Traffic stats for UC

[TheGentlemanWake]

Hey all, does anyone have any data as to what the traffic stats for UC are? I feel like over the years participation has generally slowed down around here. Sometimes I refresh pages hours later and no new posts have gone up. I feel like there was a time when the turnover on topics was much greater. Maybe it’s just perception. I’m wondering if the forum popularity or population has gone down or if it’s just the popularity of the hobby in general diminishing. Thoughts? Has anyone else felt that? If you are participating less why is it?

[kevork]

Hey all, does anyone have any data as to what the traffic stats for UC are? I feel like over the years participation has generally slowed down around here. Sometimes I refresh pages hours later and no new posts have gone up. I feel like there was a time when the turnover on topics was much greater. Maybe it’s just perception. I’m wondering if the forum popularity or population has gone down or if it’s just the popularity of the hobby in general diminishing. Thoughts? Has anyone else felt that? If you are participating less why is it?

I've only been a part of the playing card community for the past year. I must say that looking back at posts, I do see the stark difference in discussions and active users. Hard to say what might be the case, but I can merely offer some speculations:

• Overall collecting community numbers diminishing post-pandemic as people are spending money on other things
• Unsure state of the global economy leading to less money spent on collectables, which turns to less involvement in the community
• Mike selling the website to Alex, who doesn't play a similar leadership role. Looking back, I'm amazed at all the events and offerings Mike spearheaded along with the community members at the time
• Oversaturation of the market with releases after releases. Gilded this. Box set that. It is easy to get overwhelmed/lost/exhausted
• Normalization of certain features offered on cards, leading to less excitement overall. Looking back less than a decade ago, we were seeing innovations involving foiling on cards, etc. that are now more commonplace. Designers are looking for out-of-the-box ways to innovate, but they are moving well beyond decks to offer all sorts of add-ons. It can feel gimmicky and more of a money grab then anything. When a walnut box that is bought wholesale from sites like alibaba for $6 is then offered for $100 in campaigns, it doesn't take a genius to wise up quickly.

I like discussions like this. Thanks for sparking it, Omar.

[GandalfPC]

I think the “view count” is the best you can go by - some topics like the odd fellows have some 30k interactions, others might get much less attention

Appears it is used by a good number of lurkers when they want some more info on a deck.

I did check the google search stats for poker, card magic, cardistry, and playing cards - only one that had a peak and dropped in recent times appears to be “cardistry”, others were pretty steady

[CourtCurator]

It’s worth mentioning that forums as a whole are a dying breed. Other social media has for the most part replaced the old school forum. Another unrelated forum that I belong to has seen a similar significant drop in participation in favor of Facebook groups over the last decade. I think the majority of newer collectors may not even know this place exists, and even if they do they may not recognize that it is the best place to keep abreast of what is going on in the card world. I was interested in card collecting on some level for 4 years before I stumbled across UC in 2020. It never even occurred to me that such a place existed.

The long overheated mania in the stock and bond markets along with higher inflation are likely also a factor here. Market forces have left people looking for places to invest their money, and collectibles in general became one place where people decided to park their cash. They have even been willing to invest in make believe collectibles (NFTs)! If that isn’t irrational exuberance I don’t know what is! Playing cards have been no exception to this trend. I think we may be seeing the top of the market. As inflation continues to force people to spend more on necessities we will likely bleed off all the collectors whose hearts weren’t really in it for art’s sake, and unfortunately many who love the art as well. That probably has a moderated impact here, but a much larger one on the community as a whole.

I think that you will find more eyes on the stuff that gets posted on social media, but the people who value quality of information are here (assuming they know UC exists). If you are looking for broader exposure, this likely isn’t the place for that. But the people who are here are going to be your most passionate and loyal fan base.

[montenzi]

There are just 100-150 active forum members on UC.

Stats:

220762 posts total:

101200 posts (46%) made by 30 members
135582 posts (62%) made by 60 members
153342 posts (69%) made by 90 members
164819 posts (75%) made by 120 members

[Sir Toddalot]

Just looked at the membership numbers of my 2 main patrons, Stockholm 17 and Thirdway Industries.
They have both went up a lot in the last couple years, S17 especially. They seem to still be going up, although a lot slower. I don’t know what that says about the market as a whole, but the big names seem to be doing alright.

[kevork]

It blows my mind that a forum would be a dying breed. The best community experiences I've ever had have been in the two forums I've been a part of in my life. One for RuneScape many years ago where I became a moderator at 18 shooting the shit and building scripts to bot, and this community. This forum has been invaluable for a collector like me entering into the sphere in 2022, when so much of the modern era has already established itself. It's formatted well, easy to reference, full of history and knowledge. Can't find that anywhere else. Each platform has their strengths, of course, and forums are unparalleled for what they can offer.

Those stats for 100-150 members contributing so many of the posts is likely not an accurate indicator of active users in the present as I imagine there are many top posters that we don't see around anymore, unfortunately. Really interesting perspective on things. Thanks montenzi.

Just looked at the membership numbers of my 2 main patrons, Stockholm 17 and Thirdway Industries.
They have both went up a lot in the last couple years, S17 especially. They seem to still be going up, although a lot slower. I don’t know what that says about the market as a whole, but the big names seem to be doing alright.

Gio feels secure enough that he even capped the number of patrons he would have! And seeing the Questmaster have a print run of 300, to Requiem LTD at 550, to Windwatcher at 700 just tells you what a massive jump Lorenzo has had in popularity. I think a few established names have created a following that feeds itself at this point. It's also important to note that these two in particular are artists first and foremost. A lot of campaigns are producers who employ an artist to do the work. It just feels different with an artist's patreon who takes you for the ride and is on a journey themselves. Most recent example of this would be Jack Brutus Penny. His Patreon is insanely detail-oriented and has such a creative mind to delve into.

A lot of people enter the collecting sphere for the beauty and the art. When we remove all the fluff of add-ons, profits, etc. this is what the people really want.

[hsbc]

This forum has been invaluable for a collector like me entering into the sphere in 2022, when so much of the modern era has already established itself. It's formatted well, easy to reference, full of history and knowledge. Can't find that anywhere else. Each platform has their strengths, of course, and forums are unparalleled for what they can offer.

This is why I HATE Discord, it's a black hole of information

[CourtCurator]

It blows my mind that a forum would be a dying breed. The best community experiences I've ever had have been in the two forums I've been a part of in my life. One for RuneScape many years ago where I became a moderator at 18 shooting the shit and building scripts to bot, and this community. This forum has been invaluable for a collector like me entering into the sphere in 2022, when so much of the modern era has already established itself. It's formatted well, easy to reference, full of history and knowledge. Can't find that anywhere else. Each platform has their strengths, of course, and forums are unparalleled for what they can offer.

I agree that forums are fantastic resources for niche interests, and for someone with a serious interest they are invaluable. They just don’t pull in as broad an audience as they once did. The more casually interested parties are using other platforms. I’m not saying that forums will die off entirely, but the number of people using them has dwindled and will not likely rebound.

[GandalfPC]

If it would help I could post videos here where I do odd little dances…

[kevork]

If it would help I could post videos here where I do odd little dances…

It would help. Your move.

[Eric Lee]

There are just 100-150 active forum members on UC.

Stats:

220762 posts total:

101200 posts (46%) made by 30 members
135582 posts (62%) made by 60 members
153342 posts (69%) made by 90 members
164819 posts (75%) made by 120 members

How did you find those stats?

I was just wondering this morning if we could have a State of the UC forum every year. Like 2022 how many new members joined, total membership for 2022 vs previous years, what's the top 10 most active thread etc. That would be interesting to see.

[montenzi]

How did you find those stats?

I was just wondering this morning if we could have a State of the UC forum every year. Like 2022 how many new members joined, total membership for 2022 vs previous years, what's the top 10 most active thread etc. That would be interesting to see.

https://www.unitedcardists.com/memberlist.php

There are ~2500 members with at least 1 post and about 9000 spam or inactive. If you click on this link you will find a lot of spam links. https://www.unitedcardists.com/memberli ... start=2610

When I reinstalled this forum, I asked Mike to remove such spam users (with zero posts and links), but we completely forgot to do this.

[Strag]

Yes, forums are a dying breed. Conversations have moved to other mediums, including Discord, Reddit, Insta, Facebook etc etc.

Lack of direction by the forum owner certainly doesn't help but cannot be solely to blame, it's just a change in the way people communicate.

[Eric Lee]

Sad but true. The last 5 years (yesterday 4/4 marked my 5 full yrs since joining UC in 2018) has been an amazing experience in learning about this niche hobby. I can consider myself well-informed now just learning from the designers, producers, other people involved in the industry and getting behind the scenes info these past 5 years.

In fact, I post UC thread links on the FB card groups where relevant, both to share more detailed info on the topic and promote UC at the same time.