META: A Snapshot Of The MGoMiddleClass

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

A Snapshot Of The MGoMiddleClass

INTRODUCTION:

After some comments in a previous diary, I decided to do another brief snapshot of point data, this time focusing on the MGoMiddleClass.

Granted, karma means much more than points on MGoBlog these days, but nonetheless I have found these little dives to be entertaining if nothing else, and hopefully the blog has as well.

 

METHOD:

In a nutshell, I took the next 450 users after the so-called “Top 300” and pasted all their points data into Excel and then ran a few descriptive statistics as I had for everything else. The data was collected at approximately 2:30 PM on August 13th, so it is reasonably current.

 

DATA:

The table below shows the results –

 

TOTAL POINTS:

 

627513

AVERAGE:

1394

MEDIAN:

1318

MODE:

1011

STD. DEVIATION:

339

VARIANCE:

114815

MINIMUM:

925

MAXIMUM:

2117

 

AVG. SEPARATION:

(AT PAGE LEVEL)

77

AVG. SEPARATION:

(BY USER)

3

MAX Z-SCORE

 

2.13

MIN Z-SCORE

-1.39

 

DISCUSSION:

I never thought about looking at the point spread by page for the “Top 300” or the Bolivia group because it would not have been particularly intriguing, for on one end, there are nearly 48,000 points separating Brian from the bottom of the “Top 300”, and about a billion points separating the worst of Bolivia from most others with negative point totals. This group was a little different.

From the top to the bottom of this sample group, there is only an 1,192 point spread, and indeed, if you note in the table, the average difference between the top and bottom users listed on a given page is only 77 points, with an average separation between users of 3 points. In other words, this is a far more competitive group when it comes to relative position than the “Top 300”, as a mere few posts per day can potentially move a user a couple spaces each day.

I also looked at Z-scores, and I would say that this is a fairly tight distribution compared to any other group of users, skewed towards those with larger totals, of course, but not Brian’s Z-score in the “Top 300” group, which sits in the 7 to 8 range even in the other group.

 

CONCLUSION:

Again, the points themselves do not mean much, but it is an interesting window into just how much content and posting and/or thread material is generated by this site and who generates it.  It is also a small window into the history of the site in a way, showing how different tiers of users (which I admittedly arbitrarily established) have been affected by the changes here over time. The “Top 300” distribution, for example, is comprised mainly of site veterans, content contributors and mods who benefitted greatly from a time when points did matter. This group here is mainly newer users and veterans who do not post as frequently, and they fall into a far tighter group than any other on MGoBlog. Indeed, with an average of 1,394 points and a median of 1,318, this is not a terribly skewed distribution.

 

OTHER NOTES:

I am considering ways, without having direct access to tables, of doing an actual dive into board karma, so that might be in the future.

Comments

74polSKA

August 16th, 2012 at 9:42 AM ^

Interesting stuff.  Glad to be part of the group even though I'm below average!  My wife being put on bed rest has really cut into my MGoBlogging lately.  What is the highest attainable karma value?

ForeverBlue

August 16th, 2012 at 10:29 AM ^

This post will give me the tied-for-2326th most MGoPoints. The fact that there are over 2000 users with more points than me really emphasizes the magnitude of this site.

Baldbill

August 16th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^

Woot!! I am in the MGoMiddleClass. I like the look at the data that you have been doing. It isn't really meaningful, but at the same time I find it interesting.

Thanks.

 

Smash Lampjaw

August 16th, 2012 at 11:29 AM ^

I have given up on karma, and it is liberating. I like using the site through iphone, where I can't see points or access karma information. (It is also fun to read the comments in reverse chronological order.)

StephenRKass

August 16th, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^

I don't think of myself as mgo-upper-class, although if you go by points, I suppose I am. It would be interesting to see where points came from. There are definitely several categories:

  • Paid staff. Brian, Seth, Ace, Heiko.
  • Moderators. BiSB, etc.
  • Content generators. TomVH, Tremendous, Magnus, Mathlete.
  • Frequent posts & comments. I used to fall here, but have cut back.
  • Members prior to the point acccumulation melt down. I definitely fall here.

It is nice having enough points so I can post if I want to, even during Fall meltdown periods, and not so many points that it brings attention.

Currently, 10,000 seems to be the threshhold for the mgo elites.

I poked around a bit, and the sad thing to me is some of the veterans who have dropped out pretty completely and aren't posting any more.

M-Wolverine

August 17th, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^

I think he left after the big His Dudeness gay slur "I'm leaving this site...not really" debate.

The first three left for job/duties changes.

But Crime Reporter still posts here some...just not in the amount he used to. He had a run of posts 2-4 weeks ago.

And maybe it's a different Captain, but it doesn't look like he's left at all.

http://mgoblog.com/users/captain

 

LSAClassOf2000

August 17th, 2012 at 12:17 PM ^

I decided to take advantage of my lunch hour and get the figures.

As of about 10 minutes ago, of the 2,954 MGoBloggers with 100 points or more (i.e., the "trusted users"), the median value is 361 points and the average total is 1,008 points.

 

LSAClassOf2000

August 17th, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^

NOTE: Meant to reply to M-Wolverine above.

Three posters are currently at the median: MgoSuh, Two Hearted Ale and phjhu89.

Although no user actually has 1,008 points, two have 1,007 (close enough, right?): Rockydude and Griff88.

If we put them into quartiles, the first quartile of users extends all the way from Brian (53,016) to Dallas Wolverine (937), and of course, the second quartile of users goes from there to the median. The third quartile would extend from the three users at the median to CalGoBlue at 176 points. The fourth quartile consists of the 733 users below CalGoBlue.