Eastern Illinois University
2011-04-13 14:22:55 UTC
Descriptions of statistics:
Usenet articles covering approximately 40,000 text-only newsgroups were
retrieved from archive storage and distributed onto a cluster of computers.
This archive consumed just under 4 TB of total storage, uncompressed.
A program was written to run in parallel on each machine and examine
every article, recording its date. Article dates were then aggregated by
month, and then by newsgroup. A final program took these aggregates and
composed a table of monthly posting statistics.
Some notes: cross-posted articles were counted in each newsgroup that they
appeared, which would serve to inflate the numbers. We estimate that these
statistics are accurate within +/- 50 million, when taken as a whole. In
future, more comprehensive posting statistics will be released.
Usenet Posting Statistics By Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1981 131 426 284 258 442 492 515 943
1982 1,277 1,213 1,240 1,498 1,646 2,790 2,314 1,877 2,271 2,123 4,029 4,595
1983 3,448 3,804 3,348 4,550 2,022 6,481 6,152 7,569 6,221 6,922 7,902 7,551
1984 9,351 9,578 10,830 9,558 11,396 9,769 9,738 10,321 7,934 11,012 11,201 10,419
1985 14,849 13,668 13,851 13,200 15,009 13,693 16,744 17,433 14,764 16,704 13,796 11,501
1986 14,475 15,160 15,837 5,730 7,872 5,429 7,571 7,108 9,611 10,252 7,541 6,862
1987 8,701 9,152 9,870 9,948 9,559 9,830 11,017 10,900 12,277 13,910 12,981 13,005
1988 16,174 17,144 19,729 17,115 17,006 14,772 15,426 14,651 16,631 18,168 19,183 18,866
1989 23,300 21,947 31,240 34,472 47,382 43,748 41,409 48,876 46,801 54,534 58,830 57,672
1990 80,683 83,101 98,069 92,962 93,566 89,369 90,512 82,458 104,350 123,291 137,185 118,267
1991 143,694 123,606 157,752 167,196 206,857 189,710 193,295 205,005 204,038 244,607 185,875 64,681
1992 367,500 379,056 426,499 399,108 409,686 432,712 449,699 421,214 484,345 521,352 497,599 457,695
1993 555,604 569,291 656,978 622,034 612,388 636,213 593,218 691,069 760,898 486,241 754,442 861,742
1994 1,027,872 940,294 1,033,495 1,281,307 1,361,123 1,209,073 1,121,302 1,016,877 1,170,295 1,190,939 1,718,987 1,366,953
1995 1,563,837 1,739,899 2,240,455 1,407,866 1,563,647 1,599,109 1,673,314 1,881,443 1,697,528 1,552,694 2,057,720 2,431,586
1996 3,909,321 4,027,208 3,473,868 4,924,901 5,087,435 4,775,434 4,978,530 5,417,868 5,517,660 5,918,252 5,814,326 5,391,025
1997 6,538,063 6,409,614 7,456,621 6,897,406 6,444,576 6,195,805 6,229,325 5,323,337 6,656,135 6,595,010 6,517,248 7,125,199
1998 8,043,816 7,801,247 9,058,796 8,650,966 8,470,178 8,334,604 8,716,914 9,106,049 9,273,835 9,723,810 9,374,867 9,455,513
1999 10,620,498 9,691,779 10,434,098 10,340,437 10,266,401 10,367,794 10,339,323 10,598,085 10,462,023 10,309,812 10,904,215 10,560,306
2000 11,725,615 10,123,582 11,976,905 11,191,031 10,756,017 10,313,338 10,744,626 10,938,005 9,672,088 10,901,636 10,929,932 9,935,392
2001 11,214,337 9,368,577 10,420,997 10,036,728 10,783,799 10,502,654 10,408,278 10,561,123 10,517,618 11,021,070 10,442,306 9,754,440
2002 11,272,388 9,938,189 10,634,128 10,652,435 10,590,801 10,036,980 10,183,143 8,499,215 9,108,988 9,878,812 9,734,531 9,355,624
2003 10,533,501 9,342,950 10,249,031 9,533,326 9,481,384 9,090,681 9,183,235 8,556,136 8,971,127 9,276,749 9,013,707 8,790,300
2004 9,623,857 8,924,525 9,579,546 8,988,150 9,147,413 10,121,302 8,853,697 8,786,169 8,802,680 8,676,141 8,697,878 8,256,727
2005 8,546,412 7,647,729 8,773,502 8,392,921 8,443,716 8,059,719 7,970,086 6,992,656 7,414,806 7,321,084 7,129,134 6,791,361
2006 7,228,346 6,256,051 6,793,186 6,138,449 6,315,364 5,957,730 5,968,741 5,829,288 5,886,166 5,992,820 5,803,333 5,360,458
2007 5,751,529 5,075,241 5,634,786 5,225,295 5,506,450 5,305,997 5,073,352 5,634,428 4,972,728 5,118,457 5,256,100 4,934,229
2008 4,898,228 4,339,665 4,636,479 4,380,459 4,181,320 4,116,458 3,913,831 3,868,060 4,232,179 4,808,141 4,306,165 3,914,177
2009 3,688,326 3,288,621 3,304,243 3,075,819 3,124,703 3,014,681 3,019,050 2,986,037 2,967,051 2,895,195 2,841,565 2,792,746
2010 2,974,405 2,686,972 2,897,200 2,714,551 2,820,237 2,704,778 2,704,947 2,596,554 2,640,849 2,231,514 1,213,096 351,341
2011 228,642 57,070
Usenet Posting Totals By Year
1981 3,491 (from May)
1982 26,873
1983 65,970
1984 121,107
1985 175,212
1986 113,448
1987 131,150
1988 204,865
1989 510,211
1990 1,193,813
1991 2,086,316
1992 5,246,465
1993 7,800,118
1994 14,438,517
1995 21,409,098
1996 59,235,828
1997 78,388,339
1998 106,010,595
1999 124,894,771
2000 129,208,167
2001 125,031,927
2002 119,885,234
2003 112,022,127
2004 108,458,085
2005 93,483,126
2006 73,529,932
2007 63,488,592
2008 51,595,162
2009 36,998,037
2010 28,536,444
2011 285,712 (up to Feb)
Overall Usenet Posting Total
1,364,578,732 articles
Usenet articles covering approximately 40,000 text-only newsgroups were
retrieved from archive storage and distributed onto a cluster of computers.
This archive consumed just under 4 TB of total storage, uncompressed.
A program was written to run in parallel on each machine and examine
every article, recording its date. Article dates were then aggregated by
month, and then by newsgroup. A final program took these aggregates and
composed a table of monthly posting statistics.
Some notes: cross-posted articles were counted in each newsgroup that they
appeared, which would serve to inflate the numbers. We estimate that these
statistics are accurate within +/- 50 million, when taken as a whole. In
future, more comprehensive posting statistics will be released.
Usenet Posting Statistics By Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1981 131 426 284 258 442 492 515 943
1982 1,277 1,213 1,240 1,498 1,646 2,790 2,314 1,877 2,271 2,123 4,029 4,595
1983 3,448 3,804 3,348 4,550 2,022 6,481 6,152 7,569 6,221 6,922 7,902 7,551
1984 9,351 9,578 10,830 9,558 11,396 9,769 9,738 10,321 7,934 11,012 11,201 10,419
1985 14,849 13,668 13,851 13,200 15,009 13,693 16,744 17,433 14,764 16,704 13,796 11,501
1986 14,475 15,160 15,837 5,730 7,872 5,429 7,571 7,108 9,611 10,252 7,541 6,862
1987 8,701 9,152 9,870 9,948 9,559 9,830 11,017 10,900 12,277 13,910 12,981 13,005
1988 16,174 17,144 19,729 17,115 17,006 14,772 15,426 14,651 16,631 18,168 19,183 18,866
1989 23,300 21,947 31,240 34,472 47,382 43,748 41,409 48,876 46,801 54,534 58,830 57,672
1990 80,683 83,101 98,069 92,962 93,566 89,369 90,512 82,458 104,350 123,291 137,185 118,267
1991 143,694 123,606 157,752 167,196 206,857 189,710 193,295 205,005 204,038 244,607 185,875 64,681
1992 367,500 379,056 426,499 399,108 409,686 432,712 449,699 421,214 484,345 521,352 497,599 457,695
1993 555,604 569,291 656,978 622,034 612,388 636,213 593,218 691,069 760,898 486,241 754,442 861,742
1994 1,027,872 940,294 1,033,495 1,281,307 1,361,123 1,209,073 1,121,302 1,016,877 1,170,295 1,190,939 1,718,987 1,366,953
1995 1,563,837 1,739,899 2,240,455 1,407,866 1,563,647 1,599,109 1,673,314 1,881,443 1,697,528 1,552,694 2,057,720 2,431,586
1996 3,909,321 4,027,208 3,473,868 4,924,901 5,087,435 4,775,434 4,978,530 5,417,868 5,517,660 5,918,252 5,814,326 5,391,025
1997 6,538,063 6,409,614 7,456,621 6,897,406 6,444,576 6,195,805 6,229,325 5,323,337 6,656,135 6,595,010 6,517,248 7,125,199
1998 8,043,816 7,801,247 9,058,796 8,650,966 8,470,178 8,334,604 8,716,914 9,106,049 9,273,835 9,723,810 9,374,867 9,455,513
1999 10,620,498 9,691,779 10,434,098 10,340,437 10,266,401 10,367,794 10,339,323 10,598,085 10,462,023 10,309,812 10,904,215 10,560,306
2000 11,725,615 10,123,582 11,976,905 11,191,031 10,756,017 10,313,338 10,744,626 10,938,005 9,672,088 10,901,636 10,929,932 9,935,392
2001 11,214,337 9,368,577 10,420,997 10,036,728 10,783,799 10,502,654 10,408,278 10,561,123 10,517,618 11,021,070 10,442,306 9,754,440
2002 11,272,388 9,938,189 10,634,128 10,652,435 10,590,801 10,036,980 10,183,143 8,499,215 9,108,988 9,878,812 9,734,531 9,355,624
2003 10,533,501 9,342,950 10,249,031 9,533,326 9,481,384 9,090,681 9,183,235 8,556,136 8,971,127 9,276,749 9,013,707 8,790,300
2004 9,623,857 8,924,525 9,579,546 8,988,150 9,147,413 10,121,302 8,853,697 8,786,169 8,802,680 8,676,141 8,697,878 8,256,727
2005 8,546,412 7,647,729 8,773,502 8,392,921 8,443,716 8,059,719 7,970,086 6,992,656 7,414,806 7,321,084 7,129,134 6,791,361
2006 7,228,346 6,256,051 6,793,186 6,138,449 6,315,364 5,957,730 5,968,741 5,829,288 5,886,166 5,992,820 5,803,333 5,360,458
2007 5,751,529 5,075,241 5,634,786 5,225,295 5,506,450 5,305,997 5,073,352 5,634,428 4,972,728 5,118,457 5,256,100 4,934,229
2008 4,898,228 4,339,665 4,636,479 4,380,459 4,181,320 4,116,458 3,913,831 3,868,060 4,232,179 4,808,141 4,306,165 3,914,177
2009 3,688,326 3,288,621 3,304,243 3,075,819 3,124,703 3,014,681 3,019,050 2,986,037 2,967,051 2,895,195 2,841,565 2,792,746
2010 2,974,405 2,686,972 2,897,200 2,714,551 2,820,237 2,704,778 2,704,947 2,596,554 2,640,849 2,231,514 1,213,096 351,341
2011 228,642 57,070
Usenet Posting Totals By Year
1981 3,491 (from May)
1982 26,873
1983 65,970
1984 121,107
1985 175,212
1986 113,448
1987 131,150
1988 204,865
1989 510,211
1990 1,193,813
1991 2,086,316
1992 5,246,465
1993 7,800,118
1994 14,438,517
1995 21,409,098
1996 59,235,828
1997 78,388,339
1998 106,010,595
1999 124,894,771
2000 129,208,167
2001 125,031,927
2002 119,885,234
2003 112,022,127
2004 108,458,085
2005 93,483,126
2006 73,529,932
2007 63,488,592
2008 51,595,162
2009 36,998,037
2010 28,536,444
2011 285,712 (up to Feb)
Overall Usenet Posting Total
1,364,578,732 articles