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[Grildon Tundy]

Hey all. In this "limited series" (lol) we've been looking at the different discussion sections of NEOGAF, scraping data off the thread pages, and seeing what insights we can find. Please see below for the earlier two entries:

Off-Topic Section: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/neogaf-a-data-driven-view.1640746/
Gaming Discussion Section: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/neogaf-a-data-driven-view-pt-2-gaming-discussion-section.1640785/

Feedback from those two threads displayed interest in covering the Communities section, so here we are!

Communities Highlights:

1. There are 677 threads to-date, having 430,000 comments and 26,000,000+ views in total
   • Since 2017, we see about 11 new threads each month, or 150 per year
   • The busiest month was October 2017, when 38 new threads were created
     • This was before my time as a lurker: Was this the initial creation of Communities?
2. The typical Communities thread:
   • Is 2.5 years old
   • Has 100 comments and 8,000 views: an 80-to-1 lurking-to-posting ratio
3. The oldest Communities thread is "80s style synth-pop/electro synth/cyberpunk music", created in April 2013 by FallingEdge (last seen in December 2017)
   • The most recent of its 5,000+ comments was on 8/16/21: an 8-years lifespan
4. The most popular thread? "ResetEra Discussion -- Stay civil. Don't get personal. Keep it in here."
   • Created by Evilore on Oct 19th, 2019
   • Received 45,000 comments, and 3,000,000+ views to-date
   • Closed by Evilore with the possibility of reopening on Feb 11th, 2021
5. The most popular thread that's still active? "Meta GAF |ON| Gaf on Gaf"
   • Created on 12/6/2018, it has 41,000 comments and over 1,000,000 views
6. The least popular thread:

The Communities' Most-Contributing OPs:

• Of the 677 threads-to-date, there are 225 unbanned OPs who created them
• cormack12 is the top creator, having submitted 10%of all Communities threads!
  • From January 2018 - December 2021, Cormack12 created about 1.5 Communities threads per month
• Komatsu is close at #2 with 58 threads, or 8.6% of the total
• Andyliini , jshackles , ManaByte , Maiden Voyage , bitbydeath , EviLore , TGO , Guilty_AI , and Kazza round out the Top 10
• Shoutout to LegendOfKage Northeastmonk , Bullet Club , BusierDonkey , Danjin44 , DunDunDunpachi , Elektro Demon , JORMBO , Nankatsu , Vampire On Titus for their contributions, too!
• Below are all the OPs who submitted over 4 threads, ordered by volume:

• And here are those same OPs, ordered by average number of comments lefton their submitted threads
  • When EviLore speaks, the community listens (and comments): He's the #1 Most "Engaging" Communities OP, with LegendOfKage at #2
  • Bullet Club , bitbydeath Nankatsu , Maiden Voyage , cormack12 , TGO , JORMBO , BusierDonkey round out the Top 10

Top 10 Most Popular Threads of All Time:

• I don't know about you, but it's encouraging to see that 7 of the Top 10 most popular threads are still active as of this month!
• Aside from the Anime/Manga community, the only non-gaming related thread in the Top 10 is ResetEra, ranked at #1

Memory Lane: The Most Popular Threads by Month:

• There's a lot to take in, so to callout: Yellow = over 10K comments. Green = over 5K. Red = over 3,000
• No chance that the Elden Ring OT (Feb 2022) doesn't break 10,000 once the DLC is announced! Can't wait.

And that's all I've got!

Note to all still reading, since questions came up a few times: This data and analysis was done using only the information available on the thread selection screens (i.e., just the data points pictured below).

I'd love to get access to server-side/client/API/database data to do a deep-dive on: reactions; comments; comment subject matter; posting rates; prime posting times; reactions per post scores per user with dates to account for when reaction scores began; what brings new users; what retains users; what makes current users leave; etc. but I don't know if that's something the fine folks of this fine website would be willing or able to do. Maybe we could work something out where I in turn try to find insights that help drive new users & site engagement? (Without resorting to politics and hardcore porn, of course.) That'd be similar to what I do in my day job, anyway.

Happosai , Con_Z_ǝdʇ : tagging you here because you'd mentioned wanting to see the Communities section.

FYI Mods, I'd planned to post these in Off-Topic, but the gaming one got moved to Gaming, so I'm posting this here. Feel free to shuffle around as you see fit.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I am vindicated!

 

[Happosai]

Pretty cools stats again. Communities is an amazing part of GAF all around. Community index too may be helpful to those looking for where post. Thanks for the mention too. If you say my names 3 times...I appear.

Last note: I figure 'fart' and other 2017 one liner OTs can likely be deleted by the mods.

 

[bitbydeath]

Good work team.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

It's an honor just to be nominated.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Wow! I knew the Genshin thread had a lot of posts, but I never guessed that it would put me at second place between EviLore and BulletClub.

Much thanks and love to all the Genshin post regulars for making that happen! And thanks again Grildon Tundy for another great data thread!


[edit] And third most popular thread overall!? I have no idea how I missed that the first time I read your post. Again, wow!

 

[Saber]

Wow! I knew the Genshin thread had a lot of posts, but I never guessed that it would put me at second place between EviLore and BulletClub.

Much thanks and love to all the Genshin post regulars for making that happen! And thanks again Grildon Tundy for another great data thread!

Proud to be part of your thread dude.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Awesome analysis and thanks for the mention. I am standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

[Fake]

I'm not there. I demand recount.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Thanks again Grildon Tundy

Maiden Voyage can rest now.

I will try to keep the GT7 post count up.

 

[Komatsu]

Oh wow, surprised to be at #2 as I haven't been super active lately.