BusTalk

[Q65A]

I'd like to extend my congratulations to ripta42 and the BT3 community; it's been about a month or so, and things seem to be humming along pretty well.

[Cyberider]

I'll second that, Bob! It's great to have a place to discuss buses again. Looking forward to more activity!

[Mr. Linsky]

I'll do the best I can to keep things moving along! (only teasing!).

We certainly all should share in the success of this site because I think we are probably the best team in the business! (bar none!).

And if that 'professionalism' that we seem to radiate is a product of our experiences at BTN, then it was time very well spent and appreciated!

If I were the commander of this ship my last words would be; 'Well Done, Carry On!'.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, inc. (operator), Jamaica, New York

[ripta42]

It's been about a month and a half now. So, how are we doing?

First, the good: We have 87 members, mostly from New York, but also representing Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Ontario, and Pennsylvania. A third of you work for transit, a third of you don't, and the other third I don't know one way or the other.

We have 983 posts in 258 topics, with an average of 22.5 posts per day and almost six new topics per day. The vintage galleries have 788 photos in them (including duplicates I haven't weeded out yet), with about a hundred more languishing in Member Galleries waiting to be integrated. Many of them are even receiving captions! Again, if you backed up any photos from the old vintage galleries, please upload them. Please do not upload any of your own photos yet.

Now, the bad: The board is using about 2% of its allotted database size. While this is no need for immediate concern - if we continue at the current rate, we'll run into trouble around the end of July, 2011 - it means that, worst-case, I might eventually have to delete posts that are no longer relevant, move old threads to an archive forum, and/or delete inactive accounts. In the meantime, when quoting a post, please quote only the portion to which you are responding. This will help a little bit to keep the database trim, and it will also enhance the readability of threads.

Also, we have been attracting some spammers over the past couple of weeks. These posts and accounts are deleted and banned as swiftly as possible. Perhaps allowing open registrations was naïve of me, and if this continues, I will go to e-mail confirmation for new registrants. As with any message board, please be aware that the e-mail address you provide publicly may be picked up by spambots; therefore, it is always advised to have a "junk" e-mail address to use for message boards. This board does not restrict membership based on the domain of one's e-mail address.

I hope some of you found this interesting and/or informative. Thanks for making this place a success.

[Mr. Linsky]

[Q65A]

I think those are some impressive stats.
I checked out the Vintage Galleries earlier today, and they are terrific.
There are some really historical photos posted there.
Excellent work, ripta42, and thanks much!

[ripta42]

I last posted statistics about the board six months ago, so I guess it's time for an update.

Our membership has almost doubled, from 87 members in May to 163 today. We're still New York-centric, but we're branching out; here's our geographic distribution. The number in brackets excludes those who have joined but haven't posted.

NYC metro area (not including NJ) - 61 [48]
Upstate New York - 2 [2]
Massachusetts - 2 [1]
Connecticut - 1 [1]
New Jersey - 4 [2]
Pennsylvania - 6 [5]
Ohio - 2 [0]
Maryland - 3 [2]
Virginia - 1 [1]
North Carolina - 1 [0]
Florida - 5 [3]
Michigan - 1 [1]
Indiana - 1 [1]
Illinois - 4 [2]
Kentucky - 1 [1]
Texas - 1 [1]
New Mexico - 2 [2]
Arizona - 3 [3]
California - 9 [7]
Ontario - 4 [2]
Quebec - 1 [1]
Scotland - 1 [1]
Don't know - 47 [16]

Add those up, and you'll see we have 60 members who are only lurking. Come on, introduce yourselves!

I should also note that our top five posters don't live in the NYC area!

We have 52 members in the transit industry (35 bus operators/mechanics, 5 dispatchers/supervisors, 7 in management/operations, 1 in manufacturing, and 4 in subway/rail), 62 who aren't in the industry, and 47 whom I don't know.

While our membership is just shy of twice what it was six months ago, the number of posts has more than tripled, to 3,098 in 719 topics. The average number of posts per day is down from 22.5 to to 13.65, with just over three new topics per day. The database is 5.5% full, so there's no worries for a while.

The gallery is getting huge, in part because I'm gradually moving the HopeTunnel.org bus galleries there and in part because of contributions from many of you. As of this moment, there are 5,585 photos in the main galleries and an additional 2,288 in Member Galleries. That database is almost a third of its maximum size, which means there's only space for another 15,000 photos. Again, not worrying yet.

Thanks, everyone!

[Mr. Linsky]

That's too bad about the gallery because I have 14,500 photos to put in tonight! (only kidding).

I, for one, am very proud to be part of this most professional of all such sites, and would hope that what I, along with all my colleagues, have contributed has made BusTalkIII the apparent success that it now enjoys.

I look so forward to the continued meeting of new members, comradery and exchange of ideas that I find each time I log on.

Keep up the great work!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[The Don of All Buses]

I love Mr. Linsky's sense of humor! Bustalk III was the first bus forum I ever joined, I am also a member of others. I must say, out of all the other sites I've joined, they don't top Bustalk. they are good and all, but they mainly focus on just one area of bus discussion, not Bustalk.... Bustalk covers ALL buses !!! no mater where they are! So thanks to the owners/operators and moterators (spelling) as well as all the members of this wonderful community! keep up the GREAT work!!



Lord Bishop Don Valentino;
Don of All Buses

[inkybus]

It's been a while (about 1.5 years for me) since I've been able to talk transit, and I am glad that there is a place for it again!