Following https://tarte.nuage-libre.fr/c/fediverse/p/194717/we-need-more-users I decided to explore data a little bit more. I'm not the biggest fan of growth-as-as-target so I wanted to see how much the people were participating in the discussion.

The data

I took the data from the API explorer in https://api.fediverse.observer/ with this query:

query {  
  monthlystats {  
    date_checked  
    softwarename  
    total_posts  
    total_users  
    total_comments  
  }  
}  

Then parsed the json with this https://jqlang.org/ filter:

jq '.data.monthlystats | map(select(.total_users > 0 and (.softwarename == "lemmy" or .softwarename == "mbin" or .softwarename == "kbin" or .softwarename == "piefed"))) | group_by(.date_checked) | map( {date_checked: .[0].date_checked, total_users: ([.[] | .total_users] | add), total_posts: ([.[] | .total_posts] | add), total_comments: ([.[] | .total_comments] | add)}) | map({date_checked, posts: .total_posts/.total_users, comments: .total_comments/.total_users}) | sort_by(.date_checked) | map([.date_checked, (.posts | tostring), (.comments | tostring)]) | .[] | @csv'  

(As you see I filtered for the threadiverse. I also did the same with all software, I'll put the graph for that in comments)

Then did a good old' chart

What to think of it

I don't know. Users' activity is on the rise and I find it nice

A graph of posts per users and comments per user since beginning of 2024: posts per user is relatively stable, but comments per user is on the rise
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[–] 41 points 9 months ago (10 children)

Niche hobbies and small communities (that are active) is what is needed

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  • [–] 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    For that we need a LOT more users. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation.

    Hopefully we can capitalise on the next Rexit.

    In the past lots of people moved over but left because of the terrible UX. I think PieFed has solved most of the UX issues.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Reddit had the additional benefit of being found through google... that's how i learned about the site.

    you cant google your way into this place - and that's a huge limitation, when it comes to expanding the user base with random normal people.

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago

    This is it exactly. I made a hard cut with Reddit, but I'll admit to missing the sysadmin subreddit. The place was full of very smart, helpful people and also cranky. The PowerShell subreddit was another great resource. I haven't been willing to go back, but those sorts of communities only exist when you hit a certain mass of people on a platform.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Yes! We need more esp32 users to come up with bonkers ideas.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (1 child)

    Efi System Partition 32 bit?

    i remember writing code for the ESP boot system

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    I'm not sure what it stands for, but it's essentially a very powerful Arduino with wireless networking capabilities. I think the "e" is for espresif who manufactures it. I could be wrong though. Irregardless, look into it! Very cool little chip!

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