I wonder what the actual split is. What is the number of front page stories cont...

onwardly · on Oct 21, 2010

There's a rule similar to 80/20 which is 90-9-1. 90% are just observers, 9% react/respond (think upvote), and 1% contribute. I wouldn't be surprised if the HN/Reddit/etc. is close to this or some normalized and skewed version of it.

TooSmugToFail · on Oct 22, 2010

I don't think that it's that extreme.

The difference between Wikipedia and Reddit/HN is what I would venture calling 'contribution barrier.'

Think how hard is it to contribute to a Wikipedia article vs. Posting or commenting on Reddit/HN. Let alone voting.

I'd imagine that most of the registered users have voted, and a majority have commented. I don't imagine quite a lot of people have posted links.

If I'd have to guess a ratio of lurkers:voters:commenters:posters, I'd say it's 40:30:25:5.

jonathanjaeger · on Oct 17, 2010

I'm not sure about HN, but I heard people say that the main editors/volunteers on Wikipedia that do the bulk of the work are somewhere in the 1000+ range (somewhere in the low four-digits).