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Comments on the Statistic graph:
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Total: | The total number of messages posted in the period shown.
Approx. 5 messages day is a comfortable number to read. There are
other newsgroups with much more traffic.
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Info: | This can be any kind of information. It's
an unhappy fact that many of these messages are banal or advertising
unrelated to NDT. Many
readers are bothered by this kind of 'spam'. These messages are part of
the specific graph advert and misc.
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Requests: | Messages that ask for information.
Some are clearly requesting commercial information such as product
recommendations, etc. - One more reason why companies should participate
in the
newsgroup! |
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FollowUp: | Messages that offer an answer to a posted topic.
The high
number shows that there are many helpful people reading this newsgroup .
Of course, for
some it's just publicity, but why not - if it helps.
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NDT: | Messages related to NDT. Also a few named NDT methods are
included
in this part for which we didn't make an extra graph. But most
of those do not mention any kind of NDT method.
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UT: | UT is clearly the topical NDT theme. Isn't it also the
biggest
NDT market?!
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RT: | Radiography showed some potential for growth
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ECT: | Eddy current testing showed some activity
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IRT: | After UT, Infrared Testing was the specific NDT topic
most frequently mentioned.
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Technique: | Themes which are not directly related to NDT. Sometimes
these are
testing themes but mostly they're about general physics or techniques.
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Advert: | Advertising is a delicate issue in the newsgroup. The
majority of people don't want it. Banal and low-key advertising constitutes
about fifty percent of it. But what is low-key? Some companies think that a
product announcement is OK. Others post frequent announcements
that they have a home page. It's not a thing to be proud of, especially if
it needs exposure on the newsgroup to increase their poor traffic.
During one dispute we offered a free space for product announcement
in our news section; even if it is counter-productive for our business.
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Jobs: | Employment offers and job seekers. It's showing
increased usage lately. Bruce Spedding is maintaining a free Webpage for
Jobs and
announcing his frequent updates on the newsgroup.
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Events: | Conferences, Workshops are posted here. We just wondered
why there is a need to announce the European-American Workshop nine times
in April. See Deja News
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Misc: | SEX or similarly non-relevant topics are part of this
figure.
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Messages by months Jan '96 - April '97:
Comparing the Year '96
and '97 we can see an increase of about 30%. That the summer is a vacation
time from the Internet is also clearly evident. | 
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