Charts & Graphs
AFL Posts
Last updated January 29, 2005
Monthly Posts
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1084 | 397 | 233 | 466 | ||||||||
| 1993 | 602 | 481 | 566 | 900 | 493 | 864 | 533 | 689 | 1973 | 815 | 890 | 1491 |
| 1994 | 1575 | 1886 | 1770 | 2061 | 2018 | 1190 | 857 | 66 | 618 | 84 | 1405 | 818 |
| 1995 | 1476 | 1643 | 1550 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 15 |
| 1996 | 1227 | 1983 | 1782 | 2153 | 2217 | 1620 | 1640 | 1580 | 1345 | 1490 | 1149 | 952 |
| 1997 | 1291 | 1146 | 1069 | 652 | 722 | 847 | 913 | 1087 | 1112 | 998 | 1175 | 1125 |
| 1999 | 1771 | 1907 | 1706 | 1653 | 1948 | 1642 | 2093 | 1812 | 1510 | 1437 | 2024 | 1817 |
| 2000 | 3258 | 4127 | 3096 | 2007 | 2207 | 2223 | 3378 | 2891 | 2170 | 2794 | 2919 | 2760 |
| 2001 | 2094 | 2542 | 2663 | 2655 | 2428 | 2582 | 2911 | 2578 | 3985 | 4066 | 3897 | 3042 |
| 2002 | 3378 | 3634 | 4194 | 3788 | 4095 | 2906 | 3964 | 3913 | 5360 | 4874 | 4903 | 3196 |
| 2003 | 3029 | 3202 | 3886 | 2962 | 3278 | 3890 | 2894 | 2156 | 3288 | 2801 | 2741 | 2244 |
| 2004 | 2327 | 2265 | 2253 | 1760 | 1983 | 1722 | 1609 | 1747 | 1943 | 1817 | 1567 | 1587 |
Data from Google (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.fan.letterman/about)
The monthly posts reported are based on the number of posts that made it into the Google archive, and should therefore be considered an underestimate of the actual number of posts to alt.fan.letterman. Months when it is clear that Google is grossly underreporting the number of posts have not been included in the yearly averages below. Specifically, August and October of 1994, and April through December of 1995 have been thrown out. A few months in 1997 also may be significantly underreported, but seem more or less within the normal variation, so I left them in.
A couple of interesting events can be detected in the figures. Note the huge spike in posts in September, 1993 following the launch of Late Show on CBS. (This is right around the time I first found AFL, by the way, though I didn't start posting until the spring of 1994. That was back in the days when people observed a long period of lurking before jumping in.) The Massive Heart Attack in January, 2000 also triggered a large increase in the number of posts lasting until March of that year.
Average Number of AFL Posts per Month,
by Year
| Year | Average
#posts per month |
|---|---|
| 1992 | 545 |
| 1993 | 858 |
| 1994 | 1420 |
| 1995 | 1556 |
| 1996 | 1595 |
| 1997 | 1011 |
| 1998 | 1609 |
| 1999 | 1777 |
| 2000 | 2819 |
| 2001 | 2954 |
| 2002 | 4017 |
| 2003 | 3031 |
| 2004 | 1882 |
Average for 1992 is from September through December.
Average for 1994 is based on all months except August and October.
Average for 1995 is based on January through March.
r = 0.79
Helen Read