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Veteran Member - Level 11
With the end of the calendar year it's time for the annual Game Informer Online blogging statistics report to be compiled and published. First and foremost, the data collected in this blog is not officially collected, compiled or representative of Game Informer or any of its employees. However, it's my understanding previous reports (and potentially this one too) have been viewed by various members of the staff, which means your contributions to the Game Informer community might just get you recognized by some pretty important people.
Whenever dealing with statistics you have to walk that razor thin line of not providing irrelevant superfluous data that causes eyes to glaze over. Neither do you want to provide information that can cause dissension among the ranks. When highlighted properly, statistics can be an eye opening and entertaining summarization that quantifies individual and group contributions.
Typically it's more meaningful for senior leadership to read key numbers and specific accomplishments rather than broad statements full of fluff. Translate that to a GIO environment - let's assume that Andy McNamara and/or members of the Game Informer team happen to read this. Seeing that the blogging community posted 5,500+ blogs among nearly 650 different bloggers and who the top contributors were is more impactful that reading a generic statement to the effect of, "We have a very active blogging community."
The reason I post this blog is for the benefit of the community. It's certainly not for me to have a space to put my name at the top of any list to highlight anything I've achieved. In fact, my contributions are only considered in the group counts and not taken into consideration for any of the individual stats. I do this to recognize the contributions of my fellow bloggers and to encourage others to contribute as well.
Now before we begin with the statistics, I will tell you up front there are errors, or at least potential for errors. It is simply...unavoidable. I have checked and rechecked the numbers, but there are certain facts that I can't undo or change that will result in the data being skewed ever so slightly. I will characterize how these errors are likely to occur:
1. User Member Name Changes: This is perhaps the biggest obstacle affecting the statistics. I put forth my best effort to collate the different names I was absolutely sure belonged to the same user, but any instance where I didn't make the connection, it will at a minimum result in the individual user's numbers being off as well as the total number of bloggers not being completely accurate.
2. Pre-Level 5 Contributions: Given the period of this report spans a year, some members may have been less than Level 5 in which case their blogs would not have shown up on the main page. Once they attained Level 5 their blogs would begin displaying on the main page. Since I only have visibility on blogs posted on the main page (or those that asked me to view their blogs directly from their profile) it is conceivable that blog count totals for individual users might be off due to this circumstance.
3. Blog Updates Vice New Blogs: Some users will routinely update a previously posted blog vice submitting a new blog which will result in a single blog potentially getting counted more than once. I try to notice when this occurs and delete it from consideration, but in some instances the title is changed too so it is possible that I missed the duplicate entry.
4. Reporting Period: Blogs posted before or after the reporting period are not taken into consideration for the totals, so your profile might indicate a different number than what is reflected here in this blog.
Regardless of these potential errors, I am confident the statistics as a whole are complete and accurately reflect the contributions of the community.
Reporting Period
Start: January 01, 2012
Stop: December 31, 2012
Number of BH Episodes: 52
First Blog of 2012
Happy New Year GIO! My 2012 Plans
by wayoverdue on Jan 01, 2012 at 12:03 AM
Last Blog of 2012
Monthly Blog #2 - The Star Wars Group
by Ghost on Dec 31, 2012 at 11:51 PM
Quicklook:
Number of Blogs Submitted: 5,540
Number of Bloggers: 643
Blogs by Members: 5,412 (97.7%)
Blogs by Moderators: 123 (2.2% 1)
Blogs by Staff: 5 (.1% 2)
Number of Blogs Featured in Blog Herding: 597
Percentage of Blogs Featured in Blog Herding: 11%
Number of Bloggers Featured in Blog Herding: 178
Percentage of Bloggers Featured in Blog Herding: 28%
1 A number of the regular bloggers were promoted to moderator status during 2012 resulting in some of their blogs reflecting both member and moderator status.
2 Staff Blogs normally wouldn't show up here but when members are selected for internship they receive staff titles resulting in some of their blogs reflecting either staff or member. In 2012, five blogs indicate they were submitted by staff members - Ali Rapp: 1, Jack Gardner: 1, and Jason Pfitzer: 3.
1 Blog: 216 (33.6%)
2 - 9 Blogs: 297 (46.2%)
10 - 50 Blogs: 109 (17.0%)
51 - 99 Blogs: 13 (2.0%)
100+ Blogs: 8 (1.0%)
*80% of bloggers posted 9 or fewer blogs for the year; the top ten bloggers provided 19% of the total.
Member
Blogs Herded
Blogs Posted
% of Blogs Herded
thegodofwine7
35
66
53%
Kyle Wadsworth
32
44
73%
Stranger
21
112
19%
AshaMan3000
17
90
Hannibal
107
16%
Noobtubin8er
15
42
36%
Marco Polo
13
47
28%
Doctor Apozem
12
46
26%
Jack Gardner
37
32%
David Chandler (TIE)
11
23
48%
Jon Gregory aka JMan240 (TIE)
34
Random Blog Herd Fact:
There were 11 bloggers (6% of those featured) who posted a single blog and 97 bloggers (11% of those featured) who posted 10 or fewer blogs in 2012 that were featured in Blog Herding. Roughly 90% of the blogs featured in Blog Herding are from bloggers who posted 50 or fewer blogs for the year.
1. DJH (135)
2. Jolt the Cynic (126)
3. Shotgun65 (116)
4. jordanthegamer (115)
5. Stranger (112)
6. wayoverdue (109)
7. Hannibal (107)
8. AshaMan3000 (90)
9. GoldvsSilver (88)
10. Drym Shyuan (71)
Averages:
Blogs Per Week: 106
Bloggers Per Week: 64
Blogs Selected for Blog Herding Per Week: 11
Min/Max:
Most Blogs in a Week: 151
Least Blogs in a Week: 65
Most Bloggers in a Week: 89
Least Bloggers in a Week: 48
Most Blogs Selected for Blog Herding in a Week: 20
Least Blogs Selected for Blog Herding in a Week: 7
Jan: 414
Feb: 363
Mar: 417
Apr: 454
May: 459
Jun: 384
Jul: 529
Aug: 459
Sep: 587
Oct: 528
Nov: 415
Dec: 470
*February witnessed the fewest blogs posted (expected); September witnessed the most blogs posted.
Blogger User Name Statistics:
Longest Name: The guy who never really fought Ganon himself... (48 characters)
Shortest Name: C3 & JC (2 characters - obviously)
Alphabetical Order (First starting with letter A): a fleabag
Alphabetical Order (Last): Zero Gravity Ewok
*There is a blogger user name starting with every letter of the alphabet. The letter Q is the least used letter with only 3 members; the letter S is used the most with 65 members. User names starting with numbers or symbols were not considered.
Review Statistics:
Total Reviews featured in Blog Herding: 210
Total Reviewers featured in Blog Herding: 84
Top Reviewers:
18 - Craigaleg
08 - John Wrek
07 - Orochisama LEVON, Spectre
07 - Samurai Zero
06 - Applesteak
06 - Cody Gilley
06 - Doctor Apozem
06 - Noobtubin8er
05 - Apricot
05 - Stranger
Most Reviewed Games Featured in Blog Herding:
8 - Mass Effect 3
6 - Halo 4
5 - Assassin's Creed III
5 - Kid Icarus: Uprising
4 - Batman: Arkham City
4 - Dishonored
3 - Bastion
3 - Borderlands 2
3 - Call Of Duty: Black Ops II
3 - Darksiders II
3 - Diablo III
3 - Journey
3 - Max Payne 3
3 - Resident Evil 6
3 - Resident Evil: Revelations
3 - SSX
3 - Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
3 - X-COM: Enemy Unknown
Closing Thoughts:
There are blogs beginning with Who, What, Where, When and How.
The Indie & Mojo Show podcast (including the Jacked Up version): 25
Robot In the Corner podcast: 20
There have been 246 blogs in the 30/30 or 31/31 series.
There were 403 blogs starting with the word "The".
Each episode of Blog Herding included a quote from a different game for 52 unique quotes.
Longest Title: 227 characters - Test Patterns Episode #22 - Test Patterns Episode #22 - Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, Metal Gear Solid, David Byrne and St. Vincent's Love This Giant, Chromatics' Kill for Love, Comedy Bang Bang!, Sunday Night Football
Shortest Title: 4 characters (TIE) - Hope, Blog, DS U, Spam
You can find blogs with zombies, robots, ninjas and aliens in the title, but no cowboys.
A round of applause to all of the bloggers who continue to provide exceptional content and make this such a great community to be a part of; and a special thanks to the loyal and dedicated readers for whom I would not do this if it weren't for your contributions and support. You often go unnoticed, but personally speaking, for every view I get on a blog, I thank you...whether I know who you are or not.
Sooooooo close. Well, that's fine. Awesome results, Saint!
Wow, a lot of those numbers were surprising. Thanks for doing this :)
Nice to know I got two blogs in that 11% herded. DON'T LAUGH AT ME!!! But seriously, interesting stats.
Shame that with all of these blogers there seems to be a lack of people that ever comment on them. Shame. Section could really use a reboot of sorts.
Top Import Reviewer LGAR :p, I kid. Seriously if I hadn't seen your picture in an issue of GI I would swear you were a robot or a computer... Maybe you are! O_O
Good Job everyone! I love the stats!
I second Mike. Great results, Saint!
It always amazes me how you manage to keep up with this stuff. Just thinking about trying to organize all that makes my head hurt lol.
The day you provide irrelevant superfluous data is the day I build a shelter. In the meantime, I always am in awe at such research. Kudos for collecting and calculating this mountain of data, Saint. Well done. And kudos to the community for its continued involvement, dedication and enthusiasm; this just demonstrates part of the reason why GIO is the best online community bar none, gaming or otherwise. I'm happy and proud to call this my home away from home.
This was fascinating stuff Saint! Thanks for doing this. I feel quite proud to be part of GIO. Cheers to everybody!!!
Sweet beard of Odin I didn't realize the amount of blogs and reviews issued this year. Impressive statistics to say the least. I had no idea I put so many reviews...Kudos for taking the time to assemble all the data. You continue to be the heart of this community Saint!
Pretty cool to see stuff like that, Saint. That's really awesome. I'm planning on getting more into blogs this year, so that'll be fun. :D
Always interested in seeing the numbers behind the blogs. Thanks for the stats.
Wow, I don't even want to think about the amount of work and time you had to put into this. I can't say enough about what you've done for me, and I'm sure that everybody else feels the same way. Saint, you're incredible man, so sincerely thank you for keeping the GIO community moving in the right direction, and your tireless endeavors to make sure everybody else gets credit. Congrats to everybody for making 2012 such a great time to be a blogger. Let's hope 2013 is even better!
Also, I'd like to personally thank everybody who helped me get so many herded blogs. It's a truly humbling honor, and I offer my sincere appreciation to anybody who read or commented on a blog of mine. You guys are the best!
First blog of the year!? Weird, I don't remember.
It also seems that I've been much less active than the summer, but I guess that was inevitable.
Great stuff, cant wait to read all the stuff these folks have for this year.