Who Posts to NICAR-L?
updated March 8, 2006
So you think you know the names on NICAR-L, the mailing list for CAR jockeys? Let’s see. A continuing series of exclusive analyses of NICAR-L postings by The Scoop (because no one else will do it, apparently) found at least 77 people have posted more than 100 messages to the listserv, with 17 accounting for more than 300 apiece.
The reigning king? Still Steve Doig of Arizona State (and formerly the Miami Herald), who through Feb. 28, 2006 posted 931 messages to NICAR-L, outpacing the runner-up, Tim Henderson, who had 818. Henderson now works at the Herald – just a coincidence? All told, Herald employees have posted at least 874 messages to the list, more than any other news organization.
A new analysis this year is the top poster each year. Currently, Brian Bowling holds the single-year posting record with 168 in 2003. Doig and Russ Clemings are the only other individuals to post more than 140 messages in a single year. All three appear in the list of top 15 single-year posters three times. John McCarthy made the top ten last year with 122 posts.
Here’s a look at the revised top 10, with previous rankings from 2004 in parentheses. The addition of several folks previously unranked is due to better identification of old email addresses and, of course, their contributions to the list.
- Doig, Steve – 931 (1)
- Henderson, Tim – 818 (2)
- Clemings, Russell – 682 (3)
- Bowling, Brian – 614 (6)
- Timko, Steve – 548 (3)
- Reisner, Neil – 529 (4)
- Waite, Matt – 440 (unranked)
- Dedman, Bill – 380 (unranked)
- Campbell, Ronald – 373 (unranked)
- Porter, Jeff – 368 (unranked)
And here’s the list of top posters for 2005:
- Brian Bowling – 148
- John McCarthy – 122
- Matt Waite – 95
- Steve Doig – 88
- Steve Timko – 88
- Sarah Okeson – 80
How I Did It
So how did I do this? I used Python’s urllib2 and re modules to scrape the NICAR-L archives and compile the number of posts associated with each email address. Then I parsed the sender information and standardized the names. A final note: this is not a real-time database, but a snapshot of posts to NICAR-L through February 28, 2006. I may update the database from time to time as I am able. Send questions or comments to dwillis AT gmail DOT com.