Logged in Number

Hi Dave,
Since there are times when posts move rather quickly and there must be an abundance of lurkers on at the same time as posters, can you tell how many members are logged in on any given period? If so, what is the heaviest period where members are logged onto the site? I always wonder how many people are sitting in the audience as us gas-mouth people can't stop posting..lol. Thanks :)
Trish

Trish,

That's not really possible, although hacks are possible. Consider that the web is a stateless application, so when you load a page, you're only on my server for a couple seconds, and then the server forgets about the connection.

I could, of course, pull reports on "the members who accessed pages within the past 15 minutes", and in fact occasionally I do.

Here's a graphical analysis of the hourly average pagehits, starting July 1st - present: http://davesgarden.com/~dave/hourly.jpg

Times are Eastern Daylight times.

Notice that at 4:00am is the slowest time, and then slowly picks up from there until it skyrockets during the 7 hour, peaking at 1:00pm (Lunchtime?)

Another peak at 10:00pm (That last DG hit before bedtime). Then slowly slides until 4:00am again.

Remember that this graph encompasses 30 days of data, so it's fairly accurate as to the actual habits of DG members.

Dave

WoW! Do we all talk alot or what? Nice graph,Dave. Just what would be your busiest month here at DG.

The busiest month is July. Each month is always much bigger and busier than the last.

Dave..you're right about that last hit before bedtime..lol. See now, you've gotten us to be habitual users - yikes!
Trish

I was reading an interesting article the other day about things that become habit forming and I came across this:

Surgeon Generals Warning: Dave's Garden, aka DG, can be VERY addictive. Please use caution when joining this web site. And for your family's safety, hire a cook and a cleaning service. There is currrently no known treatment program for this addiction.

[ Removed by member request. - Admin ]

Guess I'm one of the oddballs showing up here at 2am, LOL. I peruse the day's new posts late at night with the dog snoring beside me. :o)