Dead and "dead" members

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Hello!
How many people on Numista are inactive? (Approximately)

Inactive means by no activity since log-in or half a year.

How many people are deceased on Numista? (approximately)

An approximate for dead people. Maybe war, age or illness.

Thanks!

Best,
SRL
How would Numista check if someone deceased or not?
ROMAE AETERNAE
I think given how we have almost 78,500 members, it's safe to assume that at least two thirds of those members' accounts are consistently inactive/abandoned; just from the first page, look how many members have 0 coins in their collection. (Doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it's a good indicator of member activity.)

In fact I would safely bet that up to 90% of accounts are abandoned; with another 9.95% being semi-active 'lurkers' or coming on for the occasional swap; and the remaining 0.05 (about 78 members, probably even less actually) are active on forums regularly (not counting people who only create an account to ask for their identification of a coin once or twice).
Inactive accounts should go dormant and become invisible, across Numista, especially the "Members from this site want to exchange this coin".

Xavier implemented a two toned thing under "Members from this site want to exchange this coin".

I find it lacking.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
I guess only about three or four hundreds of members, more or less are actually DEAD. Thats because pretty many numismats are old. But over 85% of the users are either ex numismats, or inactive atleast on the forums and swapping.
Also, when I browse the see by year/mintmark, I see light and deep colored user names:

It is related to the users' activity, right?

Thanks,
SRL
I think a year of inactivity would be good way to trim down dormant accounts
never kill a mockingbird: it's bad luck.
Quote: "frankb"​I think a year of inactivity would be good way to trim down dormant accounts
​Yep. A users whole exchange list should be removed. And a great addition would be a "last seen -DayMonthYear Time-" thing that many sites have.
The best way to determine if a member is DEAD is to see when they made thier last exchange. Many haven’t swapped in ages.
Quote: "Ghawk97"​The best way to determine if a member is DEAD is to see when they made thier last exchange. Many haven’t swapped in ages.
​Yes, that's true. Last forum posts and last swaps. The users who have not posted or swapped in a long time are either "dead" or "ghost users".
Or they are using Numista for managing their coins trough our magnificent catalogue. No one can blaming them for that.
So not swapping and not using the forum does necessarily means these members our "dead" or "ghost users".
Quote: "Essor Prof"​Or they are using Numista for managing their coins trough our magnificent catalogue. No one can blaming them for that.
​So not swapping and not using the forum does necessarily means these members our "dead" or "ghost users".
​Yes, quite so. When someone signs up for a Numista account, it does not state that if you don't swap or post on the forum for a year then we will delete your account, nor should it.
Just because you can't see it ... doesn't mean it isn't there - Anon.

Coin catalogue referee for England, United Kingdom & pre-Union South Africa.
Banknote catalogue referee for England & United Kingdom.
Hello,
For not to be active at the Moment, I blame the Canadian Post for it.
What sence does it make to exchange Coins and pay 21can$ for shipping....registered Mail...
For this money i can buy me a nice Silver Coin with free shipping.
I am a regular Visitor ,Member, to Numista on a regular basis. I read most Posts and if i can help someone with an answer i do it.
Please do not delete my Account.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
When I first signed up I was using the site solely to look up coins that I had got through bulk lots. It was about 6 months before I bothered to visit the forum and probably at least another 6 months before I had my first swap. I think that you can't judge whether someone is active based on forum posts or swaps.

I think perhaps a way to weed out the truly inactive members is to send out a warning e-mail. If a new user has not added a coin to their collection, completed a swap, or made a forum post within 6 months of joining, then send out a warning e-mail telling them their account will be deleted if they do not respond. Then if they do not respond within a month, delete their account. You could also do the same for members who have been inactive for a year or so.
What? Me Worry
I will think that few things need to be done / check to catalog users as inactive.

First: Last login e.g. > 6 Months? member=inactive
Second: number of coins for swap e.g. >1 = show member in the list at start a swap or any other features
third: Member does not what to swap at the moment e.g. show since when this function is selected e.g. 200 days..

For member that login and enter coins in their collections, read the forum but dont reply or participate, etc, at least if they login every 6 months, or whatever they should not be listed as inactive...

I dont see the point of closing accounts as you will never know what its going on at his/her location: Mandatory Army service (about 2 years away from home), working abroad, war, natural disaster, or even jail time...

my two cents.
JustforFun...
No reason to fix what ain't broken.
Quote: "Platypus"​No reason to fix what ain't broken.
​It could be called Improvement from another perspective...
JustforFun...
Also, some countries like:
Afghanistan
Yemen
Syria
Iraq (recently cleared)

are dangerous and wars may happen. In this case a high chance of inactivity is guaranteed.
I Thin a simple and fruitful proposta may be to Send a mail to each registrered person Remondini He/She of numismatica and what it offers
CirculableCoins
I don't think any account should be deleted, just made invisible after inactivity. They log back in, everything shows up!

SquareRootLolly, yes, the light blue is for inactive members.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
These would be interesting stats to find out. I would think at least 99% of the 78,000 are inactive.
What I collect: US, 3rd Reich Germany, Philippines, Ancients, Vatican City, North Korea.
Of course it depends on what you call "inactive", but your number is way to high.
It's difficult to draw the line where active/inactive is, but let's say you're inactive when you didn't use Numista anymore since at least 6 months. Can you agree on that?
Well, look at the wonderful posts of Cerulean (https://en.numista.com/forum/topic65096.html). There you see we have an increase of members of 1,7 % each month (average of the last several months). That's about 8.000 new members using Numista in the last six months. Those new members alone are already around 10 % and there we have to add all the members longer here than six months but still active.
And we don't absolutely have a clue about the percentage of members who use Numista for managing their coins or searching for coins in our catalogue without ever making a swap or reading/reacting on the forum. These are active members too.
I have no idea what the real percentage inactive members is, but it surely is a lot less than the 99 % you're talking about.
Quote: "Essor Prof"​Of course it depends on what you call "inactive", but your number is way to high.
​It's difficult to draw the line where active/inactive is, but let's say you're inactive when you didn't use Numista anymore since at least 6 months. Can you agree on that?
​Well, look at the wonderful posts of Cerulean (https://en.numista.com/forum/topic65096.html). There you see we have an increase of members of 1,7 % each month (average of the last several months). That's about 8.000 new members using Numista in the last six months. Those new members alone are already around 10 % and there we have to add all the members longer here than six months but still active.
​And we don't absolutely have a clue about the percentage of members who use Numista for managing their coins or searching for coins in our catalogue without ever making a swap or reading/reacting on the forum. These are active members too.
​I have no idea what the real percentage inactive members is, but it surely is a lot less than the 99 % you're talking about.
​Ah, I grouped active into contributing into discussions, swaps on a weekly, or even monthly basis. I'm sure there are a lot of people who lurk or have done one thing in the last six months.
What I collect: US, 3rd Reich Germany, Philippines, Ancients, Vatican City, North Korea.
Quote: "JustforFun"
Quote: "Platypus"​No reason to fix what ain't broken.
​​It could be called Improvement from another perspective...
​If even a single user returns from a long absence to find their account and their carefully cataloged collection got deleted, this nincompoop initiative will have done more harm than good.
Quote: "Platypus"
​​If even a single user returns from a long absence to find their account and their carefully cataloged collection got deleted...
​that’s not my proposal and I believe no one is asking to delete accounts... people using the website for research, cataloging etc has all rights to stay same as others that go inactevily, but for a better accuracy specially on the swap side something needs to be improved
JustforFun...
Quote: "Monninen1"
Quote: "Ghawk97"​The best way to determine if a member is DEAD is to see when they made thier last exchange. Many haven’t swapped in ages.
​​Yes, that's true. Last forum posts and last swaps. The users who have not posted or swapped in a long time are either "dead" or "ghost users".
​​I've never swapped, and have no plans to start any time soon. I'm not the most knowledgeable or influential member of the forum, and I doubt I'm even on most peoples' radars here. I would hope I'm not considered a "dead" member. Not only that, this year I unexpectedly had a long absence from the forum. It was completely unplanned and completely out of my control.

​I think Platypus hit the nail on the head. If I had come back after that time and found my account wiped I'm not sure I'd be inclined to make a new account and rebuild. Stacked against many others I have a comparatively tiny collection and not much reputation to speak of and it would still be disheartening and daunting to come back and have to start fresh. Outright deletion of accounts is much too extreme, and I think it would create a negative atmosphere as users would become afraid of losing their account over simple things. It also implies that those who swap and post on the forum are more valuable users than others and that's just not the case.

I'm not fully sure how it would work, but I think someone suggest making the swap list of an inactive account invisible. It seems like a decent solution, if indeed inactive members are a problem.
Yes, I have never swapped too, but I post a lot of forum posts. And I totally forgot the users who only collect coins. But those users do not affect swaps. Swapping would be fine, but I wont be swapping anything that does not cost 1€. But I agree the inactive members we have to do something are those who have not swapped in years, been away for years and left many swap "deals".
i think many dont participate in the forums because its so toxic.
Main Referee for Hutt-River
Quote: "Muenzenhamster"​i think many dont participate in the forums because its so toxic.

​Thats also a bit true. But commenting on political youtube videos, almost any instagram pictures or disagreeing with a known person in twitter will basically get you into a giant internet-fight. Expecially when anti -netneutrality supporters, communist land-accounts, people who express their political opinion literally all the time, angry superfeminists, trolls and fake spam accounts appear. Atleast we do not have these here. Its a much better place here than there!
Quote: "JustforFun"
Quote: "Platypus"
​​​If even a single user returns from a long absence to find their account and their carefully cataloged collection got deleted...
​​that’s not my proposal and I believe no one is asking to delete accounts...
Are you sure we're talking about the same thread? ​

frankb: "a year of inactivity would be good way to trim down dormant accounts"

Monninen1: "A users whole exchange list should be removed."

neilithicman: "send out a warning e-mail telling them their account will be deleted if they do not respond."

Once again: don't fix what's not broken. I highly doubt the inactive users are costing the site owners any money
Quote: "redsmithstudios"​I don't think any account should be deleted, just made invisible after inactivity. They log back in, everything shows up!



​If this is technically possible, this would be the ideal solution. Deleting accounts is far too drastic, especially as long as we don't have proper means to determine how long an account is really inactive.
Quote: "Muenzenhamster"​i think many dont participate in the forums because its so toxic.

​Hamster, I get a real kick out of your skewed world view
never kill a mockingbird: it's bad luck.
I don't do much of anything other than post but I am active overall.
I am that serb. xd
Quote: "Platypus"
​Are you sure we're talking about the same thread? ​

​frankb: "a year of inactivity would be good way to trim down dormant accounts"

​Monninen1: "A users whole exchange list should be removed."

​neilithicman: "send out a warning e-mail telling them their account will be deleted if they do not respond."

​Once again: don't fix what's not broken. I highly doubt the inactive users are costing the site owners any money
​Yes I noticed now, and no I am not in favor of such suggestions, but I do support any improvement on the user status condition.

In my case who do I care if X user has X coin for swap, if I am going to find that the only user that has X coin is not actively swapping, and or returning to numista for the las 3-4 years.... this is my concern.
JustforFun...
Rather than punishing, we should try to encourage them to return. My stance is neutral, and people who quit should unsubscribe or at least stop themselves from being open to swaps. But we should try to let them return, too!
Quote: "frankb"​​Hamster, I get a real kick out of your skewed world view
​Who doesn't? :O
At least he figured out my gender this time.


Anyway, about the subject at hand; I'd take the 'make inactive members invisible to avoid cluttering up swap lists, etc. until they ever return'. Deleting anything is a bit too permanent; maybe make it a five year ish deadline for permanent deletion?
Quote
Or maybe just show a "last active" and make life much easier.
^ Also a good suggestion, in my mind. Just make it clear that this person won't likely be swapping any time soon. If I'm understanding correctly that solves the problem and makes life easier for a lot of people trying to find swap partners?
I don't like the idea of sending out auto generated emails. The mostly admirable folks at Colnect have a bad habit of doing that. I don't need a monthly reminder telling me that I haven't updated my collection.

However as a one-of-a-kind initiative it might be worthwhile. I wonder how many accounts were created during the year plus when dear leader abandoned the site? Using the figure above of 8,000 per six months, a figure of 15,000 might seem reasonable. Anyone signing up at that time would have found a derelict site with crippling performance problems and an admin team compromised by some pretty unsavory types.

Perhaps a mass email inviting these people to give Numista a second chance now that the ship has it's Captain back on the bridge, the undesirables purged from the crew, and has been improved dramatically? Apart from those 15,000 folks it's certain that many, many members quit during those dark days. If they are not connected to the Numismatic community it's possible that they remain unaware that matters have improved.

Could one of our admins suggest this to Dear Leader at the next team meeting? Those of us with wider connections in the coin world could also play a part by promoting Numista.

For my part I'd love to see a membership surge. While I love you all, or at least most of you, I'd welcome the opportunity to make some new friends and exciting contacts from all parts of the world.
Non illegitimis carborundum est.  Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!  

I suggest (like some before me) to make members who have been inactive for 3 years be made invisible and upon any activity be made visible again. This would not delete anything permanent.

This would eliminate members who used the site for a one time purpose, or who passed away etc.

Too many times we search for a coin that is listed in swap list, only to find out that members sold their collection or do not swap anymore.

Can this be implemented?

Topic moved to "Numista website" (ZacUK, 25-May-2022, 07:17)

I just received this email and it is refreshing to see that other sites eliminate inactive accounts.  There are too many dead or single use accounts in Numista

 


uCoin.net <noreply@ucoin.net>

Wed, Aug 23, 9:14 AM (2 days ago)

to me

uCoin.net - International Catalog of World Coins

Your account may be deleted soon

 

Dear BMPJ!
You haven't used your xxx@gmail.com account during the last year, so it will be deleted on Sep 23, 2023.
If you would like to keep your account, please visit uCoin.net to reactivate it.
Go to uCoin.net
 

 

I think in terms of swapping it is relatively irrelevant to delete old accounts. If I remember correctly if you were inactive for a wile your name gets light blue on the list of available swap coins and after 6 or 12 months it gets no longer taken into account.

But an actual active user/account number might also indicate more the health of the site and would also be a bit more honest for the possibility to find swap partners and like minded collectors in the fora. Because there are for sure not 200+k active users on Numista.

 

What I would like, even if somebody closed their account, is the possibility to still search their threads they've written in. I had searched for a thread today that a user posted a while ago but it was quite difficult and I had to remember certain phrasings from half a year ago. I couldn't even enter the username in the search bar because they close their account in the meantime and on the profile there is only the ‘The user has closed their Numista account.’ phrase. If older threads of users long gone get the same treatment many informative threads will be hard to find again.

Members have reported the death of some members
Automatic registrations were created in August September 2011 and May 2015 which have been deleted
335 auto-registration spam appeared on August 5, 2019
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic86309.html#p734561
they are always present

there are also suspicious collections, such as having 3 times more copies than the quantity issued

BOINC

  “I think in terms of swapping it is relatively irrelevant to delete old accounts.”

 

That is where I have lots of problems. When I look for a specific coin and it shows that they are on many peoples swap list, it is a waste of time to go through so many inactive accounts.

I believe you but if you delete an unused account or simply take the swap coins out of the pool makes no difference in the result. 

You could only ask to reduce the time of inactivity needed for removing them.

I would also check anyone who joined with in 12 months and if their post count is between 1 - 9 posts and all of their posts are about how much a coin is worth. Then instant deletion - its obvious these treasure seekers got what they wanted and left.

 

Anyone who has not posted over 12 months ago - send an email if their post count is over 50 and high quality posts (Coins and not just memes or some of the rubbish posted over in Free Discussion now due to […]). No response to email, means instant deletion.

 

Better yet, charge all people a $5 a year fee, that will weed out the bots, spammers, treasurer hunters, junque owners and […] I want free coins types. Serious numismatists will pay the fee and if they can't afford it - why are they collecting coins.

[Irrelevant language deleted by moderators]

I love coins

Possible activities:

 

log-in / log-out

consulting catalog

swapping

updating coins by adding, deleting or modifying

messages, creating, answering, editing

consulting forae

 

there might be more, which can be detected by the system. If after 3 years none of those have been executed, just make the account dormant, but not deleting anything.

Globetrotter
Coin varieties in French:
https://monnaiesetvarietes.numista.com

I reckon Numista need to “clean” among the accounts, so this is my proposal:

  • Haven't logged in for 6 months: An e-mail is sent saying something like “Hi username! We have noticed that you haven't logged in for a while. If you wish to keep your account at Numista, please log in to keep your account active.”
  • Haven't confirmed through the link, or haven't logged in for 1 year: “Hi username! We have noticed you haven't logged in for a while. If you wish to keep your account on Numista.com, please click on the link below within 7 days, otherwise your account will be deleeted. *link*”
  • No clicking on the link within 7 days: Account deleted.

 

We have no use for duplicate and/or ghost accounts.

Coin referee for: AZE, FRO, GRL, US-HI, KOR, KGZ, MLI, MHL, MMR, PRK, UZB, SML, TAT, TWN, TJK
Banknote referee for: AGO, AZE, BLR, ECS, GEO, HTI, KAZ, KGZ, KOR, MNG, MRT, PMR, PRK, ROK, SWE, TJK, TKM, TUR, UZB, WSM, ZWE

I don't see the point in deleting inactive user accounts. The only ‘problem’ is when inactive users have coins on their swap list and someone is waiting for that user to reply to a swap request. This can be solved in a few different ways:

 

  1. Don't show inactive users in the list of people who are available for swap (https://en.numista.com/echanges/index.php)
  2. Don't show inactive users in the list of “Members from this site want to exchange it” on a coin page
  3. When opening a swap with an inactive user, place a warning on the screen, just as we do when suspicious activity has been noticed.

 

Our hobby is slowly dying, we don't want to chase away users that are not as active as some of us by deleting accounts or harassing them with e-mails about inactivity.

They say "Pecunia non olet", but I know better...

smvdbrink

Our hobby is slowly dying, we don't want to chase away users that are not as active as some of us by deleting accounts or harassing them with e-mails about inactivity.

I see your point, but I don't know if two (2) e-mails in 1 year (12 months) could be considered as “harassing”. 😉

Coin referee for: AZE, FRO, GRL, US-HI, KOR, KGZ, MLI, MHL, MMR, PRK, UZB, SML, TAT, TWN, TJK
Banknote referee for: AGO, AZE, BLR, ECS, GEO, HTI, KAZ, KGZ, KOR, MNG, MRT, PMR, PRK, ROK, SWE, TJK, TKM, TUR, UZB, WSM, ZWE

smvdbrink

I don't see the point in deleting inactive user accounts. The only ‘problem’ is when inactive users have coins on their swap list and someone is waiting for that user to reply to a swap request. This can be solved in a few different ways:

 

  1. Don't show inactive users in the list of people who are available for swap (https://en.numista.com/echanges/index.php)
  2. Don't show inactive users in the list of “Members from this site want to exchange it” on a coin page
  3. When opening a swap with an inactive user, place a warning on the screen, just as we do when suspicious activity has been noticed.

+1

 

I could be seen as inactive because I am out from home for long periods and during those periods I can not do swaps. The last few years I logged in to translate Numisa, but years ago I did not log in at any time.

 

I think one year without logging in is a good period to consider a member as inactive.

 

I do not agree with deleting inactive accounts. Only in very special cases. We must keep in mind that not all members use Numista for the same things: somebody use it to swap, others to save their collection, others to publish in the forum, others to contribute to the catalog… Also, a member may run into trouble (or die!) and not be able to log anymore, but their collection, messages, contributions... are here, we should not to delete their work.

 

Related to this, a member status could be added: active, inactive, dead (dead status will be set by admins or Xavier when another member send a notification), and display it in the account. For example, szmata died in October 2021.

Wanted & swap list (euro coins & world coins, exonumia and banknotes circulated) https://goo.gl/AQjfKp - I have euro & world CC coins for swap.

davidhs

smvdbrink

I don't see the point in deleting inactive user accounts. The only ‘problem’ is when inactive users have coins on their swap list and someone is waiting for that user to reply to a swap request. This can be solved in a few different ways:

 

  1. Don't show inactive users in the list of people who are available for swap (https://en.numista.com/echanges/index.php)
  2. Don't show inactive users in the list of “Members from this site want to exchange it” on a coin page
  3. When opening a swap with an inactive user, place a warning on the screen, just as we do when suspicious activity has been noticed.

+1

 

I could be seen as inactive because I am out from home for long periods and during those periods I can not do swaps. The last few years I logged in to translate Numisa, but years ago I did not log in at any time.

 

I think one year without logging in is a good period to consider a member as inactive.

 

I do not agree with deleting inactive accounts. Only in very special cases. We must keep in mind that not all members use Numista for the same things: somebody use it to swap, others to save their collection, others to publish in the forum, others to contribute to the catalog… Also, a member may run into trouble (or die!) and not be able to log anymore, but their collection, messages, contributions... are here, we should not to delete their work.

 

Related to this, a member status could be added: active, inactive, dead (dead status will be set by admins or Xavier when another member send a notification), and display it in the account. For example, szmata died in October 2021.

+1


I am also not in favor of deleting inactive accounts. 

 

I don't usually do it, but I'll use myself as an example: I created my Numista account in September 2014, and until January 2018 I didn't start entering my collection, making swaps and, later, trying to collaborate as much as possible on the catalog. If my account had been deleted in those first 3 years of inactivity, possibly I would not be a Numista collaborator now. This can happen to many people. 

 

Surely, if in those first 3 years of inactivity Numista had sent me an email warning me that if I did not sign in on the website within a certain time they would delete my account, I don't think I would have cared (hence the inactivity) and it would have been lost to an active user in the future.

Coin referee for: Andorra
Banknote referee for: Spain and Andorra

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