(A continuation of https://www.metabunk.org/metabunk-is-four-years-old.t5430/ )
Metabunk started in December 2010, just over five years ago.
2011: Threads 361 Posts: 3,264, Active Members 67
2012: Threads: 833, Posts: 21,700, Active Members: 141
2013: Threads: 2,214, Posts: 78,219, Active Members: 216
2014: Thread 3,640, Posts 132,683, Active Members: 319
2015: Thread 4,576, Posts 164,804, Active Members: 340
Traffic has leveled off somewhat from 2014. While this is partly due to the randomness of the big stories that go viral a few times a year (like the Burning Snow, or the Pillar of Light), it's mostly because I've not been able to devote as much time to the site as I would have liked. This has been for a number of reasons: I moved house, which was quite a distraction, and there were various other life events that got in the way. Overall though I simply spent less time on the site in 2015 than I did in 2014.
The above graph is of new threads in 2014 and 2015. It shows a sharp drop after I moved house in December 2014, and then continuing at a lower level, with a large drop in September-October 2015, when I had to deal with some unexpected personal events. On the brighter side, there was distinct uptick in December.
Metabunk is often seen as a site that just debunks chemtrails, and it's true that a lot of the material is related to the chemtrail conspiracy theory. However "chemtrails" does not really account for that much of our traffic. If we rank pages by popularity the first chemtrail related page (Rosalind Peterson at the UN Conference) only comes in at #17, with just 34,000 views, then the ballast barrels post is at #28, with 21,000 views (figures just for 2015).
Metabunk has a long tail. There are only a handful of pages that get over 100,000 views, but then there are 5,000 pages that get over 50 views.
In 2016 I hope to reverse the trend, devoting more time to creating and promoting high quality debunking content to help hold back the tide of bunk that's sweeping the world.
I'd like to thank everyone who has helped Metabunk be what it is. With specific thanks to those who created or helped create high quality debunking articles. I'd also like to thank our mods @Pete Tar, @Landru, and @George B , for helping keep things running smoothly. Special thanks also to our latest mod @deirdre , who has brought some valuable perspective to the site, perhaps by being the opposite of me in many ways.
I continue to make no money from Metabunk. There's no advertising on the site, and nobody pays me. It's going to continue that way. I do this because I enjoy it, and because I think it's a worthwhile way of helping lots of people.
Here's to a bright new 2016!
Metabunk started in December 2010, just over five years ago.
2011: Threads 361 Posts: 3,264, Active Members 67
2012: Threads: 833, Posts: 21,700, Active Members: 141
2013: Threads: 2,214, Posts: 78,219, Active Members: 216
2014: Thread 3,640, Posts 132,683, Active Members: 319
2015: Thread 4,576, Posts 164,804, Active Members: 340
Traffic has leveled off somewhat from 2014. While this is partly due to the randomness of the big stories that go viral a few times a year (like the Burning Snow, or the Pillar of Light), it's mostly because I've not been able to devote as much time to the site as I would have liked. This has been for a number of reasons: I moved house, which was quite a distraction, and there were various other life events that got in the way. Overall though I simply spent less time on the site in 2015 than I did in 2014.
The above graph is of new threads in 2014 and 2015. It shows a sharp drop after I moved house in December 2014, and then continuing at a lower level, with a large drop in September-October 2015, when I had to deal with some unexpected personal events. On the brighter side, there was distinct uptick in December.
Metabunk is often seen as a site that just debunks chemtrails, and it's true that a lot of the material is related to the chemtrail conspiracy theory. However "chemtrails" does not really account for that much of our traffic. If we rank pages by popularity the first chemtrail related page (Rosalind Peterson at the UN Conference) only comes in at #17, with just 34,000 views, then the ballast barrels post is at #28, with 21,000 views (figures just for 2015).
Metabunk has a long tail. There are only a handful of pages that get over 100,000 views, but then there are 5,000 pages that get over 50 views.
In 2016 I hope to reverse the trend, devoting more time to creating and promoting high quality debunking content to help hold back the tide of bunk that's sweeping the world.
I'd like to thank everyone who has helped Metabunk be what it is. With specific thanks to those who created or helped create high quality debunking articles. I'd also like to thank our mods @Pete Tar, @Landru, and @George B , for helping keep things running smoothly. Special thanks also to our latest mod @deirdre , who has brought some valuable perspective to the site, perhaps by being the opposite of me in many ways.
I continue to make no money from Metabunk. There's no advertising on the site, and nobody pays me. It's going to continue that way. I do this because I enjoy it, and because I think it's a worthwhile way of helping lots of people.
Here's to a bright new 2016!
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