The "New Look"... So, What Are the Numbers?

[kaleokahu]

I ask those Hounds who are conversant in the Interwebs Statistics of hits and clicks and visits: So far, what is the measurable effect of the "New Look" on participation on Chowhound?

We heard upon launch of a trend to the worse, which some explained away as some Thanksgiving/Black Friday slump. Sounded to me like a political explanation of bad polling numbers.

Now that we're past the putative "slump", what are the data? And where, on the continuum between abject failure and wild success, does Management find itself with this change?

Aloha,
Kaleo

[John Francis]

Probably too soon to tell.

[kengk]

This would be the most hilarious thing EVER. In six months or so they should change it back exactly the way it was for a few days. I would bet a dollar there would be as much bitching and moaning then as from this change.

[gnashingshitfactory]

The "new look" sucks.
They obviously don't do any focus groups.
As usual, the management listens to what the "loudest/laziest/for profit" underling/wannabe says.
I definitely spend less time here (other than posting this rant).
/end bitch

[fussycouple]

I spend even less time on the page when I do come here, and I'm much less inclined to browse.

Honestly I really can't stand the "new" design, particularly the loss of the "day" tabs.

[Marion Morgenthal]

I agree. I find I use the site less and less, partly because others seem to be doing so as well--so less to look at. There seems to be a lag of several days in things posting, and it's generally just not inviting. Sad what's been done to what used to be a great resource.

[Servorg]

"There seems to be a lag of several days in things posting..."

Are you saying that after you hit post, that your replies or new posts aren't showing up for several days? I've never experienced that in 11 years of using this site, even at the very worst of times as far problems with the software. Have you ever asked here on Site Talk about that issue? Has anyone in Engineering ever looked into it as far as you know?

[Marion Morgenthal]

The issue I've seen is that when I refresh the screen, the most recent post I see is from several days earlier. If I go in the next day and refresh, I see posts that logically should have shown up the prior day, but didn't--and the most recent post is, once again, about 4 days old. It's something I've never seen before either.

My experience with raising issues for engineering to look into is that they say they will and then nothing changes. So, hasn't been worth my time in the past--so not likely to bother going forward.

[Melanie Wong]

Sounds like you've inadvertently changed the sort order for viewing message boards. Switch back to "last reply" as your viewing option.

[HillJ]

http://boardreader.com/site/Chowhound...

[paulj]

The site description from Alexa is interesting:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/www.cho...

"Statistics Summary for chow.com

Chow.com's three-month global Alexa traffic rank is 3,473. It is particularly highly ranked in the cities of Boston (#489) and Toronto (#616). Visitors to the site view 1.6 unique pages each day on average. The fraction of visits to the site referred by search engines is roughly 52%. Compared with the overall internet population, Chow.com's audience tends to be Caucasian; they are also disproportionately moderately educated, childless women earning over $60,000 who browse from home."

[ipsedixit]

I'm surprised how high "caster sugar" ranks ...

[paulj]

Probably people searching for info triggered on some holiday recipe. And there are some threads, such as this from General: What is caster sugar
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/292236

[ipsedixit]

I would think "too buggy" or "layout hurts my eyes" or "too hard to read" or "no contrast" would be higher than "caster sugar".

[paulj]

Those might common phrases in posts in the last couple of weeks, but no one is going to do a web search for them. The rankings you cited were for general search engine uses. The kind of thing that brings new people to the site, not bitching by regulars.

[ipsedixit]

I guess you missed the joke.

[cowboyardee]

http://hostye.com/d/chowhound.chow.com/
http://hostye.com/d/chowhound.chow.co...

Can't verify that accuracy of the data... but it's better than nothing.

[kaleokahu]

Thanks, Cowboy:

Looks like the hits seem to be relatively stable. From the boards--oops, categories--I visit most, my sense is that contributory participation is down.

Is there reportage of posts as opposed to looks?

Aloha,
Kaleo

[paulj]

Looking at those graphs shortly after Christmas, I see:
- overall 2012 is down from 2011

- both years have strong Thanksgiving and Christmas peaks, as well as clear weekly cycle

- there's no drop in the middle December around the time of the format change.

- despite the overall drop for the year, the interholiday period might be an improvement, and the Christmas peak might actually be higher than last year.