Happy metrics on community growth

OK, the title makes sense if you read Planet Mandriva :)

This is in response to the outrageous FUD of that still-having-a-job bastard Vincent Danen ;), who is all doom and gloom about the Mandriva community.

Poppycock, says I!

Thanks to the incredibly useful WayBack Machine, I pulled out some interesting numbers on the Mandriva forums over the last few years. I just looked at the forum index page on approximately the same date each year - usefully, it cites the number of registered users, and the total number of posts. These numbers cover all the languages handled by the official forums, not just English. Practically speaking, they're probably almost entirely English and French, in a 50/50 split.

So, without further ado:

The blue line is users, and the purple line is posts. In December 2005, there were 26,771 registered users. During the year 2006, there were around 87,000 posts to the forums. In January 2007, there were 39,596 registered users, a rise of around 13,000. I believe this is partly because the forums were opened up to all users during this time - previously, some areas were restricted to Club members only.

During the year 2007, there were around 123,000 posts to the forums, and user numbers went up to 44,361, an increase of around 4,000. Finally, during the year 2008, there were around 188,000 posts to the forums, and user numbers went up to 56,115, an increase of around 12,000.

So, don't believe the hype! The community is great. You guys rock. Everyone tell Vincent what a goober he is. :)