"Influx" from sci.lang (was Re: Line lengths [was Re: "the" again])

[Brock Coles]

[Followups to alt.usage.english.neologism.]

"Tony Cooper" wrote in message
news:tphnl95ipd87audbs...@4ax.com...
>
>On Sat, 26 Apr 2014 12:02:32 +0100, "Guy Barry"
><guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>"CDB" wrote in message news:ljg228$vsu$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

>>>That art thou, all right, but only in a representative sense. John,
>>>like many of us, dislikes some recent changes in the nature of our
>>>discussions, caused partly by a large influx of refugees fron SL.
>>
>>What is this "large influx"? Four or five people at the most?
>
>If you count the number of regular posters to this newsgroup prior to
>the invasion, and then add five to that number, it's a more
>significant percentage than you might think.

The definition of a "regular poster" is obviously open to interpretation.
However, I've made a list of the people who have made five or more posts to
a.u.e over the last two weeks, which is a fairly reasonable measure. Here's
a list (excluding FAQ posts):

Adam Funk, Alastair Black, Ann Marie Brest, annily, Arcadian Rises, arthurvv
at yahoo.com, Athel Cornish-Bowden, Bertel Lund Hansen, bill van, CDB,
charles, Cheryl, Christian Weisgerber, Curlytop, David D S, David Kleinecke,
Derek Turner, Django Cat, Don Phillipson, Dr Nick, fabzorba, Garrett
Wollman, GG, Gus, Guy Barry/Brock Coles, Horace LaBadie, J.J. Lodder, Jack
Campin, James Hogg, James Silverton, Jenn, Jerry Friedman, Joe Fineman, John
Holmes, John Varela, Katy Jennison, Lanarcam, Leslie Danks, Lewis, LFS, Mack
A. Damia, Marius Hancu, Mark Brader, micky, Mike Barnes, Mike L, mrucbeadco
at att.net, musika, Nathan Sanders, Oliver Cromm, Paul Ney, Paul Wolff,
pensive hamster, Peter Duncanson, Peter Moylan, Peter Percival, Peter T.
Daniels, Peter Young, Phillip Helbig, quiasmox at yahoo.com, R H Draney,
Ramapriya D, Reinhold Aman, Rich Ulrich, Richard Yates, Robert Bannister,
Ross, Skitt, Snidely, Stan Brown, Stefan Ram, Steve Hayes, Tak To, the
Omrud, Tom P, Tony Cooper, Uncle Ben, Whiskers, Yurui Liu

That's 79 posters. Here's a list of the ones who I've identified as regular
posters to sci.lang, either now or in the past:

Adam Funk, Athel Cornish-Bowden, benlizro at ihug.co.nz (Ross), Christian
Weisgerber, DKleinecke, Joe Fineman, Nathan Sanders, Oliver Cromm, Peter T.
Daniels, Tak To

Of those, Adam Funk, Athel Cornish-Bowden, Christian Weisgerber and Joe
Fineman were already long-established posters to a.u.e. So that leaves
Ross, David Kleinecke, Nathan Sanders, Oliver Cromm, PTD and Tak To. Six
people out of 79. Or six added to 73 - an increase of about 8%. What sort
of "invasion" is that?

Maybe we should invite back those uncontroversial figures Peter Brooks and
Eric Walker.

--
Brock Coles (aka Guy Barry)

[Tony Cooper]

Flawed data. I've never heard of Alastair Black, Ann Marie Brest, or
Phillip Helbig. If they've made five posts, they are recent
immigrants or are in a specialized thread that I don't read. Some
threads pull in cross-posters are not really regulars in this group.

Many of the other names you list are not regular contributors. Some
appear to ask a question about a particular construction, but they are
not regular posters. Some appear only when the thread is in their
narrow field of interest, and your data is skewed when there's a
thread running in that field.

I would define a "regular poster" as one who initiates at least some
threads and responds to a general mix of subjects. I would not
include someone who only appears in cross-posts. PTD was not a
regular in this group until he posted from this group.





--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

[Guy Barry]

"Tony Cooper" wrote in message

news:h4rnl99ves1birk95...@4ax.com...

Well, I picked five arbitrarily. Take it up to ten if you like; you might
knock out a few more names. There are still 70 or so names there that I
would regard as "regular posters".

>Many of the other names you list are not regular contributors. Some
>appear to ask a question about a particular construction, but they are
>not regular posters. Some appear only when the thread is in their
>narrow field of interest, and your data is skewed when there's a
>thread running in that field.

Would you not say that Marius, GG, Yurui Liu or Navi (arthurvv) is a
"regular poster"? They all ask frequent questions about usage topics, which
is after all the purpose of the group.

>I would define a "regular poster" as one who initiates at least some
>threads and responds to a general mix of subjects.

In that case there are very few regular posters at all. People like Marius,
GG, Yurui Liu and Navi initiate a lot of threads, but don't respond to many
subjects. People like Cheryl, Garrett Wollman, Katy Jennison, Lewis, Mike
L, Peter Duncanson, Peter Moylan, R H Draney and Robert Bannister respond to
a general mix of subjects, but don't initiate many threads. The overlap is
pretty small (and includes me, but I think I'm pretty unusual in that
respect).

>I would not
>include someone who only appears in cross-posts. PTD was not a
>regular in this group until he posted from this group.

None of the above people appear only in cross-posts. There are very few
cross-posts to a.u.e these days, except for a few from a.e.u. The sci.lang
cross-posts have all but stopped. (I think Antonio Marques started one a
month or so ago, but that was it.)

Like it or not, PTD is now a regular poster to a.u.e. He can't cross-post
to the group any more, because new Google Groups doesn't allow
cross-posting.

--
Guy Barry