I really hope I'm not bringing up a dead subject but after reading comments suggesting that only a minor % of users contribute to the site (for various reasons and usefully / otherwise) I wondered if there was any available data to look at how many people do different kinds of things and how appreciated they are. E.g. of the 30,000+ users, how many regularly log in, how many have made something (non-photo) that got a 90% rating, what kinds of things are read / clicked on the most (mountain pages, trip reports, photos etc.). Often feedback is gained based on forum comments which attract a small subset of people but I wonder if there is some useful trend and insight information hidden in the raw numbers. Just considering new users, if someone new joins what is it they have joined for for example? Is it to post a commercial ad? Is it because if you click on anyone's name you are asked to sign in? Is it to sign some climbers logs? Is it to make a page where there isn't one? Is it to comment in the forums? Anyway, some random thoughts for people to ignore / criticise / expand upon.

Baarb wrote: Is it because if you click on anyone's name you are asked to sign in?

Only if you go from the forum. If you go from "People" you don't have to sign in.