I just checked the server stats for last month.
Drum roll..... 8,987,138 PAGE VIEWS in January 2016!
That was our busiest month ever. You folks should all congratulate yourselves! 
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Rich, I don't want to burst your bubble here, but since the forum update, it takes more page loads to navigate. Actions that used to take one, now take 2 or 3.
Great Rich i am on here several times a day reading!!
Big_Boy_4005 posted:Rich, I don't want to burst your bubble here, but since the forum update, it takes more page loads to navigate. Actions that used to take one, now take 2 or 3.
Say what? I navigate this forum exactly as I did before the upgrade. If this was true, the number would be triple what it is.
You'll have to explain this...
Well maybe I don't navigate the forum like everyone else. I live and die on the recent posts list, because it is less tedious than plowing through all the different forums here. Plus, I'm here most of the time, so I don't miss much viewing the forum that way.
I constantly find myself needing to return to topics that I have previously posted to. In order to do that I have to go to my profile then click on my activity. With the old forum, the activity page was where you landed when you clicked on your avatar. So there 1 extra every time I do that, and I'm probably not the only one. Those numbers will add up after a while.
I was never suggesting that the numbers would double or triple, but rather a slight inflation without a significant increase in actual participation. I'm not sure if Hoop la provides you a way to differentiate those numbers. In the end, it's none of my business, it's yours. But I do recall you mentioning that you'll be stepping up in service charges when you hit 10,000,000. Just want you to get what you pay for.
~9m page views is very impressive, at least in my opinion. This hobby is supposed to be a niche compared to others that are often talked about on this forum. i.e. guitars, cars, fish tanks, travel, etc ... This is good for everyone including the OGR sponsors. I hope this is an indication that the hobby is growing and a lot of parents / kids received their first train set for Christmas. Rich curious what the number was for Jan 2015?
They're coming here in droves!
OK, what counts as a "Page Review"? Each time I come onto the forum website, each time I visit, say "Real Trains", or each time I look at a topic?
And I do not find navigation an issue!
Dominic,
Essentially a page view is every time you load a new HTML or web page within the OGR.com domain. So clicking on Real Trains then viewing a post in Real Trains is considered two page views.
WELL...I am not sure why Elliot is "viewing" the forum the way he does but to each his own. I can tell you that I still am able to navigate the forum exactly the same way I did before our "upgrade" back in December. None the less....our page views have on average almost doubled over a couple of years ago which is when I started paying attention to the stats because of my role here. Because of all of you, this site continues to be the place to discuss the hobby we love. On behalf of the team here at OGR, we thank you and appreciate your support...!!!
Alan
Elliot is correct. It does take an extra "click" to get to my activity. It used to be as soon as I clicked my profile, all the threads I had posted or liked were listed. Now I have to push my avatar and then activity. No big whoop but another step.
Marty...I didn't say Elliot was incorrect...I said I didn't know why he views the way he does...this is because I don't go through the steps like that. No big deal..!
Alan
Maybe "RECENT POSTS" could be added to the drop down list under the name in the blue bar.
No problem. Didn't mean to imply that anyone was right or wrong. I used to do the same as Elliot. Still do when I am looking for something I've posted in. It's a quick way of finding threads I specifically participated in.
A nice "history" of my participation.
Thanks guys for a great forum. It is a nice distraction from politics, news, and happenings of the day.
Another stat that Rich did not mention above is the increased number of new members signing on. Back about a year ago the average daily sign up rate was around 5 to 6. That average has been steadily increasing. January averaged a little more than 9 per day which is just under 300 new members. ( Actually 284 new members).
Alan
OK, now don't get a big head about all the good news but the OGR forum is, usually, my last stop going through other sites. that way I can spend as much time here as I want. Except for Accuweather, several RR photo sites and OGR are the only ones I enjoy any more. And as the political scene unfolds it will be more so. Absolutely sick of all the politicians -give me an old Lionel any day !! Keep it up !
Congrats! Keep up the great work.
I think some of you are confusing mouse clicks with pages served. Yes, I agree that there are a couple of things that now require two mouse clicks where one worked before. But that is a mouse click, not a page view. Clicking on your profile to bring up the drop-down list there is not counted as a page view. Clicking on your profile to see the drop-down list is activating a function which is built in to the page you are currently on. That action doesn't involve serving a new page. A page view is when a completely new page is served to you because you clicked something to look at a different page than the one you are on.
When I cite page view numbers, I am talking about to total number of pages viewed by members of this forum and other non-members who read this forum but don't post here. As I write this, the forum home page is telling me that there are 258 members and 386 guests looking at pages on this forum.
This has become a very popular place on the internet to talk about O gauge trains, and it is all because of you folks...a wonderful group of people who passionately enjoy the O gauge hobby.
and some believe OGR is on it's way out. this shows it is not.
Not ALL because of us, Rich............
bigdodgetrain posted:and some believe OGR is on it's way out. this shows it is not.
What's the old saying? "Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated..." or something like that. 
Fantastic! Hopefully this is also an indication that many folks, new to the hobby, are checking in to see what is going on.
CONGRATS!!!!!!!
Not sure but I have a sense that this is a better site than, say, 6 months ago ?? Just wondering ?/ Stay cool and run trains !!
Thanks to all. We are the reason why this is such a great forum.
jim pastorius posted:Not sure but I have a sense that this is a better site than, say, 6 months ago ?? Just wondering ?/ Stay cool and run trains !!
Jim...there may be several reasons for this....
Congratulations on the best ever record amount of views for January!
I will let others debate number of clicks or other technical items. For myself, I'm very happy that the Forum exists. It provides good information and entertainment that I am able to access daily. One thing I find good about the latest version is that my 73 year old eyes find the photos much clearer. So Rich, thank you for the Forum and I will cheer when you cross the 10 million mark.
Tony
Up on "The D & H Bridge Line"
I just commented on the fact that the site has improved, in my opinion. And that is a very good thing.
OGR Ad Man posted:Another stat that Rich did not mention above is the increased number of new members signing on. Back about a year ago the average daily sign up rate was around 5 to 6. That average has been steadily increasing. January averaged a little more than 9 per day which is just under 300 new members. ( Actually 284 new members).
Alan
Interesting - and everyone says this is a hobby that is fading away... Hard to beat the facts!
Congrats to all of us!!!
WOW!!! 9 new members per day in January. Keep on rocking it OGR dudes!!!
Cool a lot of new members.
Congratulations, Last week I saw one of the new members, selling Canadian Passenger cars. Went to his profile and no e-mail address in his profile, to start a sale or ask a question.
I just check again today and all the new members are not posting their e-mail address.
Question: Has the option of adding an e-mail address to a profile ben removed for new members? Below is a screen shot of new members, Welcome new members, to the OGR Forum.
Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway
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No one is required to add an email address or avatar to their public profile.
Gary.....there is an option in the current membership application to display email, etc....but I have found that almost none of the newest members are filling those blanks in. I don't blame most since members have reported getting unsolicited emails from other members....
Alan
I hope those new members are or become active members in the hobby!!, and subscribe to the magazine. I don't want to be a vanishing dinosaur, although auction site pricing would seem to contradict the thought that was occurring.
Rich and Alan, thanks for setting the record straight on that page thing. It seems to be a far less significant skewing of the numbers than I had thought. Probably on the order of 1 or 2 %.
It is good to hear that even larger numbers of new members are flocking in.
OGR is still the best forum on the internet, and I will remain loyal and keep racking up those pages for you.
Hi Alan & OGR Management Team / Private messaging procedures.
Over the years I have made four purchases from OGR Members and the email process was very helpful for buying, selling, trading and asking questions, about club news. My suggestion is for the OGR Management Team to ask Hoop.la, If an email design could work for private messaging among OGR Forum members.
This is an example of how it is done on You tube to keep out unsolicited emails. They have two systems for communicating on You Tube, Private Message and lock email. Each YT channel can pick the process that they want to use to stop unsolicited emails.
Below are screen shots of the You Tube process for communicating.
Would not hurt to ask Hoop.la if they have some way to stop unsolicited emails, similar to YT and other social media sites.
Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway
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too much time on OGR and not on the layout 
Cheers to all of us!!!!!!!!!.
Jhainer posted:too much time on OGR and not on the layout
That's my problem. Too much fun, just relaxing with the tablet reading about trains on the OGR forum.
OGR is one of my favorite websites by far. It always has something new to offer in terms of information. It's good to hear and see that the Hobby served by this website seems to be growing in a day when the hobby (we hear) is declining. I might be contributing in a small way to the "click count" especially when reading informative posts such as Elliot's train progress "dream/nitemare layout" updates.
I do not know of to many other model/toy train hobby sites that seem to be growing as fast as OGR is. KUDOS and WELL DONE OGR!
