Lounger's ages

[--Pete]

Hi,

I like to scan the daily list of birthdays, partially out of curiosity, partially so that I can give a shout to anyone whom I 'know' who's having a birthday.

The birthday list gives each person's age, and it is interesting that (or so it seems) the vast majority are in their 30's. That got me to wondering what the age distribution of the Lounge really is (or at least that of the people who give that info). When I went off with my mining gear to get that data, I found out that, short of looking at each member individually, I couldn't generate a list.

So, my challenge to the powers that be: Any way to add that to the fields that can be displayed? If not, any way that one of the mods could do it? And, most important, any mod want to do it?

Curiously yours,

--Pete

[LennyLen]

How's your programmign skill, Pete?

If this information can't be displayed in a field, it could be obtained by writing a program that reads every user's profile and extracts the date.

Even if birthdays can be shown in threads, this would still be a better approach, as it would save you from having to locate a post by every member.

[--Pete]

Hi,

How's your programmign skill, Pete?

As rusty as the Titanic. Not to mention all my tools are lost in the detritus of two moves and eight years.;)

If this information can't be displayed in a field, it could be obtained by writing a program that reads every user's profile and extracts the date.

Even if birthdays can be shown in threads, this would still be a better approach, as it would save you from having to locate a post by every member.

Well, yeah. I didn't mean to add an age field, nor to add the age or birth date to posts. I was just wondering if the birthday field could be added to the fields displayed on the 'members' page.

If my curiosity gets big enough, I might even go so far as adding the possibility of looking into programing a search algorithm to my to do list;)

--Pete

[LennyLen]

I was just wondering if the birthday field could be added to the fields displayed on the 'members' page.

It already is. Hence why I know (unless you lied;)) that you'll be turning 64 this November.

I might even go so far as adding the possibility of looking into programing a search algorithm to my to do list

If you can wait a week until I'm back home again, I'll do it for you.

[--Pete]

Hi,

It already is. Hence why I know (unless you lied;)) that you'll be turning 64 this November.

Guilty. What I meant was on this page. I could handle 74 cut 'n paste (at 50 lines per page), but going through 15,952 individual members is too much for me.

If you can wait a week until I'm back home again, I'll do it for you.

I'll be in your debt:)

--Pete

[Mirajj]

This makes me want to dig up the old DSF/Lurker Lounge Breakdown. I wonder if that's even survived the many comp issues I've had over the years.

[--Pete]

Hi,

This makes me want to dig up the old DSF/Lurker Lounge Breakdown. I wonder if that's even survived the many comp issues I've had over the years.

If it has and you find it, would you send me a copy. I'd love to take it and the new list and compare what the years have done. I'd put it together like one of those ancient statistical posts and put it up here. Fun.:)

--Pete

[LennyLen]

I threw the following together and sent it to a friend via IM who compiled it for me and sent me back the executable.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

char URL[256];

int main() {

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;int n;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;for (n = 1; n < 39115; n++) {

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;sprintf(URL, "curl http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?showuser=%d > profile%d.htm", n, n);
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;printf("%s\n", URL);
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;system(URL);

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;return 0;
}

So I now have everyone's profiles being downloaded to the laptop. When it's finished runing, I'll extract the results.

EDIT: This is the first time I've used curl, and it's slower than I thought. At this rate it's going to take 6 - 10 hours to get all the profiles.

[LennyLen]

I stopped the program for now, as it occured to me how much data the server is going to have to transmit for me to read nearly 40,000 pages at around 30Kb each - just over 1Gb. But if Bolty replies and says he's OK with that, I'll resume.

[Xiuhcoatl]

Hi,

I like to scan the daily list of birthdays, partially out of curiosity, partially so that I can give a shout to anyone whom I 'know' who's having a birthday.

The birthday list gives each person's age, and it is interesting that (or so it seems) the vast majority are in their 30's. That got me to wondering what the age distribution of the Lounge really is (or at least that of the people who give that info). When I went off with my mining gear to get that data, I found out that, short of looking at each member individually, I couldn't generate a list.

So, my challenge to the powers that be: Any way to add that to the fields that can be displayed? If not, any way that one of the mods could do it? And, most important, any mod want to do it?

Curiously yours,

--Pete

Don't take that information too seriously, Pete, because I'll bet that I am not the only person who rarely uses my correct birthdate to register for anything over the internet. :wacko:

[LennyLen]

Here is the list of birth dates that I retrieved so far.

[Mirajj]

Hi,
If it has and you find it, would you send me a copy. I'd love to take it and the new list and compare what the years have done. I'd put it together like one of those ancient statistical posts and put it up here. Fun.:)

--Pete

The only version I could find was the Mid-2001 version of the Diablo Strategy Forum Breakdown, and was the posting just after I'd asked folks to turn to giving me their birthyear instead of their age so that the DSFB would be more self-updating, so it's an interesting half mix of both, from folks who responded and those who didn't. The rest must have been lost in a recent complete HD reinstall I did, as I was ruthless with what I didn't bother to try to 'save'.

I'll send you a PM with the Breakdown in it, unless folks want it reposted here. There are a ton of old names on there, who I wonder where they've gone over the years.

[Bolty]

But if Bolty replies and says he's OK with that, I'll resume.

I've got the bandwidth. I think a lot of your data is going to be junk, though, thanks to the thousands of spambot registrations.

-Bolty

[LennyLen]

I think a lot of your data is going to be junk, though, thanks to the thousands of spambot registrations.

I'm pretty sure most of them keep the birth date in it's default state, which is private, so they won't get counted. Deliberately inaccurate dates given by humans will probably be a bigger issue.

But Pete can deal with those problems, I'll just get him the data.;)

[--Pete]

Hi,

The only version I could find was the Mid-2001 version of the Diablo Strategy Forum Breakdown, and was the posting just after I'd asked folks to turn to giving me their birthyear instead of their age so that the DSFB would be more self-updating, so it's an interesting half mix of both, from folks who responded and those who didn't. The rest must have been lost in a recent complete HD reinstall I did, as I was ruthless with what I didn't bother to try to 'save'.

I'll send you a PM with the Breakdown in it, unless folks want it reposted here. There are a ton of old names on there, who I wonder where they've gone over the years.

Thank you. Please ignore the second PM I sent you, since mid-2001 is sufficient info to convert DoB to age. Appreciate the help. If there is a desire to see the list, I'd be happy to post it after cleaning it up a bit (for instance, removing the occupation and location -- some people might not want that info released anymore).

--Pete

[--Pete]

Hi,

Don't take that information too seriously, Pete, because I'll bet that I am not the only person who rarely uses my correct birthdate to register for anything over the internet. :wacko:

I'm sure you're right. But since the DoB is an optional entry in the Lounge's DB, I suspect I'll see a lot of blanks and not too many false entries. But, in any case, since this is for no better purpose than amusement, if it's off, no harm done.

--Pete

[--Pete]

Hi,

Here is the list of birth dates that I retrieved so far.

Thanks, snagged it. When you post the rest, let me know if these are duplicated, please.

--Pete

[weakwarrior]

I'm pretty sure most of them keep the birth date in it's default state, which is private, so they won't get counted. Deliberately inaccurate dates given by humans will probably be a bigger issue.

But Pete can deal with those problems, I'll just get him the data.;)

Just a curiosity question. As one of the most computer savvy people here how is it you never actually get your responses to be attached to the comment you respond to, and instead have them on the starting comment? I honestly mean no offense.

[Mirajj]

Just a curiosity question. As one of the most computer savvy people here how is it you never actually get your responses to be attached to the comment you respond to, and instead have them on the starting comment? I honestly mean no offense.

Easy. I'd wager he looks at the forums in "Linear+" mode (much like I do) and when he has something he wants to say, "replies" to the original post.

[roguebanshee]

Easy. I'd wager he looks at the forums in "Linear+" mode (much like I do) and when he has something he wants to say, "replies" to the original post.

Using the "Add Reply" button at the bottom of the page instead of the Reply button in the post.