User numbers tell little to nothing, especially if certain areas of the forum are either behind a registration or otherwise limited. Since this is a support forum and not (intended as) a place to socialize, you end up with a fair number of one time only posters. They may come back occasionally whenever they run into an issue or they are here with zero posts and instead using the search function at most of their visits. As usual on the interweb, it's content - not page views, visitors or users - is key. So the really important number for a forum is the amount of postings - and that should (in order to be a true measure) exclude staff postings.
Sebastian: Hi - It was in fact a post of yours earlier in this thread that piqued my curiosity
I agree with your comments generally - But!! Even if we accept the general thrust of your views about this being a "support forum" and "one-time" posters, something fundamental seems to be happening by virtue of the consistent fall in numbers - because your points have existed thought-out the entire 5.5 year period of analysis.
Unless folk are buying the new-ish HEX series devices as a piece-of-kit that is just left in the bottom drawer (expensive toy!) - it is reasonable to expect that numbers for "active members" should roughly track "members" (all else being the same).
Of course it could be that an increasing number of new members simply don't need forum support and this might be true if sales are being made to professional users. But, whilst I suspect that professional users are "sticky" Ross-Tech customers, I wouldn't think that 's share in this market sector would be increasing in sufficient numbers to explain the declining statistic. In fact, I would guess the opposite; the share of new sales to enthusiasts would be increasing - in the main.
I'm active on a number of forums and I repeatedly read comments from others recommending over competitor devices in part because of this forum (and Ross Tech's product support in general). So clearly this facility is touted as an attract-or to new members and the 5,000 new members/year might bear this out - if the actual sales of devices in a 12 month period is a similar number.
So, why are an increasingly large number of members choosing not to be active - or is it "old members" that are abandoning participation? Maybe the declining statistic is a measure of Ross-Tech's product support success?
Don
