Summary and statistics of 2024

[cobito]

This year there has been very little movement from the administration. There are no significant changes on any proprietary pages and updates to pages developed by third parties have essentially been in line with security updates (Mastodon), bug fixes (forum) and new features (which are actually quite interesting regarding Peertube's automatic subtitling).

In terms of hardware, a new machine has been added to host the Redis server and lighten the load on the main server, which we have been demanding more from for several months than it can really provide.

In summary, I have to say that the general state of neglect is a bit embarrassing, both in the incorporation of new features and in the updating of hardware. 2024 has essentially been a year of technical minimums for several reasons that (with a bit of luck), in 2025 will be remedied. If the predictions come true, this year a budget will be executed for the renewal of several machines, which will make it possible to provide a better service mainly to the Peertube instance, but also to the rest of the pages. A prudent number of weekly hours would also be reserved to be able to get to all the changes (which are not few) that I have noted.

All this are illusions and good wishes, but they are not empty promises and it is something that I really would like to be able to do.

And now, the visit statistics.

Forum

Participation in the forum has not changed compared to what has been seen in recent years. I would like to find a way to interconnect Mastodon, Peertube and the forum since there are groups of users isolated from each other on the three platforms with the same interests.

Regarding the number of visits, they have multiplied by 2.3 compared to 2023 although most metrics do not double. I do not know the reasons for this growth that has also been sustained in recent years while participation fails to take off. This year in particular, I could attribute it to the hoarding of human-created content to train IAs, since it is a phenomenon that has been commented on in several places.

As I have been doing, I wanted to thank the moderation team for the work they do eliminating spam. Without them, this would be an abandoned farmhouse with the roof caved in. In addition, I cannot forget all the forum members who are still there participating from time to time.

Videos

The Peertube instance continues to be the undisputed king of participation. Unfortunately, the quality of service has been deteriorating gradually in recent months due to the implementation of automatic subtitling (Whisper consumes a lot of CPU) and a substantial increase in participation. Hence, there is beginning to be some urgency in looking for a more powerful machine.

Regarding 2023, there are contradictory data: a reduction in the number of unique visitors but a substantial increase in the number of pages visited.

In any case, the Hardlimit instance is the tenth worldwide by number of videos and the number one in Spain.

Test Bank

The number of visits to the test bank has multiplied by almost 5 compared to 2023. Participation remains vigorous with 510 validations in 2024 versus 340 in 2023.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who validate your machines, knowing that many do so anonymously. It is you who make this worthwhile.

Let's hope that 2025 continues on the same good path.

Cover

The cover statistics are distorted by a fairly strong attack that occurred during October and November. Taking a range of 3000-5000 monthly visitors in "normal" months, the number of visits has more than tripled.

I have dedicated time to the cover practically every day and in 2025 it will continue to be so. I hope to be able to extend this practice to the rest of the pages, as I mentioned before.

Social

The Mastodon instance continues as last year: it has not grown, but it is not problematic thanks to the federated topology of the social network. This page would also benefit greatly from a hardware upgrade.

As I see it, this is the first year with reliable statistics, so 2024 will be taken as a reference.

Museum

The museum is another page that has been affected by the massive attack on the cover, only that it seems that the bad bots focused on it a few months earlier.

Taking normal months, you can see 600-1000 monthly visitors. That is around 20% more than in 2023.

In 2023, a new file browser was launched, but a technical problem made it have to be stopped in 2024. I think it's a pretty cool project, the truth, although I know it didn't catch on even among the retro community. Still, since I think it's cool, I want to include its development within the wishes for 2025. I have several ideas noted down.

And here ends the summary of this year. I really hope to be able to execute everything I would have liked to do so far.

Thanks to all who are still there and long live Hardlimit!

[Sylver]

As always, thank you very much, Exmo. Mayor @cobito for everything you do and plan to do for this our virtual meeting place dedicated to general computer science.
The same goes for the fantastic moderation team that supports the daily functioning of the site.

Many would have let this become an abandoned and half-collapsed farmhouse, as you rightly say, but you have not only not done that, but you continue to put your own effort and resources into improving it and trying to make it grow, apart from maintaining it, which is no small feat.

We can never thank you enough for all this.
And hopefully, at some point, there will be an unexpected change in virtual trends, and this can return to being the massive meeting place it was a few years ago.

@cobito said in Summary and statistics of 2024:

In any case, the Hardlimit instance is the tenth worldwide by number of videos and the number one in Spain.

Watch out because this is no small feat! ️ In the long run, it could mean an increase in participation in the forum if we somehow promote it more through the video platform.

For the rest, we will try to continue here as always, supporting to the best of our ability, and learning new things always, because no matter how much time passes, there are always new developments.

A hug and long live Hardlimit!

[pos_yo]

The instance of PeerTube also has a number of creators who contribute quality on par with some modest YouTube channels, and one should give a try to periodically watching their TL local.

@cobito said in 2024 Summary and Statistics:

All of this is wishful thinking and good intentions, but they are not empty promises, and it is something I would really like to be able to do.

It is not easy to have time for everything. So the intention is appreciated in the same way.