Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu!steved
From: steved@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Steve Dempsey)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Just how big are some of these sites?
Message-ID: <1860@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>
Date: 8 May 89 18:26:42 GMT
References: <3209@looking.UUCP>
Sender: news@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU
Organization: Big Site #5:  Colorado State University, College of Engineering
Lines: 52


> 
> With talk about the relative size of USENET, I took a look at the new
> number Brian has added to his arbitron reports, namely the number of
> newsreaders at the reporting sites.  Here are the biggest ones:
> 

> [#5]	longs.lance.colostate.edu	2405

That's me (us)!

> Now I, for one, find some of these numbers amazing.
> Where are these numbers coming from?

My arbitron script does something like this:

   nusers=`ypcat passwd | grep -v olduser | wc -l'

to get ACTIVE users: people still enrolled here.  Unless specifically
requested, accounts are deactivated shortly after a person graduates,
then completely purged much later.  Without this, we would get even
more spectacular results like this:

      % ypcat passwd | wc -l
          3225

>  Are they wrong?

Within a factor of +/-100%  :-)

>  Or are they counting
> huge numbers of people who use netnews for local conferencing but don't
> read groups from the outside world?

I must admit that we have many folks who only read csu.* and ignore
the rest of the net.  These huge numbers are people who have access to
news, not those who actually read it.  The numbers posted for active
readers of each group better reflect the actual readership.

> If it's not confidential, it would be interesting to see the individual
> arbitron reports from those six sites with over 2,000 readers.

I'll mail mine to Brad and anyone else who cares.

Statistics such as these should be taken with a grain of salt.  After all,
numbers can say anything you want them to if the appropriate math is
applied.

        Steve Dempsey,  Center for Computer Assisted Engineering
  Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523    +1 303 491 0630
INET: steved@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu, dempsey@handel.CS.ColoState.Edu
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