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You never realize how many new geocachers there are...


Kabuthunk

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Hey how do you find your ID number again?

 

<--- Prime example of the current influx of noob geocachers

Right click on your name over there above the bike, then click 'properties'. ShowUser=
Alternatively, you can simply hover over your name. The user number will show in the status bar at the bottom of your screen. Edited by sbell111
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Well, I'm officially now part of the "older half" of geocache members. As of the moment of typing this, the newest cacher number is 1623210... which means by the time I finish this post and click "add reply", it'll probably have gone up by another few :blink:.

 

Digging a bit deeper again, let's find the total number of new accounts for yesterday:

 

First account for May 10th: 1620583 (who's already updated their profile a bit it seems)

Last account for May 10th: 1622373 (who has ALSO updated their profile a bit)

 

Total members joined May 10th: 1790

 

Although I almost find it a tad strange that both the first and the last people who joined May 10th have updated their profiles somewhat, yet virtually any other person I came across trying to narrow down to those two hasn't yet :o.

 

 

Yeah, in case you can't tell... I was bored again.

 

But it looks like sbell111 may have been a bit wrong... it doesn't look like there was a post-Christmas boom, since we're sitting at almost 700 more members per day than when I first started the topic. Then again... it could be because that was a Saturday, too. And it's getting closer to summer now. If I find myself bored again, I'll run a check in the middle of the week and see what the join rate is.

 

And after having typed the above post and done that searching, the newest member is now 1623240, 30 more members in several minutes! Which means by the time I type this sentence and click 'reply', it will go up another 5 or so :o.

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Does the tack this thread has taken off the rails of the OP remind anyone else of small children finding their belly buttons? :o:o:o:blink:

I still like finding my bellybutton!

 

112707- about at ten percent, but I took a two or three year hiatus in there before catching the bug again. I'm also personally responsible for a dozen or so accounts being created.

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A different topic brought this one back to mind... figured I'd give some updated stats since I'm bored again:

 

Total members right now: 2282413

- looks like I'm almost now in the bottom 1/3rd oldest members (sitting at 34.3% from the start). Dang.

 

Members joined on April 22nd, 2009: from 2278201 to 2280371 = 2170

 

So that means today so far (it's 10:30 at night here... not sure when the 'day' switches over for geocaching.com itself though), we have another 2042 members. And this is in the MIDDLE of the week. I'd guess there's more on weekends.

 

Actually... let's go check. Last Saturday (the 18th) saw 2886 new members... quite a jump above a weekday.

 

So it looks like we're getting hundreds more accounts PER DAY than we were last year (rough average, comparing April 22nd with last year's May 10th). It be growin' like a weed.

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Intriguing... I wonder if that's the case, and if so... how much is it throwing off the numbers and filling GC's databases with useless space-taking data.

 

Although most of the profiles that I came across while attempting to get yesterdays/last saturday's numbers had something updated (bit of profile info, etc), so odds are those ones aren't bots. Not sure how bots nowadays work, but the fact that you need a valid email address, and have to respond to an email GC sends out to set up an account might hold 'em back. Also the fact that an email address can't be used twice to my knowledge.

 

And thinking about it further, I can't see GC as being a particularly useful target for bots. The worst that a bot account could do is email other geocachers. It wouldn't have access to knowing people's email addresses, can't send out messages in bulk to other members, and can't access any personal information on anyone whatsoever.

 

The worst it could do really is use said accounts to spam on this message board... and even that would get the account banned nigh-instantly. Given I don't think I've ever seen an actual spambot type topic or reply on this message board, I'm thinking it probably isn't a problem. I could easily be wrong though, and they're setting up useless accounts for whatever purpose.

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Not sure how bots nowadays work, but the fact that you need a valid email address, and have to respond to an email GC sends out to set up an account might hold 'em back.

While one does need a valid email to validate an account, it's when you first fill out the form that a new ID number is assigned, which would throw off your data.

 

Also the fact that an email address can't be used twice to my knowledge.

Not true. I have several accounts that use the same email. The only drawback is if you try to ask for your password to be emailed, you fill in your email address and not your handle so you never know which account it will give you the password for. So don't forget your password(s) if you use the same email for multiple accounts.

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Huh. Well crap... that may well throw off the numbers a lot more than expected.

 

Well, at least I can still stand by one primary aspect that leads me to believe that none (or virtually none) of the new accounts are bots:

 

Every single 'account name' that came up when I was figuring out 'how many per day' was an actual name-looking name. As in something like "geo finder travis" or "the smith family" or whatever, as opposed to random numbers or random gibberish that you'd expect a bot to make. I didn't see a single name that struck me as bot-created. At least that I'D expect a bot to make. Could be I just missed them by blind luck, but still... pretty good odds I'd have hit something gibberish or random if it was mostly filled by bots.

 

 

Pondering further... I wonder if GC.com would ever consider checking what accounts are still in the 'waiting for validation email' status for more than say... 3 months and deleting them. They could re-assign the numbers (or leave them as strictly empty, either way saves space in their databases), and it would generally save them server space either way. Would still play hell with the numbers figured out in this topic, but that's a negligeable concern in GC's eyes I'm sure :D

Edited by Kabuthunk
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Does the tack this thread has taken off the rails of the OP remind anyone else of small children finding their belly buttons? :laughing::):laughing::)

I still like finding my bellybutton!

 

112707- about at ten percent, but I took a two or three year hiatus in there before catching the bug again. I'm also personally responsible for a dozen or so accounts being created.

 

Funny, my son wasn't even 2 months old when I posted that. Now he's 16 months old and considers finding his bellybutton quite an accomplishment. :o

 

My number is 106882 and I have dozens and dozens of sp accounts. :):)B)

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