Some time in December 2023 the internal WordPress user list became out-of-sync with the Simple Membership list that is used to control access to paid-for features on the site. It has taken me until now to identify, notify and remove from the Simple Membership list those members that are no longer known to WordPress. The estimated membership loss was 480 from a membership total at the beginning of December 2023 of 856!
The regional breakdown of registered blog members at the beginning of December 2023 was as follows:
| Position | Region | Percentage of Membership | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indian Sub-continent | 36.9% | 313 |
| 2 | The Americas | 22.8% | 193 |
| 3 | UK | 19.6% | 166 |
| 4 | Europe | 14.2% | 120 |
| 5 | Rest of the World | 6.6% | 56 |
Now the regional breakdown of registered blog members looks like this:
| Position | Region | Percentage of Membership | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indian Sub-continent | 35.7% | 134 |
| 2 | UK | 24.5% | 92 |
| 3 | The Americas | 23.2% | 87 |
| 4 | Europe | 10.1% | 38 |
| 5 | Rest of the World | 6.4% | 24 |
There are a number of reasons why the specific members may have been retained or lost, but I can’t confirm or refute these theories:
- Only 6 of 480 members lost had registered for VIEWS UK forum access.
- Most of the retained members regularly visit the site.
- UK and The Americas have a bigger share of the members, and UK has overtaken The Americas (probably because VIEWS UK access is more prevalent in UK members!).
- All of the shares of the other regions have decreased.
As a consequence, all new members are automatically given access to the VIEWS UK forum, where the VIEWS newsletter can be found.
