Is Smogon dYiNg? (not clickbait)

[sumwun]

As you can see from this graph, Smogon activity peaked in 2014 and hasn't been nearly as good since then. We didn't even get a significant boost in 2020 and 2021, when half of the world was on the internet. So what do we do now? Should we tie 200,000 English speakers to chairs and force them to post "in" on random tournament threads?

I got the numbers by looking at a snapshot of smogon.com/forums from each year in web.archive.org and comparing the numbers of messages in the forum statistics. I'm an honest data nerd who would never manipulate a graph, so there's no need to check the X axis or Y axis minimums or anything like that.

 

[Local Dog]

Considering how it grew pretty healthily since gen 9 came around, no, Smogon isn't dying. It just had a peak in 2014 that wasn't sustained

I think with Champions and with VGC having more and more of a presence here, it'll probably grow quite healthily

 

[fiish]

It's because more discussion is happening on Discord. To alleviate this, I suggest deleting every official Smogon Discord server. Additionally, with dislike of Discord no longer just being from a few tech/privacy nerds, the deletion is more likely to go over smoothly.

 

[Comett7778]

Quality over quantity, tho apparently we have neither

 

[Let's go shuckles]

X axis or Y axis

Maybe these gen 6 remakes you mentioned can bring smogon back to its 2014 peak when gen 6 was the current gen

 

[sumwun]

It's because more discussion is happening on Discord. To alleviate this, I suggest deleting every official Smogon Discord server. Additionally, with dislike of Discord no longer just being from a few tech/privacy nerds, the deletion is more likely to go over smoothly.

Unfortunately Discord activity also peaked a while ago.

Quality over quantity, tho apparently we have neither

Quality is more difficult to fit in a fancy-looking line graph, therefore I will ignore it. Thank you for your understanding

 

[chimp]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mintwinter]

as we can see from this well-made, very real graph, that’s just not the case! smogon posting is at an all time high this year.

 

[sumwun]

You make a statement about this year, yet this year isn't on the graph at all? curious.

 

[RADU]

 

[mintwinter]

You make a statement about this year, yet this year isn't on the graph at all? curious.

i beg to differ

 

[sumwun]

View attachment 810352
View attachment 810353

Please do not expose my low reacts/posts ratio. That is sensitive information.

 

[Chinchou1984]

Isn’t 2014 from hype with ORAS announcement and release?

 

[vishy fishy]

Unfortunately Discord activity also peaked a while ago.

Quality is more difficult to fit in a fancy-looking line graph, therefore I will ignore it. Thank you for your understanding

Wait smogcord posting was best in 2023?

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

As you can see from this graph, Smogon activity peaked in 2014 and hasn't been nearly as good since then. We didn't even get a significant boost in 2020 and 2021, when half of the world was on the internet. So what do we do now? Should we tie 200,000 English speakers to chairs and force them to post "in" on random tournament threads?

I got the numbers by looking at a snapshot of smogon.com/forums from each year in web.archive.org and comparing the numbers of messages in the forum statistics. I'm an honest data nerd who would never manipulate a graph, so there's no need to check the X axis or Y axis minimums or anything like that.

i'm pretty sure the massive drops from 2014-15 and 2016-17 were at least partially the result of a bunch of absolutely awful people getting banned as the community slowly transitioned out of its toxic 4chan stage. you can go into basically any thread from those times and it's all banned deucers, especially if it was a firebot thread

 

[sumwun]

Wait smogcord posting was best in 2023?

Why are people looking at the X axis? I specifically told y'all not to do it.