When is a community considered large or big?

[Floris]

:)

Does a 100,000+ post forum qualify? Or does it have to be a million+

[Yorixz]

I'd say it's rather mattering how many hits per day you get, I mean, even a low populated forum can get that many posts - just takes some more time ;)

[lazytown]

I think a good indication is "user activity" per day, but it depends what you mean by Big Board. I have a few forums, one with about 1.2M posts and 12K users (this is after pruning). But you could have the same forum and have half the activity depending on how long the forum has been up, so it really doesn't mean much.

For some things the number of posts/users matters most when you have a mod that scans the entire post/user table (as some do). So since we are here talking about big boards as they relate to mods, I guess number of posts and users is most important, depending on what the mod does.

Another way of looking at it is if you have a dedicated server that doesn't have a ton of free processing power based on your forum usage, you have a "big board" for your server.

-vissa

[Paul M]

Is this new, I don't remember ever seeing this forum ?

Nevermind, I've just found the post that says it is. :)

Some definition of BIG needs to be agreed upon.

[alexanderpas]

yes, this is new, read the announcement
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?p=920609#post920609

[Trigunflame]

I would say something along the lines of satisfying one or all of these criteria:

1. Average a users online of 500 or more, members/guest included.
2. More than 500,000 Posts
3. More than 50k Members

This of course being a lower limit. I personally wouldn't consider these "big", but for the sake of having something within reason for the growing forum.

[COBRAws]

How is BIG being defined?
Maybe we should use some equation such as

Active Posters + Posts per Day / Forum Age = big Board Value (??)

Now that I think about this... A board that is 8 years old and 3 million posts, can be considered as big as another one created in mid 2005 with 500k posts.

My last project is a board with 200k posts, and 6k active members, around 800 msgs everyday. That is not big considered to me, but as it is a thematic board reaching only music, it can be big.

[Trigunflame]

I dont think the forum should be about how much activity in terms of new forums ie. an equation because that can fluctuate Especially for newer forums.

Maybe im perceiving this forum wrong by Brad; but Im pretty sure this forum is aimed at Large Forums for the sake of discussions relating to problems large forum owners face.

This being server load problems, failovers, mass moderation, particular code tweaks etc..

[Xenon]

a forum like this was requested on vbulletin.com especially from a technical point of view, but as it involves coding we have opened it here.

it's about large forums which need optimizing.

for example vbulletin.org everytime i do an upgrade some of the steps (especially the attachment parts) do timeout

those forums qualify here

[Xenon]

both things

[john1744]

I would think that in approaching this you need to look at why this forum was created. Which is to help out users control their big boards.

Based on that I would say based on my experience, I didn't start noticing some issues until I received 1 1/4 million posts and about 200 users online at a time. Things started to slow down.

So I think any condition in which you have a large number of posts or users and your forum is not performing as you think it should, and need some assistance in improving the speed or reliablity of you forum you should be able to post here.

Now obviously someone with 75K posts and 200 users probably needs not apply. ;)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I think it should not be measured by # of posts/users/etc.

More in the line of server power needed/number of servers needed.

Just to feed this discussion a bit more. :D

[bada_bing]

If you want to be concidered on the BIGBOARDS site you need a min. of 250,000 posts.

[lazytown]

I also hope we can use this section to discuss how certain plugins/mods might affect a large forum's performance.

-vissa

[Paul M]

I would say something along the lines of satisfying one or all of these criteria:

1. Average a users online of 500 or more, members/guest included.
2. More than 500,000 Posts
3. More than 50k Members

This of course being a lower limit. I personally wouldn't consider these "big", but for the sake of having something within reason for the growing forum.I think 50K users is way too many. We only have about 16K users, but just under 700,000 posts and most days see 600 to 800+ users online during the evening peak (our max is 1080 set this week).

[Sculli]

If you want to be concidered on the BIGBOARDS site you need a min. of 250,000 posts.That is incorrect.
If you are aware of large forums (more than 500000) posts) that are not present in our database ...
Unless a forum has 500k posts, it's not a Big Board. That's the definition commonly accepted by those who are running large forums, I don't see how creating a different definition would serve any purpose other than be an ego booster for those with 80k posts who want to call themselves a big board.

[HHU]

Everybody considers 500,000 posts a big board but is it really that big?

I've had my boards up since August 20th... have just under 1800 members and 380, 000 posts.... and my board isn't nowhere near big...

[Jon_Simmonds]

although the main measure is total posts, id look at online users and new posts per day as more "accurate" measures

although my board is small, in 6 months its rose from 50 posts per day to 200 posts per day and growing

[Mr Chad]

Well Big-Boards.com defines big as 500,000 + posts:

http://www.big-boards.com/submit/

[Protoman]

I'd say 2000+ active members would define a big board.. but that's just my small thinking :D

[Trigunflame]

I think 50K users is way too many. We only have about 16K users, but just under 700,000 posts and most days see 600 to 800+ users online during the evening peak (our max is 1080 set this week).

Notice paul i said:

Quote:
I would say something along the lines of satisfying one or all of these criteria:

[jmpsmash]

we have to keep things in perspective.

why are we trying to define what "big" is?

is it because we are going for a DB size contest? a max number of users online contest? or win an entry in the guiness book of records?

no, we are trying to define "big" so we know if a web community forum fits into this "big boards" discussion forum. here is the description of this forum:

"Devoted to discussion related to running a large forum. Here admins of large forums discuss and share server tweaks/vBulletin modifications and anything else related to running a large community."

perhaps a definition of "big" can be derived from that.

[eva2000]

:)

Does a 100,000+ post forum qualify? Or does it have to be a million+
Hi guys guess you'll be seeing more of me here for now at least :D

It's not just size in terms of number of posts, but activity level as well particularly the concurrency level of the forums. i.e. 10,000,000 post forum with only 5 members activity using the forums and searching would have no issues compared to 1,000,000 post forum with 2,500 users trying to view and reply to the same thread at the very same time or 2,500 users trying to search the forums at the very same time - it's all about concurrency for me :)

vB users online is hard to guage due to cookie timeout out and can only be used as guide in combination with web stats of unique visitor counts as well as the number of mysql concurrent connections to the mysql server.

Personally i'd consider

- a medium large forum as any forum which has 500+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and at least 300-400 mysql concurrent connections (this is usually the threshold where most vB forums are forced to split to more than one dedicated server)
- a large forum as 800+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and at least 400-600 mysql concurrent connections
- a very large forum as 1,000+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and greater than 600+ mysql concurrent connections

[Lee]

I think a board is big, when the admin feels it is big. ;) Big to me is very different than what it might be to you. For example, my private big board admin forum is for forum owners with 100k or more posts. I feel that once a forum owner sees his forum surpass 100k posts, he has to be serious about his endevour. There are hosting issues to look in to, possible security issues, opportunity for monetization, and more at this point.

I own 3 soon to be 4 "big boards" according to Quentin, but I don't feel they are all big. :)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Hi guys guess you'll be seeing more of me here for now at least :D

Very nice to see you here posting George. Looking forward to seeing you here more often.

[simsimt]

If you want to be concidered on the BIGBOARDS site you need a min. of 250,000 posts.
If you mean big-boards.com, then you need a minimum of 500,000 posts to be listed on their site.

http://www.big-boards.com/submit/

Edit: I noticed Sculli's post after replying. :)

[eva2000]

Very nice to see you here posting George. Looking forward to seeing you here more often.
thanks :)

[kerplunknet]

When you have to modify vBulletin code (for performance reasons only) to allow your forums to run at a reasonable speed.

[fastforward]

...
- a medium large forum as any forum which has 500+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and at least 300-400 mysql concurrent connections (this is usually the threshold where most vB forums are forced to split to more than one dedicated server)
- a large forum as 800+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and at least 400-600 mysql concurrent connections
- a very large forum as 1,000+ vB users online over default cookie timeout and greater than 600+ mysql concurrent connections
The number of concurrent MySQL connections are only applicable if you are using MyISAM tables. Connections are higher due to the number of threads waiting for table locks to be released. If you're using InnoDB, then the number of connections drops dramatically.

For example, with MyISAM and around 600 people online, I often had over 400 concurrent connections. Since switching to InnoDB, I rarely reach 100 connections.

[randominity]

I run one of the more popular forums for a [dying] MMORPG (Lineage2). It's no where as popular as WoW (at least not in North America), but I still get a good amount of users. I created the site last August when the then current popular forum (L2orphus) had major server problems that lasted weeks. I started off using phpBB (yuck), and in around September I switched in vB.

Here are my current stats:
Currently Active Users: 715 (302 members and 413 guests)
Most users ever online was 1,273, 03-07-2006 at 05:49 PM.
Threads: 19,568, Posts: 617,269, Members: 9,804

I don't think it's necessarily a "big" board, but it's decently sized for the time it's been up, as well as the advertising (or the lack thereof) that I've done. Basically when I first made it, I told about 15 people that were in an IRC channel about it, and my clanmates (about 40ish people). From there the site just blew up within a week, and has steadily increased.

[SZ|TalonKarrde]

I'd say it's largely a users online issue, not total members or posts.

For example, I have a site with 10ish people online on average, with 40-50 or so unique visitors a day... But it's largely just a group of friends posting. Now, if not for pruning, this forum would have way over the 2-3 million post count. 90% of the members have 10,000+ postcounts, with one person clocking in at 90k+, and several others not far behind. But the board is far from resource (Beyond space) intensive, as so few people are on at a time.

[FlyBoy73]

If you can sleep easy at night not worrying about servers, staff members, advertisers, software code, and page load speeds... You DO NOT have a big board. :p That or you have a lot of money and have one heck of a team.. ;)

I would quantify a big board on total posts, age and especially current online members and/or connections to the server(s). I'd also go with the Big-Boards pre-req. of 500k posts for starters but a site would then need at least 1k new posts a day... And at least 50 new members.. Just my opinion of course..

Oh, and definitely be using a dedicated server(s).

[woodysfj40]

50 new members is a lot, depending on your target audience....

mine currently runs 2500 posts per weekday, 20 new members per day average, tops between 800 and 1000 unique online at one time (guests and registered), and will top 1 million posts total later this month.

Too many variables to pick one to qualify...

some "formula" may work tho....

[Erwin]

I think it rests on how many posts you get a day or a week. My forums now average 200,000 posts/week, which I would consider busy. Everything else is unimportant really.

[Lee]

I think it rests on how many posts you get a day or a week. My forums now average 200,000 posts/week, which I would consider busy. Everything else is unimportant really.
I consider that busy as well. :D

[FlyBoy73]

I think it rests on how many posts you get a day or a week. My forums now average 200,000 posts/week, which I would consider busy. Everything else is unimportant really.

Doc, just for you info, I consider that busy too.. lol Very. :)

[Carnage]

we have 500 ish online at any one time and serer loads do occationally get out of hand... I think any board requireing a dedicated or mostly dedicated server is classified as big. I'm wondering if the new boards i've just started up are gunna classify before long thou, we've had an avg of about 750 posts per day since they opened.

[Bulent Tekcan]

I think more popular too...

Currently Active Users: 1213 (597 members and 616 guests) Time-Out for Cookie : 15 min
Most users ever online was 1,523, 14-03-2006 at 15:22.

Threads: 164,850, Posts: 1,861,622, Members: 195,455, Active Members: 16,786 (ın 1 day)

I'll put some statistics from control panel...

Registration Statistics
March 01, 2006 355
March 02, 2006 413
March 03, 2006 420
March 04, 2006 481
March 05, 2006 402
March 06, 2006 376
March 07, 2006 367
March 08, 2006 349
March 09, 2006 424
March 10, 2006 416
March 11, 2006 515
March 12, 2006 485
March 13, 2006 396
March 14, 2006 362

User Activity Statistics
March 01, 2006 14310
March 02, 2006 14337
March 03, 2006 14472
March 04, 2006 14130
March 05, 2006 11567
March 06, 2006 15011
March 07, 2006 15453
March 08, 2006 14103
March 09, 2006 14532
March 10, 2006 14502
March 11, 2006 15796
March 12, 2006 12686
March 13, 2006 15731
March 14, 2006 16400

New Thread Statistics
March 01, 2006 264
March 02, 2006 284
March 03, 2006 293
March 04, 2006 301
March 05, 2006 287
March 06, 2006 307
March 07, 2006 274
March 08, 2006 249
March 09, 2006 293
March 10, 2006 288
March 11, 2006 292
March 12, 2006 334
March 13, 2006 287
March 14, 2006 343

New Post Statistics
March 01, 2006 3147
March 02, 2006 3538
March 03, 2006 3483
March 04, 2006 3045
March 05, 2006 3264
March 06, 2006 3580
March 07, 2006 3186
March 08, 2006 2903
March 09, 2006 3553
March 10, 2006 4035
March 11, 2006 3390
March 12, 2006 3441
March 13, 2006 3297
March 14, 2006 3654

And also my forum closed for many search engine,only accept 2-3 search engine,google,googleadsense and I think alexa.

I don't know my forum busy or normal category but in bigboard many times list in 1st page some category.

[Andreas]

My stats
Posts/Day: approx. 2500-3000
Threads/Day: approx. 100-150
Registrations/Day: approx. 50-80
Users/Day: approx. 2400-2600

Active Users (during daytime hours) average at about 500, Peak so far was 1034.

It's interesting to see I got way less members than for example Bulent Tekcan, but they seem to be more active.

[Darmak]

My forum stats

Posts/Day: 6000/8000
Threads/day: 200/300
User activity: 2500/3000
Registration: 100/200

This is big?

[AdminNation]

I should say so. By that rate, you should pass the million post mark in less than 2 weeks.

[wtrk]

your only as big as your nitch is narrow. if your site is just general intrest, something that appeals to the masses, then i think you would need to have a lot more post and alot more active members to be considered big than a forum that is very specific in its target audiance, which is much smaller to begin with wouldnt need to have as many post or active users to be considered big. its all relative.

[pcoskat]

More in the line of server power needed/number of servers needed.
I agree. It's a more accurate way of measuring 'real' volume of activity.

[Erwin]

I agree. It's a more accurate way of measuring 'real' volume of activity.
Not necessarily. You may have lots of visitors and lots of downloads but little registration or posting, yet require powerful servers due to the traffic.

[pcoskat]

Not necessarily. You may have lots of visitors and lots of downloads but little registration or posting, yet require powerful servers due to the traffic.
Someone has to be posting everything that the visitors are reading and downloading.

I have far more visitors than members...it's not unusual for them to lurk for awhile while they await a diagnosis (it's a medical board).

Once they're diagnosed, THEN they join. But their 'activity' is real, imo.

I don't think a board's size should only be measured in registered members. It's just one part of the equation.

[alexi]

Not necessarily. You may have lots of visitors and lots of downloads but little registration or posting, yet require powerful servers due to the traffic.

I don't think it's a very good measure either. There are so many factors that play into how much hardware you need. Is search turned on? Do you allow downloads? Do your users tend to post more or read more? How optimized is are your servers? You could have 2 boards with the same number of visitors but one could require double the hardware.

[Sports Cartel]

Lots of different ways to measure "large" and "big."

Big-Boards has my forum ranked as the 10th largest post-to-member ratio, and we have just over 1.04M posts.

Is it big? Yes. Will it keep growing? Absolutely. I want it to be much larger, though. I want to get more lurkers active. Until then, I'm not considering it "large."