Data, data, lots of data (about this board)

[SummerLightning]

I posted this on the Westministenders thread, but thought I would add a new thread for it.

There was some discussion about getting some stats about posting times and what/who people posted about at one point a while back.

So I ran some basic analysis on threads and posts on here. You can see a nice graph of it here

public.tableau.com/shared/B6QDZQKDH?:display_count=yes

It looks better on a desktop rather than a phone, though I think it will work on a phone.

Select a date or a group of dates at the top and you can see the top posters for that date or set of dates.

Select a poster and you can see the dates they posted.

I have made a basic stab at colouring some of the more prolific posters blue (remain) or red (leave) according to their persuasions.

Here are some facts I put together:

There have been over 127,000 posts on the board since it started

Over 5000 of these are from one user alone. I will leave you to look at the stats to see who that is

Of the top 10 posters only one is pro-leave

There have been 36 Westministenders threads. So that’s over 35000 posts.

There have been 11 Brexit arms threads.

There are several peaks of posting:
The referendum date (over 5000 posts on 26th June)
Around 3rd November (probably the Tory party conference?)
Around 17th Jan (when it became apparent that yes we were leaving the single market)
Around 17th Feb (not sure? Tony Blair throwing in his tuppence perhaps?)
29th March (Article 50)

Enjoy. If you want to, I think you can download the actual data I used from this link too.

(I did it to learn some new skills rather than to prove any political point, btw. Oh and Tableau is awesome)

PS There is nothing "dodgy" or "hacky" about this, it is very basic taking data from the internet where you all put it . I know nothing about you posters except your usernames (no Cambridge Analytica cleverness from me!).

I was a bit shocked to see those words from surfer

There you go Summer. Your work has not been in vain.

There was a website a few years ago that actually showed you the top 10 posters for the whole of MN. Can't remember what it was called but it's probably still going.

Ah I thought astroturfing was just being paid to post.

I've had a scan of it, and it IS really interesting, lots of current posters, or the more prolific remainers seemed to start either slightly before the ref and go on a lot afterwards.

I also think I can spot 2 paid ones using this because of how prolific they were prior to the vote, and how quickly they stopped after it.

Lol wrong!

I think there is something beautiful in complex metadata patterns, but have no idea how to generate anything like that myself.

You know how beautiful a huge murmuration of swallows is? Individual birds, acting together to create hypnotic, shifting shapes. The swallow probably has no idea what the viewer on the ground sees, they only see a mass of birds all around them, not the pattern they make as they wheel across the sky.
That's what meta data like your Gaza link reminds me of.

surfer and bear agreeing with something

Aaaaggghhh its the end of times!!!!

I also think I can spot 2 paid ones using this because of how prolific they were prior to the vote, and how quickly they stopped after it

That could suggest paid shills but it could also be posters who name changed (which, without wanting to rehash a previous discussion, posters do for lots of different reasons, not necessarily sinsister). It could also be someone very committed to the outcome of the referendum but not paid - for example some one who had joined the leave or remain campaign and wanted to do their bit on social media, which is unproblematic in my view (or is it?). Someone like this might not be particularly interested in continuing the conversation afterwards once the outcome was decided. Or it could just be someone who got fed up with the board, for some reason or moved on to another discussion forum (nb full disclosure - I am neither a campaign member or a shill - though I have been accused of being the latter a number of times on this board)

I think there is something beautiful in complex metadata patterns

The amazing story of how John Snow used data - the first example of "big data" maybe - to discover how to prevent cholera.

Thanks wrong.

I hadn't thought that people might have name changed.

I just believe you deal with posters as they come along.

Shills and goady fuckers aren't hard to spot.

All this 'nosey neighbour' stuff is a step too far IMO.

summer shall I pop round and sit outside your house then publish the times you leave for work, put the lights on, put the bins out......all 'anomiously' obviously

I like it. The data's public anyway, it's just collected here. The other angle is that it makes available to us what is usually available to big companies (because most of us lack the time or expertise to do something like this).

Thanks, Summer.

I'm finding it fascinating looking over the posting in the months before the referendum. Some poster started posting relatively prolifically some months before, and then just went . I find them very interesting. I'd forgotten the names of many of them.

I agree wrong. They could be paid, but equally could just be a committed campaigner / person who is very invested in the result.

After all plenty of people spend hours of their life canvassing for political parties/campaigns for no money.

Very hard to prove.

Maybe red is a paid shill - surely no-one would post that much without being paid? (joke)

I do remember being shocked at the responses to a mumsnet sponsored post pre-referendum by Priti Patel being very pro-leave, with very short posts saying "well said" and not much else. But this could just be the result of a pro-leave forum/mailing list linking to it when it was posted and thus inundating it.

Thanks for doing this summer I am in awe of your skills!

I can't see anything creepy about it, all the data is in the public domain.

bear I have a spare room, you can come stay if you like

I live in a great place with mountains, beaches and good weather too. Just don't think about the enormous fault line under your arse.

summerlighting, interesting stuff, I can't pretend to understand a tiny amount of it, but what do you think that
medium.com/i-data/israel-gaza-war-data-a54969aeb23e

reveals?
Like your squishysquirmy bird metaphor.

stainless this doesn't make me 'think about what I'm posting'

I wouldn't post something I didn't stand by unless I was mistaken, in which case I'd admit it.

This kind of analysis, with no purpose other than being nosey, shit stirring and provocactive, with absolutely no end purpose, just really irks me.

I like Bearbehind - she drives me mad but I like her. I like all my remainer friends, & I actually think we're all slowly bonding.

It's nice.

< kills thread >

The feeling is mutual surfer

I'd actually love to meet you IRL - I think we'd probably get along really.

What have I unleashed?

Feel the love....

sounds like a plan.

stainless I'm not overacting at all.

The OP posted this data a few days ago on the Westminster thread and I actually chuckled at how high up I was.

I do not understand the OPs motives now in starting a specific thread about this if not to shit stir and provoke with information that's actually really boring.