Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!vnend
From: vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Just how big are some of these sites?
Message-ID: <8222@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 8 May 89 17:55:55 GMT
References: <3209@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James)
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 51

In article <3209@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
)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:
)
)	phoenix.princeton.edu		2137

)Now I, for one, find some of these numbers amazing.  While I realize
)that sometimes these are actually combined reports for a network of
)machines, I find it hard to believe that there are over 10,000 net
)readers (not users, net readers) on 2 sites in Pittsburgh.

	Nope, those numbers are users, not readers.  Look at your 
arbitron script Brad. (You don't run arbitron?  Why not?)  phoenix
has 2137 accounts, not all of which are used.  We actually have 
about 350 newsreaders.  

	Be glad that VM Netnews doesn't have an arbitron equivalent,
or the numbers would really be inflated...

 
)Where are these numbers coming from?  Are they wrong?  Or are they counting
)huge numbers of people who use netnews for local conferencing but don't
)read groups from the outside world?   Some places, like the Well, which
)sells timesharing and Usenet access, I can understand.  And big companies
)like Apple and Sequent belong up there.

	Did you read the posting?  It explicitly states that they are 
generated by arbitron, what it is and how you can get it (and, hence, find
out how it gets its figures.)  Your third question doesn't follow, since it
is based on an incorrect assumption.

 
)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 see.  Yes, most of the top 50 groups locally are local groups.
Maybe I'll see about modifying arbitron enough to give me figures on how 
many of our local readers only read local groups.  But none of the sites
claimed 2000 readers, you are just misreading the data.

	Note, also, that phoenix's figures are skewed *down* by our short
expiration time (now down to 5 days for most groups, but a month for local's,
which helps explain our local group's high ratings.)

 
-- 
Later Y'all,  Vnend                       Ignorance is the mother of adventure.   
SCA event list? Mail?  Send to:vnend@phoenix.princeton.edu or vnend@pucc.bitnet   
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