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Is Phoenix Rising growing? (membership numbers, server statistics etc)

Laelia

Senior Member
Messages
243
Location
UK
It feels to me like Phoenix Rising is growing! Is this the case? If so it would be good to get this information out as this would be good news for the ME community and ME advocacy!

How many active members do we have? How does this compare with previous years?

I found these server statistics from the Phoenix Rising 2013 Annual Report:

Server Statistics

pageviews_stats_v.png


Do we have these statistics for 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well?

I searched for a thread on this and couldn't find anything but apologies if I missed something.
 
Messages
10,157
@Laelia

Yes, Phoenix Rising is growing steadily.

I have kept some statistics. The following stats do not include spammers.

Total Members:
  • December 2012 = 6293
  • December 2013 = 8579
  • December 2014 = 11,406
  • December 2015 = 15, 048
  • Dcember 2016 = 18,519
  • Presently around 19,000
Here is a screenshot of the number of active members per day since 2012 (when we switched over to the Xenforo software):

upload_2017-3-29_12-39-47.png


A you can see we are at about 600 active members per day presently.

I hope that answers your question.
 

Molly98

Senior Member
Messages
576
@Kina , just out of interest, are you able to tell the breakdown of members per country?
The reason I am asking is that it would be interesting to compare the UK membership with AFME and MEA and whether PR could be pushing for representation at various meetings where ME charities are included?
 
Messages
2,158
Most of the increase in new introductions is down to that we recently made it a requirement for new members to introduce themselves.

Thanks for explaining, @Kina. Maybe that explains why I have noticed recently is several introductions so brief they tell us practically nothing about the person. I had wondered why they bothered, now I understand why.

That's fine, and I respect their privacy and/or being too ill or anxious to be able to reveal more.

On the other hand I may be imagining things - maybe it's always been the case that some people introduce themselves with very few words.
 
Messages
10,157
@Kina , just out of interest, are you able to tell the breakdown of members per country?
The reason I am asking is that it would be interesting to compare the UK membership with AFME and MEA and whether PR could be pushing for representation at various meetings where ME charities are included?

This is by Time Zones.
I have put the top 5 results. The rest of the list is skewed by spammers being included eg. India

Members Active in the Last Month:


Europe/London -- 437
America/New York -- 420
America/Los Angeles -- 261
Europe.Amsterdam -- 192
America/Chicago -- 151

Here's another stat:

Gender Ratio - Active in the Last Month
(bottom line is where members have not specified gender):

upload_2017-3-29_18-50-59.png


Scary! I've still never done an introduction thread.

Either have I. :whistle:
Thanks for explaining, @Kina. Maybe that explains why I have noticed recently is several introductions so brief they tell us practically nothing about the person. I had wondered why they bothered, now I understand why.

That's fine, and I respect their privacy and/or being too ill or anxious to be able to reveal more.

On the other hand I may be imagining things - maybe it's always been the case that some people introduce themselves with very few words.

Maybe I should provide some kind of template for them. I like the shorter intro's -- how long ill, any treatments, why they came to PR, where they are from. Most who have chosen to Introduce themselves in the past, have done so by choice, so therefore have written longer intro's. We have instituted this because we have had a ton of new members who we, the mods, encounter first and many of them do not have ME, aren't interested in ME. They just want to discuss general health issues or ask a health question because they have googled and we end up in the result list. They have no idea what ME is. We want this website to be for patients and not get diluted and confusing with new non-patient members.
 

Molly98

Senior Member
Messages
576
That really interesting, thanks for that @Kina.
I was also interested to see that there is not much difference in the ratio of male to female, not as much as the difference in the ratio of female to male ME patients generally.

I totally get the reason why you now require new pps to introduce themselves, do you feel it is working/ helping so far?
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
I can only imagine the growth Phoenix Rising will see once a reliable ME/CFS diagnostic test is widely available.
I remember that PR had a huge growth spurt when XMRV was in the news and people were hopeful that something had been discovered. Anytime there is "News," a lot of new members join.
I totally get the reason why you now require new pps to introduce themselves, do you feel it is working/ helping so far?
Well, we are getting clear evidence of how many people want to join who don't have ME/CFS (or even suspect that they do), and don't even know what it is. If you open PR when you are not signed in, you will see the new notice for prospective members. So, yes, I think this will help us to keep our focus.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Maybe I should provide some kind of template for them. I like the shorter intro's -- how long ill, any treatments, why they came to PR, where they are from.

That would be very useful for brainfogged people. I was a lurker for a very long time because I could barely string together enough words to make a coherent paragraph. It was only once I had improved enough cognitively that I started asking questions, and then eventually answering others' questions.

I was also interested to see that there is not much difference in the ratio of male to female, not as much as the difference in the ratio of female to male ME patients generally.

A lot of the unspecified genders (bottom line) may be female. Unfortunately some Internet forums can be hostile places for women so it's safer to avoid specifying gender.
 

Murph

:)
Messages
1,799
I remember that PR had a huge growth spurt when XMRV was in the news and people were hopeful that something had been discovered. Anytime there is "News," a lot of new members join..

Yes and in the chart above I spy an uptick in activity right around when Naviaux's paper came out! (which is when I joined up! :) )
 
Messages
13,774
This will be why we've seen more of those 'I don't know if I belong here' type threads! I thought we were just having a run of people who were unusually nervous about joining a forum and didn't realise the rules had changed. I hope I wasn't patronisingly reassuring to any of them.
 
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Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
This will be why we've been mores of those 'I don't know if I belong here' type threads! I thought we were just having a run of people who were unusually nervous about joining a forum and didn't realise the rules had changed.
Yep, that is the reason. Patients who suspect that they might have ME/CFS but aren't sure and don't have a formal diagnosis are welcome to explore it with members. What we are trying to avoid is people joining who may be perfectly healthy except for some relatively minor problem that has been discussed here by members who have that problem as part of their ME/CFS. The same approaches to the problem are not likely to work. Or, people who clearly have an unrelated disease but saw an intriguing post that they want to discuss. Again, discussing symptoms and treatments could lead to confusion--apples and oranges trying to discuss the best climate to thrive in! :confused: