Ahhh… you are making some one liners in this thread, including crappy off topic one liner…
You can ask mods to ban you if you like. 
Nah, you are so precious.
There actually has been a larger than usual drop. There’s a cliff on the usage graphs around the end of May, but it has nothing to do with Echo’s cool kid posse; that was when Symposia was hacked and taken down. Symposia was a big source of new posters, because it was linked to from a few Wikipedia articles, and some authors and readers probably shared links to it as well. Without it we get fewer random one-post contributers, and probably fewer new long-term posters.
Combine that with the usual summer dip, which begins around the same time, and you get a slowdown. Not a death, but definitely a disability.
(I should note, ‘usual’ here means ‘last year’, because I only have the stats from the time I’ve been at the helm. That’s not a great sample to draw inferences from, though, because current lows are within the fluctuations for the rest of the year. Still, the difference between May and June is obvious.)
thanks Carleas, that was the reason i posted this OP was because i find it hard to believe that every summer ILP loses so much traffic. but this is my first summer here so i just didnt know.
i can see how symposia would affect things. do you happen to know by what percentage ILP traffic is down, month by month, and what the average is? is there someplace i can go here to get these figures?
If we don’t enact some sort of stimulus package, this forum will die! We should multiply all the postcounts by two, so you get 2 postpoints per post. That’s an incentive. Then I and some others can run around adding posts to the really large dead threads, without which the forum cannot survive. Also, we’ll make a new ILP-run insurance plan, so that if your thread is sick and dying, and you don’t have a large network of friends to ask for bumps, you can get a moderator to bump it for you.
Damn you and your foreign time zones.
clever…
-Imp
ILP is dying because it is mistitled. Very few people here seem to really ‘love’ philosophy as love, by its common casual definitions, mean.
What I understand to be ‘Philosophy’ is the sum of all philosophical knowledge collected throughout man’s history. While there are schools of philosophy, I believe that there are no two exactly similar philosophical interpretations of the world. Philosophy morphs depending on the person holding it. Like a water balloon, it conforms to the hand grasping it, so that while it may resemble the shape of someone else’s water balloon, there’s always a subtle difference between them.
Additionally, the adjective ‘philosophical’ is slippery and encompassing. Anyone can say anything, call it philosophy, and then who can say it’s not? Professors? Experts? Professionals? Anonymous internet people? Try saying that to someone who have their own, firm beliefs that they consider their own philosophy. Try dismantling that. Use logic. Use reasoning. Convince them of the superiority of your position, how their philosophy sucks and yours doesn’t. Disprove someone else’s philosophy to confirm your own.
That is what transpires here almost every day. This site should not be called ILP - no much love for philosophy is displayed here. At best, it should be named I Love my Own Philosophy - at worst, and at its most realistic, it should be called I Hate Other Philosophies.
I understand that ultimately, this is probably what happens in this ‘field’ called philosophy anyway. It’s just one big dick-swinging competition from dick-swingers all over the world, even across time. It’s a destruction of ideas and the attempt to implant and inculcate one’s own. It’s a field of disagreements.
I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m just saying it’s the reason why there seem to be fewer people nowadays. Disagreements are good when it comes to learning. Facilitates education through the destruction of previously held ideas - but it’s fucking bad for a website. Why the hell would you go back to a website where you are basically told that your precious beliefs are wrong and that someone else is right? Why stay and argue when a) there’s no hope of convincing the other side, b) there’s no use to convincing the other side, c) it’s easier to just leave and never come back?
I don’t think you demonstrated enough the relation between the bad site name and the decrease in the post count, in this post.
Would accurate naming of the site alone contributes to the steady or increasing post count? I’m not sure at all.
Actually, I think disagreement and arguing is good for increased post count.
Look at the one of the longest thread. It’s an example of disagreement, debate, fight, dick (and pussy) swinging.
From my POV, the lack of motivation explains the decreased post count.
One is motivated to post (or can’t help posting) when there is a issue the person is concerned, and especially when posts/threads touches the core belief. In other words, one of the best motivator for posting is the emotional (and often a bit fanatic) reaction against certain perspective that is threatening to one’s core belief.
However, there are attenuating factors. If one’s core belief is already shaken or broken and s/he doesn’t care much, any more, s/he may not get motivated on that issue. If the person presenting the perspective that is against one’s core belief is already known to be not interesting to talk/debate, for some reason, s/he may not bother posting. And we need to have enough time to read first and then to post, and the motivation for posting has to be above that of other interests such as eating, sleeping, sex, hobby, family things, work, and so on.
And the summer is known to be hotter (at least in northern hemisphere) and we can get dizzy when it’s too hot. I guess our brain may not work well when it’s overheated. Also, there are higher interests for vacation/sex/etc if not one is abroad or camping and doesn’t have time nor environment for posting.
So, it’s partly the summer thing, as we’ve said.
And also, I think it’s partly because we didn’t have active (and fanatic) new posters who makes lot of posts that contradict core beliefs of other members.
Members who are active know each other, by now, and thus what others say isn’t very shocking/motivating, to begin with, on top of the knowledge of other posters that allow us to predict how the discussion would go. These makes posting less interesting, motivating. I mean, I’ve already discussed with many of active members and I know roughly how they think (if they can) and their tendencies/perspectives. Since I read and post to learn/absorb/eat different perspectives, it’s less interesting for me to post when I know them already. And it’s similar for others because they’d know what I would say and they may not interested in hearing the kind of things I often say.
We have already identified those who are highly fanatic/illogical and some (if not most) of us aren’t so interested in talking to them, because it’s basically useless, other than having a bit of fun using their self-contradicting (il)logical perspectives.
Then, finally, who cares if the post count goes down a bit, or even a lot? I don’t. I’d rather see fewer interesting posts than lots of religious preachers and their bible parrot talk, for example.
Maybe it’s not so good for the ad-clicking income to compensate for the operational cost. But I know it doesn’t cost much to operate a web site (I do manage relatively popular site for my friend, and it costs less than $150 US per Year) and it’s something I wold be able to pay from my pocket. So, I’m not so concerned about the reduced ad income. (And I hate seeing Scientology or other stupid ads, to begin with).
On top of that, we know it’s a seasonal thing. So, why bother/worry?
If we need to increase the post count, I know how to promote. I’ve promoted some discussion sites in different countries. It’s easy. You have to post something that touches core issue of lots of people, but do it in the way many people can think that they can convince me, then can change my mind, for example.
But I wouldn’t do because I don’t see any need , at least for now.
ILP is dying because all the adults have disappeared, and the kids are running around trying on grown-up clothes, experimenting with coffee and alcohol, and playing with the stove.
Damn kids ruining my front yard! Git’!
Ha!
more like nah
Just let me know when, and I’ll be happy to do the honours… 
Kidding! 
We’d miss you too much to do that 
I have a koan:
If you get banned from a forum, would you miss yourself?
Just ask Magsj to find it our by yourself, if you want.
I’ve got another koan:
If a person without a sense of humor makes a joke, can you call it a joke?
HE is a joke, to you. 
But you are the joke, for him.
And it’s a joke, not Koan.
Is ILP dying?
Keep this up and I’ll ban both you bitches!
Are you trying to ban your self … by making one-liner sexist name calling.
3TG may have to cry even more that ILP is dying if you ban many members, including yourself.