Hmm, good question. I don’t really keep track of traffic here. The only metric I have are the “page view” reports that Google generates, which are artificially low because it only counts visitors that aren’t running ad blockers. This report from March 1 through yesterday looks more or less stable. Maybe a bit of a dip as the Coronavirus news and restrictions really started to hit hard during the middle of March:
Apparently less.
Alexa page rank is down too, but that could just mean other sites’ traffic increased. Amazon Alexa
Thanks. I would imagine homebound people would frequent the forums more but that doesn’t seem the case. I wonder what people do to amuse themselves? There is one forum I go on that usually is slow but now it is down to nothing. Weird.
On a forum which I help admin page views are up, new member registrations are down slightly, and spamming attempts are up.
I noticed a definite drop in activity. If those numbers could somehow be filtered to exclude activity on this and other COVID threads, there was a very noticeable drop in flashlight related activity, especially about 2-3 weeks ago.
To me it kind of makes sense. Stress behaviors are not always logical. I think in this particular situation, where basic freedoms, lifestyles, and sustenance items were suddenly lost, threatened, or limited, we naturally forego putting time and effort into non-critical areas… like flashlights haha. A certain kind of reverse psychology also comes into play, where suddenly you want to do the things that are now restricted or off-limits. I didn’t know so many people in the neighborhood had dogs and could run until COVID shelter-in-place orders emerged.
Another psychological mechanism that might be at play, and definitely has been for me, is the decision making process when suddenly there are very few things to choose from to spend your time. A certain clarity and peace came about for me when the constant brain clutter of having to keep track of opportunities/obligations to do so many different things and make compromises or one-or-the-other choices. I personally spent a lot of time tackling a daunting to-do list that evaded me for so so long as well as taking time to secure the items necessary to survive this new environment.
So does the psychology say about me digging through my odds ‘n’ ends and starting my stay-at-home flashlight build?
We have a cold day and I took the heater apart two days ago for a repair when it was 70 F, and now it’s snowing and I don’t feel like working in the cold. 
Waiting for 2 PM to make my run to the grocer and pickup my new online order. It’ll be exciting to see what I get and what I don’t.
I think a lot of people like to do their posting on company time. I don’t personally use facebook much but all the notifications show up on my PC when family or friends post pictures or other chatter. A lot of it happens when I know they are at work. Same with the texts. On weekends they are busy with chores. Only hear from them on weekends during “happy hour”.
I spend way more time at home since my work in a school temporarily has stopped, but since my GF and son are always there too, my alone-time actually has gone down. That implies enough time for posting on BLF from my tablet on the couch, but no hours-on-end modding without getting disturbed by people asking stuff, playing teacher for my son and other home-duties.
Well, internet porn doesn’t download itself…
Always good for a laugh.
Now get back to work, lunch is over. 
Wellp, given the “controversial” article that had to be gotten through arxiv (about ventilators), I found this little tidbit interesting:
It will be interesting to hear from experts years later, what would have been the optimal treatment.
Sounds like your chances aren’t very good by that point anyway.
Yeah, that whole “20/20 quarterbacking” stuff…
The rain stopped so I stepped outside. The bugs are out. Got me wondering if they can transmit the virus?
the answer is just a click away
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Lates scores
USA now has more cases and more deaths than any country in the world.
Thanks again Jon for pointing out my laziness. The answer seems to be no.
There´s ALWAYS a chance I´m not hearing that, but somebody will be. 