Dear moderators, wouldn’t be time to get a stub entry in Wikipedia.org for UMSF ? It might begin with:

UMSF UnmannedSpaceflight is an online community of space/astronomy enthusiasts, founded and facilitated by Doug Ellison in 2004.
The website features a forum for online discussions on unmanned exploration of the solar system and beyond.
Etc etc … … …

Just an idea

I wouldn't want to do it ( too much of a trumpet blowing exercise ) but if someone else wants to ping me for questions and then start one, I'm all for it.

Doug

It would bring more "publicity" to the site, which could invite all kinds of unwanted posters, and of course, spammers.

I agree, leave it off Wikipedia, it would just attract unwanted traffic (spammers, etc)

Speaking of which, how are the traffic numbers now after the glogging, Doug? Any uptick?

I pulled out day-by-day stats from the couple of weeks before, the week of, and week after....nothing that would be considered anything other than statistical noise.


Doug

Statistical noise!?!?! That's a service I provide here for free!

In the past you were much more reticent about publicity so I was careful to respect your wishes. Doug, Since you are now for it, I will promote UMSF much more heavily. In my past public outreach talks I have come across some UMSF lurkers and contributors.

ken

It would be nice to have a wiki entry up to explain to our co-workers, friends and family that our own obsessions aren't unique

Having direct links in to UMSF from APOD is certainly great publicity, and I think a wiki article could be a jumping off point for even more 'good' traffic.

As you say, I have been a little reluctant to 'spread the word' partly because I don't like to trumpet blow, and partly because I've always been concerned that loonies such as the hoaxlanderati etc would start visiting.

I'm sort of resigned to the fact that if they're coming, they'll be here no matter what level of awareness there is. Their numbers resolve to barely noise compared to the 3 or 4 attempted spam registrations per day so it really doesn't bother me. We have a team of admins that circles the globe just about (in a DSN station sort of way) so if loonies post ( and they have in the past ) it is usually picked up by a admin/mod or a member reports it and we sweep up the mess quite rapidly.

With all that in mind, whilst I agree, at first I thought "hmm - wiki entry...not a good idea" - in actual fact there is no real negative purpose it could serve and as such, it'd be a nice thing to have in some respects. But, as I said previously, while I'd be happy to answer questions and provide the basic info about the origins of the place and so on, I'd rather not actually write it myself because that's just pure egomania.

Doug

Now what we ought to do is start up a thread or contest for the most seemingly sanely lunitic... or lunaticly sane theory we can elaborate. The contagious psychosis thread...