = roughly 1 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 128 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
7) Pelanor Eldrich - 127 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
8) Sudane Erato - 121 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,7 per day
9) Chicago Kipling - 119 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,8 per day
10) Jon Seattle - 102 posts = 3,6% = roughly 0,6 per day

This means that 20% of all posts in the forum are made by ONE person; 50% of all posts in the forum are made by the top-5 posters; and that 70% of all posts are written by someone in the top-10.[/quote:1x6ziniu]

As it has been two weeks since the last update of these figures I found it prudent to publish an update. There are two new citizens in the top-10, which could be indicative of some rotation in the representation of CDS voices, which from a perspective of diversity and plurality is a good thing:

[b:1x6ziniu]1) Ashcroft Burnham - 781 posts = 20% = 5.8 per day
2) Claude Desmoulins - 314 posts = 8% = 1.9 per day
3) Beathan - 314 posts = 8% = 7.1 per day
4) Patroklus Murakami - 268 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
5) Aliasi Stonebender - 243 posts = 6% = 1.5 per day
6) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 223 posts = 6% = 1.4 per day
7) Diderot Mirabeau - 198 posts = 5% = 1.3 per day
8) Pelanor Eldrich - 143 posts = 4% = 0.9 per day
9) Sudane Erato - 130 posts = 3% = 0.8 per day
10) Justice Soothsayer - 125 posts = 3%= 0.8 per day
[/b:1x6ziniu]
20% of all posts by top-1
50% of all posts by top-5
70% of all posts by top-10

However, as you can see from the above the proportion of posts made by our top posters has remained unchanged and the posting frequency has in fact been [b:1x6ziniu]increased[/b:1x6ziniu] in the top-3.

Hopefully, the new citizens' commission can improve the way in which we hear our citizens on the basis of equal representation. I can see from the transcripts that it has come off to a good start. If it is able to produce results, which are representative of a wider circle of citizens' interests then perhaps it is a solution, we should consider using more in the future in order to facilitate diversity and representation in our political debate!

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Post by Claude Desmoulins »

I would point out that the commissions currently operating have a comparatively high level of overhead (identifying members, scheduling meetings, drafting procedures, etc.). Such procedures are appropriate when discussing major structural changes. However, if this process got applied to every piece of legislation, it might be a significant drag on the system, at least at this stage. When the RA grows to a couple of dozen members, the situation may well change though.

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3rd week Update to Top-10

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

[quote="Diderot Mirabeau":35zyykaj][quote="Diderot Mirabeau":35zyykaj]
1) Ashcroft Burnham - 574 posts = 20% = roughly 4,7 per day
2) Claude Desmoulins - 266 posts = 9,3% = roughly 1,5 per day
3) Patroklus Murakami - 213 posts = 7,5% = roughly 2 per day
4) Aliasi Stonebender - 207 posts = 7,2% = roughly 1,1 per day
5) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 179 posts = 6,3% = roughly 1 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 128 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
7) Pelanor Eldrich - 127 posts = 4,5% = roughly 0,7 per day
8) Sudane Erato - 121 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,7 per day
9) Chicago Kipling - 119 posts = 4,2% = roughly 0,8 per day
10) Jon Seattle - 102 posts = 3,6% = roughly 0,6 per day

This means that 20% of all posts in the forum are made by ONE person; 50% of all posts in the forum are made by the top-5 posters; and that 70% of all posts are written by someone in the top-10.[/quote:35zyykaj]
1) Ashcroft Burnham - 781 posts = 20% = 5.8 per day
2) Claude Desmoulins - 314 posts = 8% = 1.9 per day
3) Beathan - 314 posts = 8% = 7.1 per day
4) Patroklus Murakami - 268 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
5) Aliasi Stonebender - 243 posts = 6% = 1.5 per day
6) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 223 posts = 6% = 1.4 per day
7) Diderot Mirabeau - 198 posts = 5% = 1.3 per day
8) Pelanor Eldrich - 143 posts = 4% = 0.9 per day
9) Sudane Erato - 130 posts = 3% = 0.8 per day
10) Justice Soothsayer - 125 posts = 3%= 0.8 per day

20% of all posts by top-1 - 50% of all posts by top-5 - 70% of all posts by top-10[/quote:35zyykaj]
1) Ashcroft Burnham - 917 posts = 21% = 6.5 per day
2) Beathan - 361 posts = 8% = 7 per day
3) Claude Desmoulins - 317 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
4) Patroklus Murakami - 286 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
5) Aliasi Stonebender - 269 posts = 6% = 1.6 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 229 posts = 5% = 1.4 per day
7) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 225 posts = 5% = 1.4 per day
8) Pelanor Eldrich - 149 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day
9) Justice Soothsayer - 144 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day
10) Chicago Kipling - 137 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day

21% of all posts by top-1
49% of all posts by top-5
68% of all posts by top-10

As the numbers indicate we are starting to see some movement in the distribution of posts.

Sadly at the top the trend continues to be towards a concentration of posts but as we move further down in the top-10 some positive trends are appearing: only 68% of all posts are written by people in the top-10 as opposed to 70% only one week ago. This indicates that some new voices are starting to contribute to the debate hopefully improving diversity in the spectrum of voices heard in the debate. As an added symptom of this we can this week welcome a new poster to the top-10! Let's get some more movement out of and into the top-10 - hopefully the Christmas holidays can introduce some nice randomness owing to the difference in access that people will experience while going to see family, friends and so on.

Best wishes for a merry Christmas if you follow this tradition. The update will be back next Wednesday!

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Post by Flyingroc Chung »

I need to post more frequently. :wink:

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Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

[quote="Diderot Mirabeau":3asx956r]
1) Ashcroft Burnham - 917 posts = 21% = 6.5 per day
2) Beathan - 361 posts = 8% = 7 per day
3) Claude Desmoulins - 317 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
4) Patroklus Murakami - 286 posts = 7% = 1.8 per day
5) Aliasi Stonebender - 269 posts = 6% = 1.6 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 229 posts = 5% = 1.4 per day
7) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 225 posts = 5% = 1.4 per day
8) Pelanor Eldrich - 149 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day
9) Justice Soothsayer - 144 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day
10) Chicago Kipling - 137 posts = 3% = 0.9 per day

21% of all posts by top-1; 49% of all posts by top-5; 68% of all posts by top-10[/quote:3asx956r]
This week's statistics look like this:
1) Ashcroft Burnham - 1030 posts = 21.61% = 6.78 per day
2) Beathan - 416 posts = 8.73% = 6.40 per day
3) Claude Desmoulins - 318 posts = 6.67% = 1.43 per day
4) Patroklus Murakami - 310 posts = 6.50% = 1.45 per day
5) Aliasi Stonebender - 289 posts = 6.06% = 1.31 per day
6) Diderot Mirabeau - 274 posts = 5.75% = 1.27 per day
7) Gwyneth Llewelyn - 238 posts = 4.99% = 1.07 per day
8) Pelanor Eldrich - 159 posts - 3.34% = 0.72 per day
9) Justice Soothsayer - 154 posts = 3.23% = 0.73 per day
10) Gxeremio Dimsum - 143 posts = 3% = 0.77 per day

The distribution of posts between posters maintain the pattern that we have seen in the last handful of updates: Over 21% of all posts by the top-1; 50% of all posts by the top-5; and almost 70% of all posts written by the top-10.

However, I have taken the liberty this week of going one level deeper to try to address the well-founded criticism that a post is not just a post and that there can be a huge difference between posting a one-line announcement saying "The <insert government body here> will meet in the Rathaus on Wednesday 7th at 3:00PM" and posting a longer treatise discussing how SL gravity would affect the realistic reproduction of the flight of a dove and how to plan for this using LSL2.

I have therefore taken a first stab at going one step deeper and assessing the average, relative length of forum the top-10 forum contributors' posts. However, as this task - if it were to be done perfectly - would have entailed going through some 3,000 posts I have substituted a simplified approach using some emulation of a stratified selection of posts to yield an estimated average post length.

I will explain the method further at the end of this post. But first the results:

1) Ashcroft Burnham - Index 100 * 1,030 posts = 1,030 points
2) Beathan - Index 46.8 * 416 posts = 194 points
3) Patroklus Murakami - Index 37.15 * 310 posts = 115 points
4) Claude Desmoulins - Index 25.69 * 318 posts = 81 points
5) Gwyneth Llewelyn - Index 26.43 * 238 posts = 63 points
6) Gxeremio Dimsum - Index 44.05 * 143 posts = 63 points
7) Diderot Mirabeau - Index 19.97 * 274 posts = 55 points
8) Aliasi Stonebender - Index 18.35 * 289 posts = 53 points
9) Justice Soothsayer - Index 25.99 * 154 posts = 40 points
10) Pelanor Eldrich - Index 15.71 * 159 posts = 25 points

As you can see the method of taking into account an estimated, average post length nuances the results considerably. One notable result is that the list is far more top-schewed than the previous table indicated. This in my view is grounds for concern by anyone who desires to have the forums support the expression of a diverse collection of viewpoints on CDS affairs.

I will as a result ask that the matter of representativity of diverse points of view on the forums be discussed and if deemed necessary further investigated in order to sensibly decide on possible measures to promote the diversity of viewpoints in the future.

Of course the above is a sheer quantitive analysis and it does not take into account that one poster may using three words have a greater impact than someone who takes a day to present a single point effectively if ever at all.

It also needs to be said that the results adjusted for post length do not take into account the differentiation in representation between a relatively new poster and a longtime poster as it merely counts the accumulated mass of posts and makes no attempt to paint a picture of the situation as it is in the forum right now apart from using the 10 most recent posts in the calculation to find the average length of posts. This means naturally that posters who have been here longer will be 'discriminated against' in the results compared to more recent citizens.

The method I have used to reach the "index" value as quoted in the above is as follows:

For each poster in the top-10 select 30 historical posts. 10 of these should be the most recent, 10 should be the oldest and 10 should be approximately in the middle (i.e. looking up all pages of historical posts, choosing the "middle page" (rounded down if necessary) and selecting the bottom 10 of these posts.

Two types of posts have been excluded from the survey: Transcripts and posting of forum moderation guidelines. A case may well be argued for not excluding any posts or indeed for excluding more types of posts or parts of posts. As it is all posts not falling in the above categories have been included in their entirety - including quotes from other posters and signatures.

The entire text of these 30 posts was copied and pasted into OpenOffice Writer. Tools / Word Count was used to count the number of words and characters in total (excluding spaces and line break) and the resulting numbers were divided by 30. The index was then finally obtained using the base of the poster with the highest value. This yielded the following results:

1) Ashcroft Burnham: 20,443 total words = 681 words per post, 119,942 total characters = 3,998 characters per post. Index: 100

2) Beathan: 9,567 total words = 319 words per post, 58,517 total characters = 1,951 characters per post. Index: 46.8

3) Claude Desmoulins: 5,240 total words = 175 words per post, 31,632 total characters = 1,054 characters per post. Index: 25.9

4) Patroklus Murakami: 7,598 total words = 253 words per post, 43,865 total characters = 1,462 characters per post. Index: 37.15

5) Aliasi Stonebender: 3,758 total words = 125 words per post, 21,886 total characters = 729 characters per post. Index: 18.35

6) Diderot Mirabeau: 4,092 total words = 136 words per post, 23,247 total characters = 775 characters per post. Index: 19.97

7) Gwyneth Llewelyn: 5,414 total words = 180 words per post, 31,781 total characters = 1,059 characters per post. Index: 26.46

8) Pelanor Eldrich: 3,212 total words = 107 words per post, 19,174 total characters = 639 characters per post. Index: 15.71

9) Justice Soothsayer: 5,296 total words = 177 words per post, 31,749 total characters = 1,058 characters per post. Index: 25.99

10) Gxeremio Dimsum: 9,005 total words = 300 words per post, 52,329 total characters = 1,744 characters per post. Index: 44.05

The average word length was calculated as a form of sanity check. The results varied between 5.6 to 6 characters per word, which falls within ordinary results I believe.

The survey was carried out on the forums as they looked on the afternoon (around 3PM CET) and in the time it took to carry out the survey a few posters had managed already to make the results outdated by submitting new posts to the forum.

As I have pointed out the process is rather long and even if not complicated at least logistically heavy and somewhat tedious. As it was carried out manually there may very well be errors in the assumptions, calculations or results and I encourage anyone interested in this perspective to do their own comparisons, verifications and to contribute to the debate pointing out any flaws or omissions as this will also inform the SC when we decide to discuss the issue.

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Post by Sleazy_Writer »

[quote="Diderot Mirabeau":1geld5cd]1) Ashcroft Burnham: 20,443 total words[/quote:1geld5cd]

To add something completely useless to this discussion, a quote:
[i:1geld5cd]"The average length of a novel is 60000-100000 words"[/i:1geld5cd]

So, Ash is already at roughly 33% of his 'novel'.
Considering that he wrote his 20,443 words in five months, with some luck, he will be able to finish his 'novel' by the end of October 2007.

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