Forum traffic

[exeric]

At the bottom of our forum page is a count of AMCA forum members, and guests. Often there are hundreds of guests, and less than 10 forum members at any given time. Just curious why guests don't want to join this forum and contribute their knowledge, or literary observations. Our forum is safe, entertaining, and very well moderated by Mike Love. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed how out-of-balance our forum participation is.

[BigLakeBob]

Sometimes (I think) I'm registered as a guess if I don't sign in. But if I sign in then I'm counted.

[pisten-bully]

...my guess is that the "guest" count is highly inflated by the presence of "bots", those automated pieces of software that crawl the internet constantly and anonymously searching for information.

[Rubone]

It isn't any different than any other forum I am on, there is always a small core group doing most of the discussion with a large percentage silent.

[1939wl]

I second Robbie's observations. I am on several other forums, and they show exactly what you are describing....sometimes 5 to 10 members and 1850 guests.
Then when they finally do join, they say "Well I have been "lurking" for 6 years, finally decided to join....it's odd.
We have an amazing, knowledgeable, dedicated group here.

[DEEBS47Chief1991]

It's also interesting that because they are "guests" they can't see most pictures. However, I agree that it's a lot of software "bots".

[otis71]

A good chance non amca members google something and are directed to the forum. As non members they can not join but use the information.

[hoyt1967]

Be nice if there was a way to show the topic, or question asked on a google search, but to see the responses you would have to be a member. Great information is worth something.