HPA

I see that we're now up to 300 members on HPA III, and that member is called Kittyhawk, which is pretty cool

We need a cake! :P

Hi Glenn,

yes, you could say that...

The number is a milestone as such, but on the other hand does not mean anything specific.

The rate of new members registering has dropped in the last month, which at some point is to be expected.

I have no idea what the expected membership could be, different times now, many alternative solutions for some, such as facebook etc.

Back in 2004 or 2010 the forums were the best if not the only places to be.

Anyway, time will tell as far as the numbers go. As far as the content and the activity, that is another story, the forum seems to be well supported.

I spent some time in Excel and got some "statistics", for anyone who might be interested.

So, I checked two things, recent presence in the forum and number of posts.

Based on these, out of the total of 300 members,

• 42 are active both in viewing and posting
• 79 are active in viewing but post very little (lurkers...)
• 179 appear inactive, not having logged in for over 10 days and with zero or minimal number of posts.

There is of course the possibility, some of the latter follow the forum without bothering to log in, appearing as guests in the online user list.

For example now, I seem to be the only registered one, together with 9 guests...


Another analysis, based on the available data, if any, is which country they come from.

As expected, the biggest group comes from an unknown country, as 134 have not written anything in their profile.
I have no doubt many come from the U.S.A. or Canada, as the numbers appear rather low, but without positive proof I am not willing to make guesses...

24 countries in all... If your country is missing, it was not possible for me to recognise it...

So, back to modelling now.

George

4 users and 9 guests just now. If that's typical, we may have around 1,000 people who use the site. However, that number is based on some sloppy assumptions.

According to the site, I've spent around 9 hours here.

Hi lincoln,

of the 9 guests I suspect the majority were registered members who did not log in.

So I guess the total you mention is way too high.

In any case, there is an ancient Greek saying that goes:

"ουκ εν τω πολλώ το ευ αλλά εν το ευ το πολύ" (come on Lurk, this one is for you).

Which translates to
"Not in the many the good, but in the good the many"

Or simplier put, "quality over quantity"...

And as squirrelnet and Lurk once put it, a forum is as good as its members.


George

 

Quote from: g_kandylakis. . . of the 9 guests I suspect the majority were registered members who did not log in.

Absolutely. I look in far more often than I log in. Mostly briefly, but sometimes to peruse a thread . . . I'm sure I'm not alone in this - although this site is really easy to log into, who wants to go through that password faff just to check if anyone's posted on such-and-such topic?

'Keep up the good work' George :)

Stephen.

Thanks Stephen,

I understand what you are saying, I do have a question though. For you and maybe others.

When you log in there is an option you can click for how long to remain logged in. If you choose "forever" you are immediately logged in next time you go to the site, without having to re-enter your password. You are immediately logged in.

Have you tried that? Because it saves time and worries about forgetting the password.

Not good of course if you are using a public computer but for a private one or a smartphone, it works great...

Also, when logged in, the seen and unseen topics and threads are automatically updated so you can see new stuff much easier.

George

And there is of course another more radical option...

I could change the setting for attachments to appear only to signed-in members.

Thus effectively forcing people to be signed-in or even to register in the first place, if they haven't done so yet to be able to see the content properly.

But I do not want to do that...

George



(on the other hand  8) )

Tues May 12 2026

300 MEMBERS   thread

Regarding who is watching while not logged in.

     I was actually watching and building at the same time for a couple of years or so,  until my neighbours kept telling me to post my plane pics on the internet.   I was trying to stave off doing actual e-mailing,  of any sort,  as long as I could.   It was the same with the move to a digital camera (I used to have a very old portable cell phone a long time ago for a very short time),   move to a digital camera from a  35 mm film camera.   Still no cell phone for me -  only land line.

     So,  email was free,  and I eventually got a free, good working,  old digital camera from my computer guru,  and here I am.   

     So,  yes,  I was happily building along,  while just watching other peoples' detailed build threads,   and learning as much as I could,  about planes on the net.    Then I finally caved in,  to the full blown addiction,  of the balsa model blogger,  with all of the woodworking,  and especially,  the photography involved.

     Of course,  right now,  I also do a lot of searching (not 'lurking' -  the first meaning is diabolical),  a lot of searching and death scrolling (diabolical),  and indeed,  I do follow all of the well photographed (hard to do without picture expansion),  and detailed builds,  and all done with out logging in,  to our endearing  free flight site,   hpa.aeromodeling.gr   .

     If I am not posting anything,  I just sign in to use one of the most important handy features of this site,  after I read all of the replies  -  namely,
1   under:   'USER'
2   show unread
3   recent unread topics
4  the  "mark all messages as read"  button to keep track of all that I have read,  and all that I have not read.

     My log in works fine and quick George,  I did notice that you had set it up for me that  way,  in the first place ...  thanks.

     You never know what will fly down out of the sky ....    :o

Pic #1     Kittyhawk 2
Pic #2     Kittyhawk 1

Lastwoodsman
Richard

Quote from: g_kandylakis on May 12, 2026, 02:15 PMI understand what you are saying, I do have a question though. For you and maybe others . . .

We-ell, the thing is, I've never used 'forever' on any forum. I don't know how the internet works but my innate sense of caution makes me think that the longer I'm logged in to something the higher the risk of hacking, identity theft, that kind of stuff. I could be wrong - I hope I'm wrong.

Richard those are fantastic photographs!

Stephen.

I do not think there is any such risk involved.

I have been logged in "forever" everywhere for over 20 years with no issues.

I imagine it only automates your login.

When you close the windows you no longer appear in the logged-in members ( after 15 minutes to be precise).

It saves all the trouble of inputting a password every time.

Others wishing to offer an opinion on that?

George

Logging in 'forever' is only a cookie stored on your own computer from a trusted site. No-one else has access to it. Not a problem here.
ian