Wintreath in Statistics
Statistics for the Month that Was
January 2023
Forums: 347From December 2022: +170 (+96.0%) |
From January 2022: -1518 (-82.0%) |
Breakdown: View Here
After an inactive autumn, we launched a back to basics campaign on the forums: basic, easy to play forum games that are slower-paced and easier for new people to get into than the advanced, chaotic games we were hosting in 2020-22. The idea is to break the boom and bust cycle those games brought over those years, and to slowly rebuild a native Wintrean scene for those games. As part of that campaign, we hosted a Werewolf (87 posts) and Spyfall game (61 posts, some in December). Those numbers may not exactly sound impressive compared to the hundreds of posts Werewolf games saw before, but our hope is that by having more regular games that are easier to get into, we'll have more gaming activity over time.
We're also continuing to experiment with clubs, which are subforums created by groups of Citizens (but open to all) who submitted an approved club charter to our legislature. The idea is that clubs will band together to discuss topics that wouldn't ordinarily come up in the greater Wintreath community because they're so niche. Even if there are multiple people in Wintreath with a particular interest, they might never come together to talk about it because it gets swallowed up by the main chats. So far the experiment is mixed: the furry club had 23 posts, which is very respectable; but the writers support club had none at all.
Last, but not least, the RP Guild continues to see steady activity (84 posts), especilly when it comes to member RPs and the sports league. Combined, these separate areas made for a month that wasn't exactly overwhelming, but an improvement over the autumn nonetheless.
Discord: 12075Human Posts: 7175 (59.2%) |
Bot Posts: 4930 (40.8%)
From December 2022: +5230 (+76.4%) |
From January 2022: +3611 (+52.8%) |
Breakdown: View Here
We're also experimenting on the Discord in two ways. First, we eliminated or merged multiple channels that weren't very active. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to channels or forums, more is not always better. It divides what's already a small community into smaller subsets, it's more overwhelming for newbies to understand where to start posting, and inactive channels can make the entire server look inactive. This is not good when the Discord has already had actual low activity during the autumn.
On the flip-side, we launched an experimental area called Hearthrest, which is for members of the community who have proven themselves as active, contributing, personable members of the community. The idea spawned from an
article I read and reinforced by reading
Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher (how exactly is a story unto itself), but the idea is that people are more comfortable chatting and opening up about themselves when there aren't hundreds of lurkers possibly watching them. It's also an award for members who have done their part to make Wintreath a great community.
And so far, it's been successful. The Hearthrest area, made up of channels that were previously archived or had little activity, made up over 1 in 7 human created posts in January. The vent-chat channel had it's most active month in 3 years, and the other channels were the most active they'd been in months as well. Although one month isn't enough data to conclude that Hearthrest will be successful and it's entirely possible activity will fall off once the novelty wears off, I'm hoping that a space for our core members will be a boost to our community and to our Discord.
Finally, games of Assassins and the revival of the Minecraft server late in the month saw new activity as well, especially due to the fact that people on the Discord and Minecraft server can chat with each other through our MC Wintreath bot. All together, these things made for the best month our Discord has seen since August.
Top Posters on Discord
1. @Wintermoot - 1758 posts
2.
@Michi - 955 posts
3.
@Marzipan - 628 posts
4.
@trader - 571 posts
5. @Juniper - 543 posts
6. @Stigya - 348 posts
7.
@Leesbra - 273 posts
8.
@Chanku - 246 posts
9. Alien Zombie - 232 posts
10.
@Kye - 191 posts
|
From January 2023: -1310 (-73.6%) |
Breakdown: View Here
The only platform that has not recovered from the autumn is the NationStates RMB, which as relatively stable from December. Part of it because of the nature of activity on there: during the pandemic RMB activity rose to record highs and stayed there for the entire period. However, as things have returned to normal and the rest of Wintreath also faced an inactive period, activity has fallen to numbers that seems inactive compared to recent history but is still far more active than it was pre-pandemic. Unlike the other platforms, we currently have no plans to revitalize the RMB, but it's something the Cabinet and administration may look into later this month.
Top 10 RMB Posters
1. kiddian_states (
@Kiddian) - 46 posts (December #2)
2. the_greenlandic_north (
@TGN) - 38 posts (December #1)
3. dashiki_city (
@Waggleton) - 30 posts (December #5)
4. ratlaa - 26 posts (December NA)
5. holy_spire (
@Holy Spire) - 23 posts (December #6)
6. new_narag_empire (
@Worgus) - 23 posts (December #3)
7. imperialrussia - 19 posts (December #12-13)
8. unipolis - 16 posts (December #4)
9. aportistopireistan - 15 posts (December NA)
10. huvak - 14 posts (December NA)
Some of the reasons behind our inactivity in the autumn were outside of our control. Many of our members were struggling with offline situations and with mental health, and a lot of my own time was spent looking for a place to move to and avoiding homelessness. However, whatever the reasons behind it, low activity periods are always a great time to re-evaluate what's working and what's not working in a community.
The fact of the matter is that in the past many of us have suffered from what I call
Field of Dreams Syndrome...this idea that if you build that forum or Discord channel, they will come. People will start posting just because there's a space for it, but that's simply not true. Wintreath has a huge graveyard of archived forums and channels that stand as a testament to that. Even I've been taken by this idea at times in the past. But it's not just having a space that start conversations, posts, games, or any other activity. It's also having people that want to start and participate in those things, and come up with ideas for how they can keep going and be made better.
This fact is written over and over again in Wintrean history. RP was dormant for years until Svipjoth organized the RP Guild and active RPers started to take part in it. Gaming was an aspiration until Marzipan returned and made it an actual thing with people who wanted to play games. Werewolf was only ever a thing because Michi started hosting games, people wanted to play them, and then later on others wanted to try their hand at hosting. Even Wintreath itself...if I hadn't been dedicated to putting in the work to make it into something, and there hadn't been others who wanted to help lead and be a part of it, Wintreath would have never been anything but an inactive NationStates region that would have eventually disappeared.
Although they can certainly be improved, the success of a community is not because of its platforms...it's because of its people. As a community, we would do well to focus on them first, and I believe the improvements we're making are working because they're people-focused. I'm hopeful that what we're doing will lead to an even more active and vibrant community in the months ahead.
-Winter
