How many people read Order of the Stick?

[hmwd]

I was just wondering, do we know how many active readers Order of the Stick has?

[Schroeswald]

Based on how many people I see in the forums, the number of patrons and the number of people in the Kickstarter and the fact that these things consist of a small fraction of the readerbase, I’d guess tens of thousands.

[hmwd]

Only tens of thousands? According to wikipedia it's over a million. Wikipedia isn't reliable though.

[Fyraltari]

I count at least six.

[NerdyKris]

The Wikipedia quote is from Rich himself and sourced from here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/50797-rich-burlew-talks-about-his-1-million-kickstarter-book-project.html, although the information is from eight years ago.


“It's really tough to be exact with this,” Burlew says about the size of his audience, “but my best estimate is around 650,000 dedicated readers who check out every comic as soon as it updates, and as many as another million casual readers who check it out once every month or two.”

Wikipedia is very reliable if you check the source of the information, which should always be included.

[Peelee]

I count at least six.

You're not even backing that up with a source!

[Schroeswald]

You're not even backing that up with a source!

I count five people in this thread and then a sixth person was the latest comment in the discussion thread, and I'm sure us six are the only people reading the comic (don't check any other comment in any other thread).

[Fyraltari]

I count at least six.You're not even backing that up with a source!

1

2

3

4

5

And I assume The Giant reads his own work. Although, I suspect it could be as many as twelve whole persons!

[Peelee]

I count five people in this thread and then a sixth person was the latest comment in the discussion thread, and I'm sure us six are the only people reading the comic (don't check any other comment in any other thread).


And I assume The Giant reads is own work. Although, I suspect it could be as many as twelve whole persons!

Big assumptions that I don't just fake knowledge gleaned from the context I've gotten from reading the other five talk about it!

[Doug Lampert]

Big assumptions that I don't just fake knowledge gleaned from the context I've gotten from reading the other five talk about it!

Phooey, none of the rest of you can even prove that you actually exist rather than just being figments of my overactive imagination.

[Schroeswald]

I've found someone else! Welcome to the OOtS community. There are now at least 7 of us and the Giant!

[hroþila]

The Wikipedia quote is from Rich himself and sourced from here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/50797-rich-burlew-talks-about-his-1-million-kickstarter-book-project.html, although the information is from eight years ago.
No idea how accurate that figure is nowadays but it's funny to compare it to the number of active forumers, if we get too uppity whenever we're tempted to go all "The Giant did this because of the forum!"

[Schroeswald]

No idea how accurate that figure is nowadays but it's funny to compare it to the number of active forumers, if we get too uppity whenever we're tempted to go all "The Giant did this because of the forum!"

Yeah, like, legitimately non-joking I can say I've seen maybe 100 people posting somewhat regularly here, and probably a quarter of them post enough that I can say I would be able to list their usernames (no, I'm not going to try to list them). Even if we only take the serious readers and say that number has been cut in half since then, the number is still less than 0.1% of the total readership.

[NerdyKris]

There are 131,000 accounts total according to the bottom of the main forum page. According to the Who's online page (Click that quick links drop down menu up at the top under the main tabs):


196 members and 0 guests
Most users ever online was 13366, 2020-01-17 at 12:19 PM.

That most online number may be glitched if it was during the forum shutdown issues.

[Precure]

https://www.similarweb.com/website/giantitp.com#overview

[DataNinja]

There are at least a few people here that I've seen say they're just here for the D&D forums, though and haven't ever even looked at the comic. So, that number of people in the forums does definitely have skew in another way, too, even if it's just a fraction.

[NerdyKris]

But 13,000 (assuming the maximum number of users at one time) out of 1.5 million really isn't going to skew the numbers in either direction. It's only .8% of the total readership. Even the total number of accounts on the forum is only 8.7% of the readership numbers.

[Fyraltari]

No idea how accurate that figure is nowadays but it's funny to compare it to the number of active forumers, if we get too uppity whenever we're tempted to go all "The Giant did this because of the forum!"

The real question, however, is how much the forum is representative of the readership as a whole.

[oskeladden]

Yeah, like, legitimately non-joking I can say I've seen maybe 100 people posting somewhat regularly here, and probably a quarter of them post enough that I can say I would be able to list their usernames (no, I'm not going to try to list them). Even if we only take the serious readers and say that number has been cut in half since then, the number is still less than 0.1% of the total readership.

There're probably also a fair few people who read the forums but do not post because they don't have anything much to add. You might even have someone (purely hypothetically) who's had an account for thirteen years, and accumulated a grand total of eighteen posts in that time.

[lukewarm]

There're probably also a fair few people who read the forums but do not post because they don't have anything much to add. You might even have someone (purely hypothetically) who's had an account for thirteen years, and accumulated a grand total of eighteen posts in that time.

18! Impressive.

[Fyraltari]

There're probably also a fair few people who read the forums but do not post because they don't have anything much to add. You might even have someone (purely hypothetically) who's had an account for thirteen years, and accumulated a grand total of eighteen posts in that time.

Wait. There are people around here who have something to add!? Where?

[Peelee]

Wait. There are people around here who have something to add!? Where?

I add my brilliance and wit all the time!


There're probably also a fair few people who read the forums but do not post because they don't have anything much to add. You might even have someone (purely hypothetically) who's had an account for thirteen years, and accumulated a grand total of eighteen posts in that time.


18! Impressive.

I greatly appreciate both these posts.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I was just wondering, do we know how many active readers Order of the Stick has?

I just look at the pictures.

[Qaanol]

I add my brilliance and wit all the time!

Oh, we were supposed to add?

Crud, I was trying to divide by my brilliance and wit, but it kept breaking the calculator.

[hmwd]

I know two people in real life who read oots so that makes 9 of us assuming none of us are figments of imagination.

[Kantaki]

assuming none of us are figments of imagination.

I don't know.
I might be a figment of my imagination.:smalltongue::smallbiggrin:
So much for having something to add...

[NerdyKris]

The real question, however, is how much the forum is representative of the readership as a whole.

In general, comments, forums, Twitter, etc, are not representative of the audience as a whole. It self selects for the most vocal, and depending on how the culture of any given comment area develops, may actually turn away large sections of the audience entirely. (not here specifically, I'm talking every message board I've ever seen)

Also did someone say Figment?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQPA6KFulEnsp7q56ZIKyTNcIfvD72 pvF1YI-NKG5dbFY7xidmT&usqp=CAU

[Jannoire]

I add my brilliance and wit all the time!

Don't forget the occasional reference to good music.


Oh, we were supposed to add?

Crud, I was trying to divide by my brilliance and wit, but it kept breaking the calculator.

Don't diminish yourself, or your self doubt will multiply


But ultimately, I'm always impressed how the chat bots always manage to fake a real conversation on this forum

[KorvinStarmast]

The real question, however, is how much the forum is representative of the readership as a whole. We might be what the doctors call "the terminal cases." :smallbiggrin:

[hmwd]

But ultimately, I'm always impressed how the chat bots always manage to fake a real conversation on this forum

Quick, we have to upgrade the algorithm guys! They're catching on.

[Fan67]

Well, it took me 6 years after I started reading the comic to just make forum account.
Most of the time, by the moment I’d read new comic and went to the forums, you guys had already discussed everything and explained to readers like me. :)

[RickDaily12]

This thread is somehow both on-topic and off-topic in regards to the Order of the Stick, it's genuinely perplexing. :smallconfused:

[Rogar Demonblud]

Sounds like business as usual for this place.

[rgrekejin]

Yeah, like, legitimately non-joking I can say I've seen maybe 100 people posting somewhat regularly here, and probably a quarter of them post enough that I can say I would be able to list their usernames (no, I'm not going to try to list them). Even if we only take the serious readers and say that number has been cut in half since then, the number is still less than 0.1% of the total readership.

For whatever it's worth, the forums used to be much more active than they currently are (or, at least, the Order of the Stick section did, since that's mostly the part I look at). In the late 2000s and early 2010s, a new post could fall all the way off the front page in less than a day, whereas, checking the front page now, only the top 5 posts have replies from within the last 24 hours. I'm not sure if there were more posters or if the ones that were here were just more active, or more likely some combination of the two. I'm not sure when exactly that changed (I took a fairly extended hiatus from the forums myself) and I wouldn't want to speculate on the reasons why it did, but I wouldn't be surprised if the post volume back then was an order of magnitude greater than it is now.

[Quartz]

For whatever it's worth, the forums used to be much more active than they currently are (or, at least, the Order of the Stick section did, since that's mostly the part I look at).

The Giant was putting out 2-3 strips per week rather than the 1-2 per fortnight we've had for a while.

[hroþila]

Also, message boards in general were a much more popular medium back then, and they didn't have to compete with reddit and Facebook.

[nespunkt]

Anecdata point: I tend to read the comic and then browse the forum when I feel like reading more OotS but there isn't any new strips. I made an account a few years ago but forgot what email address I used. And then I made this account, to ask some question, but when I was done making it the question was already answered. I've been lurking for at least ten years though, maybe more.

[trtl]

Really difficult to say (obviously) but I wonder what counts as a "reader"

I imagine he permanently loses some readers every time he goes on hiatus, (the less dedicated fans simply stop checking for updates and forget about it.)

[137beth]

Big assumptions that I don't just fake knowledge gleaned from the context I've gotten from reading the other five talk about it!

When it comes to free internet accounts, you never know if multiple accounts are secretly controlled by a single person. I have seen no evidence that there are more than two actual people using this forum: me and Peelee. All other accounts might just be Peelee's sockpuppets (of course I know I don't have any sockpuppet accounts!)

[Schroeswald]

When it comes to free internet accounts, you never know if multiple accounts are secretly controlled by a single person. I have seen no evidence that there are more than two actual people using this forum: me and Peelee. All other accounts might just be Peelee's sockpuppets (of course I know I don't have any sockpuppet accounts!)

How do you know that Peelee isn't one of their sock puppet's?

[PopeLinus1]

I read it fairly often, what does that put us at?

[Crusher]

I read it fairly often, what does that put us at?

9, I think.

[littlebum2002]

For all I know, every profile on this board except mine could be run by the same person. So I only see proof that 3 people read it: My daughter, me, and at least 1 other person on this forum.

[Peelee]

For all I know, every profile on this board except mine could be run by the same person. So I only see proof that 3 people read it: My daughter, me, and at least 1 other person on this forum.

Bold of you to assume your daughter isn't running all the profiles to provide you a new avenue if discourse. :smalltongue:

[Schroeswald]

I can only know for sure one other person, who must really love fighting themself, because I have never managed to convince anyone to read this comic besides random strips I throw at them.

[hobo386]

Probably the best way to figure out is to take that 650k figure and compare the pageviews for a newish (lets say about 1 year old) forum thread to the pageviews for an average forum thread from that era. My suspicion is that readership is somewhat down (typically happens as things go on for decades), but no idea how much.

[137beth]

How do you know that Peelee isn't one of their sock puppet's?

Semantics: if one person controls every account (except mine), then any designation of one of their accounts as the "main" and the others as "sockpuppets" is arbitrary.

Of course, there also seem to be posts going up at all hours of the day. So, if there is only one other user on this forum, then either you never sleep, or you write posts in advance and use a script to automatically upload them at different times, creating the illusion that you are always online.

And, given the high volume of posts on this forum, you either write really fast, or at least some of your posts are procedurally generated.


....which, now that I think about it, is starting to sound a lot like Reddit's r/SubredditSimulator.

[Schroeswald]

Semantics: if one person controls every account (except mine), then any designation of one of their accounts as the "main" and the others as "sockpuppets" is arbitrary.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, my post was dumb and semantic, but on the other hand, you, are... 137ben, and that is a... dumb name?


Of course, there also seem to be posts going up at all hours of the day. So, if there is only one other user on this forum, then either you never sleep, or you write posts in advance and use a script to automatically upload them at different times, creating the illusion that you are always online.

And, given the high volume of posts on this forum, you either write really fast, or at least some of your posts are procedurally generated.


....which, now that I think about it, is starting to sound a lot like Reddit's r/SubredditSimulator.
I'm pretty sure considering that you are always arguing with yourself it's pretty easy to use scripts, you only have to worry about me butting in and generally I don't play too big of a role in the arguments.

[137beth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, my post was dumb and semantic, but on the other hand, you, are... 137ben, and that is a... dumb name?

May I put this quote in my extended sig?

[Schroeswald]

May I put this quote in my extended sig?

Yes you can (also, I think this is my first post sigged, which feels nice).

[PopeLinus1]

I'm pretty sure considering that you are always arguing with yourself it's pretty easy to use scripts, you only have to worry about me butting in and generally I don't play too big of a role in the arguments.

Beep Boop Beep Boop

[NerdyKris]

Bold of you to assume your daughter isn't running all the profiles to provide you a new avenue if discourse. :smalltongue:

Brigsby Bear anyone?

[Fincher]

The real question, however, is how much the forum is representative of the readership as a whole.

I have it on good authority that the general readership hates Vaarsuvius and Redcloak, thinks Miko Miyazaki should be the main character, and ships her with Belkar (it's called Milkar, or alternatively Belazaki).

[snowblizz]

I add my brilliance and wit all the time!

0 + 0 + 0 still = 0

[TaiLiu]

This thread is silly. Clearly OOTS has no readers, because nothing exists and ontological nihilism is true. All this talk about one or two or three readers is silly when the answer is obviously zero.

[PopeLinus1]

Population: None. Although you might see people from time to time, they are most likely products of your imagination. Simple mathematics tells us that the population of the Universe must be zero. Why? Well given that the volume of the universe is infinite there must be an infinite number of worlds. But not all of them are populated; therefore only a finite number are. Any finite number divided by infinity is zero, therefore the average population of the Universe is zero, and so the total population must be zero.

I agree with TaiLiu's assessment.

[rgrekejin]

Population: None. Although you might see people from time to time, they are most likely products of your imagination. Simple mathematics tells us that the population of the Universe must be zero. Why? Well given that the volume of the universe is infinite there must be an infinite number of worlds. But not all of them are populated; therefore only a finite number are. Any finite number divided by infinity is zero, therefore the average population of the Universe is zero, and so the total population must be zero.I agree with TaiLiu's assessment.

Wait, that math doesn't work. If there's an infinite number of worlds, but not all of them are populated, it doesn't follow that therefore only a finite number are populated. If, say, 1 out of every 1,000,000 worlds is populated, but there's literally an infinite number of worlds, there would therefore be an infinite number of populated worlds as well, and the population of the universe is infinite. Therefore, the readership of OotS is infinite. QED. :smallbiggrin:

[Peelee]

Wait, that math doesn't work. If there's an infinite number of worlds, but not all of them are populated, it doesn't follow that therefore only a finite number are populated. If, say, 1 out of every 1,000,000 worlds is populated, but there's literally an infinite number of worlds, there would therefore be an infinite number of populated worlds as well, and the population of the universe is infinite. Therefore, the readership of OotS is infinite. QED. :smallbiggrin:

Wait, that math doesn't work. If the population of the universe is infinite, and the world wide web is only on one planet, then the readership of a comic on the world wide web must be finite. Any finite number divided by infinity is zero, therefore the average readership of the comic is zero, and so the total readership must be zero. QED. :smallamused:

[Fyraltari]

At this point I can't tell whether each of you is

A) Not getting that this is a H2G2 joke.

B) Not getting that it is a joke at all and the poor math is intentional.

B) Not getting that it is a joke and thinking the math is correct.

C) Getting that it is a joke and doubling down on the poor math.

D) Obi-Wan Kenobi.

E) Getting that it is a joke and thinking th emath is correct.

F) Any of the previous.

[Schroeswald]

The answer is D) Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I will not be taking questions at this time.Real Answer: I didn't get that the bad math was intentional, or that it was a reference, but I did understand it was a joke, which I'm not sure where it falls in those answers.

[Peelee]

Not getting that it is a joke at all and the poor math is intentional.

I dispute both these claims; that math was done in base 13 and nobody makes a joke in base 13.

[Grey Watcher]

... and nobody makes a joke in base 13.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, yet there it is.

[Schroeswald]

I dispute both these claims; that math was done in base 13 and nobody makes a joke in base 13.

That's only because base 13 is a joke.

[Doug Lampert]

That's only because base 13 is a joke.

Mathematically any prime number can be used as the base of a unique division ring which is also a field. This is a highly significant result which is of great importance in cryptography and other areas.

Thus I deny that base 13 is a joke.

(PhD, applied math)

[rgrekejin]

Wait, that math doesn't work. If the population of the universe is infinite, and the world wide web is only on one planet, then the readership of a comic on the world wide web must be finite. Any finite number divided by infinity is zero, therefore the average readership of the comic is zero, and so the total readership must be zero. QED. :smallamused:

Ah, but you see, if it's truly infinite, than both OotS and the internet are being independently re-created together on an infinite number of worlds - monkeys, typewriters, and Shakespeare and all that - and the point stands. :smalltongue:

[Peelee]

Ah, but you see, if it's truly infinite, than both OotS and the internet are being independently re-created together on an infinite number of worlds - monkeys, typewriters, and Shakespeare and all that - and the point stands. :smalltongue:

Not necessarily true! Infinite does not mean all. For example, there is an infinite set of numbers between 1 and 2, but 3 is not one of them. Apologies to the monkeys, they're probably never getting their works published even with infinite time.

[rgrekejin]

Not necessarily true! Infinite does not mean all. For example, there is an infinite set of numbers between 1 and 2, but 3 is not one of them. Apologies to the monkeys, they're probably never getting their works published even with infinite time.

It's true. Monkeys always forget the cover letter. Nobody will even look at your manuscript without one.

[Schroeswald]

Mathematically any prime number can be used as the base of a unique division ring which is also a field. This is a highly significant result which is of great importance in cryptography and other areas.

Thus I deny that base 13 is a joke.

(PhD, applied math)

Mathety math math yada yada yada. Counterpoint: I don't understand that and anything I don't understand is a joke

[PopeLinus1]

At this point I can't tell whether each of you is

A) Not getting that this is a H2G2 joke.

B) Not getting that it is a joke at all and the poor math is intentional.

B) Not getting that it is a joke and thinking the math is correct.

C) Getting that it is a joke and doubling down on the poor math.

D) Obi-Wan Kenobi.

E) Getting that it is a joke and thinking th emath is correct.

F) Any of the previous.

But what about the droid attack on the wookies?

[Peelee]

But what about the droid attack on the wookies?

Wookiees. 2 E's.

[Doug Lampert]

Mathematically any prime number can be used as the base of a unique division ring which is also a field. This is a highly significant result which is of great importance in cryptography and other areas.

Thus I deny that base 13 is a joke.

(PhD, applied math)Mathety math math yada yada yada. Counterpoint: I don't understand that and anything I don't understand is a jokeI bow before your clearly superior quality of gobletygoop.

[Procyonpi]

Nobody reads Order of the Stick, we're all just figments of your imagination

[Rogar Demonblud]

Not really. We were created to read OOTS, because it is so awesome someone had to be made just so it could be enjoyed.

[RatElemental]

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

[Mavezius]

Nobody reads Order of the Stick, we're all just figments of your imagination

our whole world is an imagination:smallsmile:
My favorite moment.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/oots/images/e/ec/OOTS1101.png/revision/latest?cb=20171004191851 (https://essayontime.com.au/assignment-help-in-australia)

[Precure]

I have it on good authority that the general readership hates Vaarsuvius and Redcloak, thinks Miko Miyazaki should be the main character, and ships her with Belkar (it's called Milkar, or alternatively Belazaki).

For some weird reason I want to believe that.

[Jannoire]

Not really. We were created to read OOTS, because it is so awesome someone had to be made just so it could be enjoyed.

So, some god had this rad idea for the comic and wanted someone else to enjoy it?

[Rogar Demonblud]

No, wanted LOTS of people to enjoy this. OOTS is a galactic constant, as every inhabited world knows it. The entity we call "The Giant" is merely the local avatar for this divine benefactor.

[Jannoire]

No, wanted LOTS of people to enjoy this. OOTS is a galactic constant, as every inhabited world knows it. The entity we call "The Giant" is merely the local avatar for this divine benefactor.

New headcannon!

yeah, I know, it's spelled canon

[allenw]

New headcannon!

yeah, I know, it's spelled canon

https://xkcd.com/1401/