A Pub Update in Metrics

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Endless Flight

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I wanted to share some good news. Every few months I check to see how the Pub is doing in global metrics compared to similar sites. I will post two sets of numbers from Alexa, which is perhaps the most well known of these providers. These are worldwide rankings of popularity and interest at any one time. The first set is from May of this year and the second set is from today. I compared the Pub to theRPGSite, RPGnet and ENWorld.

May 15, 2019:
RPGPub: #994,855
theRPGSite:#314,714
RPGnet: #41,705
ENWorld: #24,162

November 8, 2019
RPGPub: #472,880
theRPGSite: #663,599
RPGnet: #57,494
ENWorld: #27,712

We are doing quite well and have showed a lot of growth. Thank you everyone for your support and I’m sure we can do even better in 2020.
 
Cool! Didn't realize ENWorld was that popular.
 
Rankings. Top websites in the world. My guess, based on the numbers, is thst is not broken down much by category of website. I would believe that rpg.net is ranked around 57k in top websites.

this is impressive stuff for a website that mostly just wanted to avoid a lot of BS ;)
 
Yep, Raleel Raleel is right. Websites like Google, Amazon, Yahoo and such are in the top twenty.
 
Add this data point. Rpggeek.com is 84,588 as of today.
 
Tenkarstavern.com is 181591
Dragonafoot.org is 1399517
RPGPub.com is 459,607

anyone else that should be compared against?
 
Cool. We rock. :smile:

Though now my question is, what is ENWorld, and why is it larger than rpg.net? I mean, should I be checking it out?
 
Well some of us dislike change and want to stay in the past.

I actually do understand people who want to keep the Pub the way it is forever. As the owner though, I want to keep this place from possibly getting stale by continually adding new voices to the mix keeps this place as a great melting pot for all kinds of gamers. As a byproduct of that change, the personality of the forum can change, but I think a lot of that is set by the basic rules of the forum. The sites I have participated and helped moderate before this, regardless of type, have always been top-down, basically, you can tell how a forum is by studying the management.
 
I actually do understand people who want to keep the Pub the way it is forever. As the owner though, I want to keep this place from possibly getting stale by continually adding new voices to the mix keeps this place as a great melting pot for all kinds of gamers. As a byproduct of that change, the personality of the forum can change, but I think a lot of that is set by the basic rules of the forum. The sites I have participated and helped moderate before this, regardless of type, have always been top-down, basically, you can tell how a forum is by studying the management.
I'm actually not opposed to change. It's inevitable. I neither venerate it nor fear it.

If this place becomes a top RPG site and keeps something close to it's existing character that would be fantastic.
 
Or maybe the old homestead let itself slide?

With TheRPGSite, I think it's clear it's been going downhill.

The big issue with that site (outside of politics taking over) is one simple fact. The owner of the site (RPGPundit) simply doesn't care about the forum as a forum, and he's makes that pretty obvious. In the past, I think he was at least partially interested in discussions but he's more or less an absentee moderator and only shows up to plug his latest blog entry or video. I think this used to work when he had volunteer moderators who could shape the forum but he's alienated them over time and I don't believe anybody else moderates that forum. He is irritated when he has to moderate, doesn't engage in much conversation, and the lack of any other moderators leads to a way too lose environment where people start engaging in combative behavior.

That's the key issue. Forums need moderators--too restrictive and too controlling moderation leads to a place like RPG.NET where the mods project their own rules into the site, but a site with no moderators and no rules leads to anarchy and some level of posters going out of control and taking the forum in poorer directions. I think it's very clear that the mods of this site actively participate in the site (taking part in may discussions) and will step in if things step out of line, and primarily want a discussion group with actual discussion, instead of arguments and name-calling.
 
With TheRPGSite, I think it's clear it's been going downhill.

The big issue with that site (outside of politics taking over) is one simple fact. The owner of the site (RPGPundit) simply doesn't care about the forum as a forum, and he's makes that pretty obvious. In the past, I think he was at least partially interested in discussions but he's more or less an absentee moderator and only shows up to plug his latest blog entry or video. I think this used to work when he had volunteer moderators who could shape the forum but he's alienated them over time and I don't believe anybody else moderates that forum. He is irritated when he has to moderate, doesn't engage in much conversation, and the lack of any other moderators leads to a way too lose environment where people start engaging in combative behavior.

That's the key issue. Forums need moderators--too restrictive and too controlling moderation leads to a place like RPG.NET where the mods project their own rules into the site, but a site with no moderators and no rules leads to anarchy and some level of posters going out of control and taking the forum in poorer directions. I think it's very clear that the mods of this site actively participate in the site (taking part in may discussions) and will step in if things step out of line, and primarily want a discussion group with actual discussion, instead of arguments and name-calling.

Never thought about the lack of moderation, but you’re probably right.

And it’s cool that moderation here is so often as simple as “whoa everyone, let’s chill” and to the best of my recollection no actual posters caught a ban here, ever.

Regarding Pundit, I don’t even know that he’s into gaming anymore. It’s all... well... you know. That thing we don’t discuss here? That.

I’d love to go further into it, not out of spite but out of genuine sentimental attachment to the place — my coming in there coincided with my return to the hobby — but politics will inevitably creep in, as well as cross-forum drama. So let it be.

But it’s funny how each forum informs the other, isn’t it? Think about how RPGnet’s escalating moderation informed the freewheeling and often aggressive style of the ‘site, and how that in turn informed our own board culture. (I don’t mean to disregard the moderators’ work when I say that our greatest asset may be a core of posters that’s mostly invested in keeping it drama-free. I also think our particular brand of apolitical non-gaming jabber helps a lot.)
 
You are right, Butcher. Moderation does set the tone but you have to get a majority of regular posters to buy in to the culture that you are trying to bake in. I was pretty careful when the Pub started to contact certain people who I thought would “get it”. If the take-off didn’t work so well, I doubt we would be talking about how great we are doing now.
 
There is one thing that does kind of bother me and I’ve seen it written at various sites; this notion that the Pub was formed by a bunch of refugees from theRPGSite and RPGnet. First, I’ve never been banned at either place and neither have most of the members here. Second, I never said I was leaving either place and many people here still post at several or all three. Third, they can do what the hell they want. I might not like how they do it, but it’s their choice. Fourth, the Pub is not one of those other sites with the serial numbers filed off. This place has its own vibe.
 
Speaking personally, I find most ‘fan sites’ on the internet, be they focussed on RPGs or any other subject, are full of angry people being angry at each other. The vibe here is much more positive and constructive; which makes it a great place to talk about stuff we all enjoy.

So cheers to everyone, staff and posters alike :thumbsup:
 
I've heard the description of us as "refugees" a few times, but I never took it negatively, as I look on the Pub as a calm "port of call" in the stormy seas of the internet. But as we've gained more posters, a lot of them are coming from places besides TBP and the Site - I've seen discussions of the Pub in such diverse places as 4chan and Reddit, and I think the reputation we have is overwhelmingly positive.
 
Speaking personally, I find most ‘fan sites’ on the internet, be they focussed on RPGs or any other subject, are full of angry people being angry at each other. The vibe here is much more positive and constructive; which makes it a great place to talk about stuff we all enjoy.

So cheers to everyone, staff and posters alike :thumbsup:

Nobody hates like a fan.
 
I'm certinly not a refugee. Ive never caught a ban on any forum. The PUB is my favorite place to hang out for a number of reasons. The biggest reason by far is the no politics rule. The RPGsite has the occational topic of interest, but you need to strap on your six shooters and make sure they are holding seven rounds each before you wade in. TBP tends to change is rules faster than the latest editions of my favourite games and a lot of folk use terms I constantly have to look up and fail to understand. I just wish I had found the pub earlier.
 
Nod, I still have my accounts, and have not been banned, and check at least one of those sites regularly. But I post very infrequently now. Just no reason to interact.

as for moderation, I think it’s been just right. The one ban I’m aware of here was well earned. Just could not get along with folks.

i will say thst one thing I think feels different about the pub is the real life thread. That one perpetually reminds me that everyone is people too on the other side of the keyboard, and to leave the six shooters hanging outside.
 
i will say thst one thing I think feels different about the pub is the real life thread. That one perpetually reminds me that everyone is people too on the other side of the keyboard, and to leave the six shooters hanging outside.

Exactly.

I feel the food and music threads also play a role. You’re unlikely to call people names when they dig the same bands or if you’ve just replicated their recipes.
 
I'm not banned from rpg dot net, I was only suspended for a month, but until they unban some of my friends and they are willing to go back then I'm done with the place. If everyone left there is happy with the culture there and the way moderation works then, you know, fine. But they've driven away a lot of good people.

Exactly.

I feel the food and music threads also play a role. You’re unlikely to call people names when they dig the same bands or if you’ve just replicated their recipes.
The LGBT thread's been good. It's always nice knowing you're not alone.
 
I'm not banned from either site to the best of my knowledge, but I'm certainly a refugee in the sense that I refuse to go back to either one, on account of both having a tone of discourse that I find terribly upsetting. So now I'm resting my frail nerves here. :tongue:
 
Refugees are very welcome. I just don’t want the Pub to be the anti-fill-in-the-website. Admins and mods at other places are more than welcome to post here as well, and we have had at least one do so for a little while.
 
But not Mike Gentry. Fuck that guy

Who’s that?


He can create great content when he isn't pursuing one of his "agendas/vendettas"

He can produce decent content — I’ve never read anything by him I’d categorize as “great”. Unfortunately he seems unable to set them aside these days. (And by “these days” I mean the last few years.)
 
That's interesting. Not that I know anything first hand about the guy, but was a time I'd read his reviews.

I’m only saying that because the Pub would start a particular topic about something and then a couple days later that same topic would show up on the Site, usually started by him. I would chalk it up to an anomaly if it happened once, but it occurred several times. We just joked about him getting topic ideas by reading our forum.
 
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