Lurkers

[trekgeezer]

Are there really 50 lurkers out there trolling our board, or is that just some weirdness that hasn't been worked out.

[odinn7]

I was thinking the same thing. I kind of like being able to see who's on but at the same time, seeing all those "guests" makes me feel like I'm being watched. Who are all these people? Is it a government conspiracy? Are they aliens looking to get us?

[ulthar]

Probably of a combination of things.  Some are probably lurkers (or casual browsers), some regulars who not reset their cookies yet (log off, log back on) per Andrew's suggestion and some may be regulars/others who just don't allow cookies in their browser.

The Net's a big place.  It would not surprise me if we did have that many or more casual browsers at any given time.  This site is well established.

[odinn7]

ulthar Wrote:
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>
> The Net's a big place.  It would not surprise me
> if we did have that many or more casual browsers
> at any given time.  

Stop it. You're scaring me.

[ulthar]

odinn7 Wrote:
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>
> Stop it. You're scaring me.
>


Or maybe we just get counted more than once?  You know, cuz we're so important and we post a lot.

:)

[odinn7]

ulthar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> odinn7 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Stop it. You're scaring me.
> >
>
>
> Or maybe we just get counted more than once?  You
> know, cuz we're so important and we post a lot.

Oh yeah, I hear ya. We post alot so therefore we ARE important. Excuse me while I pound on my chest....

[Mr_Vindictive]

It is kind of strange to see so many "guests" listed.

We're currently at 75 guests

[Andrew]

No, there really have been that many guests.  As I am looking at it, we have 64 guests right now.

In general, the system checks the stats for users every 60 seconds.  It then updates the listing.  I believe that guests are counted immediately, because of the way the system works.  It keeps track of guests by IP address, so the number is the number of unique I addresses that have looked the message board in the last few.

Now, search engines, worm programs, and spamming software will also affect the count.

The system counts a user as "logged off" if they have not done anything in 15 minutes.

The site sees around, if I remember correctly, 350,000 visitors per month.  That means about 11,000 people per day, who look at, on the average, something like 6 to 8 pages each.  The guests count is probably correct.  I should check the stats and see if that still holds true.

I can turn off the guest count, without affecting the tracking of everyone who is logged in, if it is annoying.

[ThadC]

It is a little strange to see people just looking at what we say to each other. I think if they are going to poke in, they should say howdy or something. It feels a little like some strangers looking in your window. I may still be new to this board, but I like it here so I try to be sociable. Just my thoughts on the subject.

[odinn7]

We've got 80 guests right now...I think they're spies from other movie boards trying to see all our secrets.


"I can turn off the guest count, without affecting the tracking of everyone who is logged in, if it is annoying."

Doesn't really bother me though it is interesting to see those numbers.

[raj]

Not annoying Andrew.  I think it's kind of neat.  Sort of like we're all the cool kids and the guests are hanger oners who want to join in the cool group.  (At least, that is how I'm going to interpret it.)

[Scott]

It's a neat feature. Never realised though Andrew once mentioned the mega amount of visitors to his site in the past. Welcome guest...........................................

[dean]

I've said this before [but the post dissappeared, 'guest' conspiracy anyone?]

But, they're out there, watching me, I can feel their eyes, staring at me, JUDGING ME!!!!!!  I NOW KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!!!!!!!

[grabs shotgun and rocks erratically on chair whilst eyeballing computer screen]

[Scottie]

I think we all lurked on this site for a while before finally summoning the courage to make a post. Even Andrew must have lurked... somehow.

Anyways, the moral is that these people are not a threat, but that each one of them is instead a potential bad movie lover who may one day become an active contributor to this super awesome message board. I enjoy being able to see how many people are interested in seeing what we are talking about, because I know someone out there is going to reference something they saw on this site at some point in their life, and when that day happens, they just might come back and thank us all with a million dollars. The Guest featurette is quite nice.

I'm serious though, this message board totally rocks socks with boxes of lox. [emotion] I get so much out of talking to all of you. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for continuing to make bad movies enjoyable into my fifth year of consciously watching them, and just for keeping cinema alive in general. Thanks guys! [/emotion]

Thank you Andrew.

[Ash]

ThadC Wrote:
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> It feels a little like some strangers
> looking in your window.

Yeah, it kinda does.  
But I think it's kind of fascinating and I like it.
Can you imagine the conversations that we'd have if they all joined up as members?
It is a little shocking to realize that they've all been watching for a long, long time and none of us except Andrew knew.

We were all totally oblivious.

It's like we all sat in a giant room talking for years with the shades drawn and now they've suddenly been opened.
We look out and see strange faces peering in at us through those windows Thad mentioned.

I personally cannot and probably will never understand the mindset of one who just watches rather than participates.
You all know me.  Can you imagine me just sitting back and watching all the time?  
Not a chance!

But I do understand that there are a lot of people who prefer to just watch and that's cool.
Whatever works for them.