Who visited Brickset this year and what did they look at?

I’m always mainly here to help keep track with Interested Sets I can possibly use in the future for my custom LEGO Cities I sm building. I have THREE in the works. 1 a Normal City which features both Real Sets and Custom made ones like a Taco Bell and a Target Store. About 3/8’ths of it will be custom made. I also have two separate Build being worked on in the garage which will have a Castle/Pirate combination theme on both. One will have Dragon Knights and Pirates, the other having the Imperials and Royal Knights.
This site holds my collection board of all past and present sets too. As I do use this to help with both. Acquiring old sets, instructions, and for fun tabs on my stats.

I'm one of those users who rarely logs in. Obviously I do have an account as I'm leaving a comment. But my primary use of Brickset is news and information, not anything else, so there is no need to log in. Also, I usually access Brickset through an iOS app (which is not the Brickset app) which doesn't allow a login.

You think this year was bad, tis is but the start.
On the LEGO front: it's a shame that so few are logged in.

Love stats deep dives, the use ratio for logged in is sort of surprising - until I consider my own frequency and number of detail pages visited each year to want, then own, then build status updates :D

As for tablet, iPad has become harder to simply spot due to user agent defaulting to either regular Mac or phone.

To be honest, I had not realised that the ads reduce if you are logged in. I'd just assumed they were there all the time. It was one of the suggestions I'd made about improvements to the site......but unfortunately my suggestion was deleted rather than letting me know that it already existed.

Anyway, when I'm browsing from a table, phone or computer, most of the time if I'm reading the news I don't bother to login. I would only login to comment or edit my set list.

If others operate in this manner, could be why the logins are so low.

Annual traffic review: I like it. And I am sorry (and a bit ashamed )to say that I had never heard of Nauru nor Kiribati before! Glad to see that the community is so widespread. Very few French visitors though. I guess it's for a part due to the fact that overall we in France are not among the best to learn foreign languages. If not the worst:) Even English or Spanish which are so worldwide in use, and useful to master. So, many French lego fans must be users of French Lego sites I guess. What I am sure about is that I'll keep visiting every single day Brickset all along 2021! Thank you Huw.

Huh. I use an iPad Pro to regularly access Brickset. When I view the site using a browser without being logged in, I see no ads. When I view the site through the app I use, I see one ad that takes up about 1/9th of the screen, not a lot of real estate.

So for me, not logging in doesn't present a problem. It never has occurred to me that ads were a problem. Again...huh...

Is there a way to figure out which country has the most visitors per capita?

One man from Vatican City has been on Brickset? Frank himself?

@vidiont:
Are you running an ad-blocker on the browser app? And are you just not logging in, or are you checking to see that you're not still logged in from a previous visit? Being logged in and running ad-blockers are the only two ways to keep this site from running ads.

How can you tell the percentage of gender viewing the site? I can’t see anywhere in my profile where it lets me choose (or not) and for those that aren’t logged in it’s even more baffling?

@SpoonTree said:
"I can't believe the Pope uses Brickset!"

He's building a kingdom

Very interesting stats. Thanks. Any plan to further specify the grey 22.3%? It would be nice to see the whole list (obviously no secret that I want to see how many of my country(wo)men come here as well).

Fascinating! I enjoy charts like this. Thanks Huw!

Very interesting! I'd like to see the number of visitors per country normalized to the population of that country. I bet some European countries will outrank the US then.

Very interesting article. I'm always logged in when opening Brickset. May that be a contributor to the low percent or does it not work that way?

@PurpleDave said:
" @vidiont :
Are you running an ad-blocker on the browser app? And are you just not logging in, or are you checking to see that you're not still logged in from a previous visit? Being logged in and running ad-blockers are the only two ways to keep this site from running ads."

I am not knowingly running an ad-blocker. I certainly haven't installed an ad-blocker. Brickset indicates that I am not logged in. And to make sure, I logged in and then logged out. The only thing I am doing is accessing Brickset through a VPN. Now perhaps the VPN has an ad-blocker associated with it, but I didn't see any indication of that looking through the VPN settings. So...I dunno.

I'm the data guy, so this is great stuff to me

Ironically I visit this site almost exclusively on my tablet!

Still stuck in the stone age using a computer--at least it's a laptop, and now I've given in and am using Edge so the warnings that my browser has expired have gone away. Still firmly in the minority in every possible way, though. At least I'm consistent.

I always enjoy seeing the annual analysis of Brickset data!

@Huw said:
"^ Ad-block users will see unobtrusive ads now."

I'm using ublock and i see no ads at all luckily. And i never log in as I never log out, or log in automatically.

Speaking of logins, does anyone else get randomly logged out of the forum sometimes? I always stay logged in yet every once in a while I have to log in again (this doesnt happen with this Brickset page, only the forum)

@mkrey said:
"I just visited the FAQ so it didn't feel so lonely...
"

Did you click on sitemap too?

@PurpleDave said:
"I think tablets are becoming less desired as the newness has worn off, and people are realizing that they really aren't everyday-portable. You usually can't fit them into a pocket, and they're impossible to use one-handed. But when you're home, they're not as useful as a full computer. "

I’m a distinct minority here, but my main interaction with BrickSet is on an iPad. It is my “living room computer” mainly for consumption— mostly websites and email. Even my iPhone Pro Max’s screen is too small. One-handed operation isn’t really a thing for this role. The amount of interaction with this website— looking up sets or parts, updating owned/wanted lists— doesn’t require a full laptop or desktop computer. I do use the desktop when I need the screenspace, for example side-by-side comparison of sets or lists (e.g., the similar set lists I have on Rebrickable).

@ggj:
People use what works until it doesn't. Also, many people may be checking from work, and the US government has been paying a premium to keep security updates coming even when the rest of the world has been cut off.

@Angel_Clanger:
Google is rather invasive about their information-gathering practices. They've even been busted for collecting information on private wi-fi connections with their Google Maps cars as they drive past. When they got caught, they promised to stop doing so, but never said a word about what they would do with the data that they already had. They got called out for that, and they never commented on it that I've heard of. So, the idea that they're able to track everyone by gender is not even remotely surprising. The Google website doesn't make money except by charging for the top returns on searches. But they run an ad service, which they can use to collect an insane amount of information, which they can them package and sell to other companies.

@LegoAthos:
@Huw:
@Alatariel:
I'm not surprised to see the US take such a huge dip, and indeed I figured we'd end up lower on the list than we did*. Germany used to buy more LEGO product than any other nation until 20 years ago with the release of the first Star Wars sets. That's when the US took the top spot, but the populations are hardly comparable. I ran across a CIA fact sheet online, from I think 2014. If you added up all the populations of all the European Allied and neutral nations during WWII, it was roughly equal to that of the US.

It's been claimed here that German tastes are shifting elsewhere because the focus has shifted away from their preferred subjects towards those of the US (which is undeniable, given the abundance of themes based on Hollywood IP), but that shouldn't affect either the UK or Scandanavia.

*One thing that will throw these numbers off quite a bit is language. There are French and German sites out there that probably draw a large amount of visitors who speak those as their primary languages, including from other countries like Belgium and Austria, or Quebec in Canada, since many people find conversing in a secondary language uncomfortable.

@Brickchap:
If you log in on a mobile device, not only do you not lose any real estate to the ads at all, but if you click on the "Comments" link for any article, it will often take you directly to where you left off on reading the comments during a previous visit. It also turns your own comments pink, so even if it takes you right to the top, it's easier to locate your last post so you can proceed from there.

@aamartin0000:
I'm far to used to the high level of precision and options offered by a 3-button scroll mouse to give that up in favor of poking my finger at a dense cluster of hyperlinks and hoping I managed to jab the one I was aiming for. But I also drive other people nuts for using a travel mouse that's about the size of a Tiny Turbos car (the trick is learning that you can't even attempt to lay your hand across it like a regular mouse, but that you instead have to pinch it between your thumb and your ring and pinky fingers).

@CarolinaOnMyMind:
Their last monthly population estimate puts it at 825, dead last in terms of populations of sovereign states, and only beating out the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (an Australian territory) and Pitcairn Islands (a UK territory).

Anyways, it's shown up on this list (or the equivalent on another site) before, and I think prior to the current Pope being installed, so it's almost certainly someone else. Either one permanent resident periodically checks in, or there is occasionally a Brickset viewer who pulls the site up while visiting.

@magmafrost Same here. Ill see what our foreign friends say but it is my belief that Lego has far less respect in Australia then other countries. Not really sure why, the only reason it got a little more popular was 1. The Lego Movie and 2. Lego Masters (in which people finally saw that Lego can be cool and isnt just kindergartens or really weird old men) although I often get the impression the only reason non-Lego fans watched the show was because of that idiot Hamish.

I'd be interested to see what percentage of people have to reset to the "light" theme every few site visits. Never known a site that's so fixated on being "dark"....

@Brickchap said:
" @magmafrost Same here. Ill see what our foreign friends say but it is my belief that Lego has far less respect in Australia then other countries. Not really sure why, the only reason it got a little more popular was 1. The Lego Movie and 2. Lego Masters (in which people finally saw that Lego can be cool and isnt just kindergartens or really weird old men) although I often get the impression the only reason non-Lego fans watched the show was because of that idiot Hamish. "

I'm doing my part, have converted my Doctor to a Lego Technic fan and even my youngest sister builds some of my sets when she has time or I buy her architecture sets of cities or places we visited when in Europe 15yrs ago. She also has a nice little animal build collection going. Bought mum the flowers set but she only build half a daisy so far, it's only been a month though! Even my old postie is into Lego Star Wars! Who to convert next ...........

This is my go-to site for Lego Life Style !! Keep up the great work !!

@Cooliocdawg said:
" @NafNaf said:
" @SpoonTree said:
"I can't believe the Pope uses Brickset!"

There is more than one person that lives in Vatican City. :("

It was a joke. :)"

A great one, and a (too?) witty one, for that matter.

@Block_n_Roll said:
"I'd be interested to see what percentage of people have to reset to the "light" theme every few site visits. Never known a site that's so fixated on being "dark"...."

I gave up, I’ve gone dark. In my case, it’s either cookies or use of a VPN causing the site to not recognize my preference.

@PurpleDave said:
" @aamartin0000:
I'm far to used to the high level of precision and options offered by a 3-button scroll mouse to give that up in favor of poking my finger at a dense cluster of hyperlinks and hoping I managed to jab the one I was aiming for. But I also drive other people nuts for using a travel mouse that's about the size of a Tiny Turbos car (the trick is learning that you can't even attempt to lay your hand across it like a regular mouse, but that you instead have to pinch it between your thumb and your ring and pinky fingers)."

I’m confused. Weren’t you favoring a phone over a tablet (as an alternative to a desktop)? At least for me, there is certainly enough precision with a tablet screen. My relationship with the mouse is significantly different from yours. 1) I use a Mac 2) I’m left-handed 3) mouse is bad for carpal tunnel syndrome.

@Brickchap said:
"Speaking of logins, does anyone else get randomly logged out of the forum sometimes? I always stay logged in yet every once in a while I have to log in again (this doesnt happen with this Brickset page, only the forum)"

Yes, happens to me all the time, and if I'm not quick enough to hit the login button it becomes completely covered with ads...I use a PC exclusively.

@aamartin0000:
I prefer to use a real computer. I use my iPod while I'm at work, but I often wait until I get home to check AFOL sites. During Advent season, however, I try to check Brickset regularly at work because last year I found that when I would hit the different calendar reveal articles late in the day, it was after pretty much all of the comment activity had ceased for the night, and then they would be closed early the next day when the next article went live.

I hate typing on an iPad because I actually learned how to touch-type in high school, and you can't do that if there's no way to tell the keys apart. So, onscreen keyboards and those new projected-light keyboards are all useless if I have to watch the keys instead of the screen.

Carpal tunnel is a problem with mice that are designed badly, like every mouse that Apple has ever manufactured. Hold your hands at your sides, shake them a little, and then look down and see what shape they naturally take when you're not actively using muscles to force them into a different position. Does that look like something that the Apple mice are designed for? No, they tend to be flat little monsters that make you hold your fingers up the whole time you're using them, except when you're pressing a button.

My hands-down favorite mouse is the original Microsoft Arc Mouse, which had a semicircular shape that supported the entire hand. I got so used to using them that these days I have a hard time using other mice because I forget to hold my fingers up, and accidentally press the buttons when I let my hand relax too much. The problem people have with these dinky little travel mice is that they try to use them like regular mice. I don't, so I find that they're very comfortable to use.

These days I exclusively use travel mice with my own computers because the two Arc Mice that I got have died (on one the scroll wheel wore out, and on the other the bluetooth dongle was already damaged when I opened the package after the first one failed and didn't last much longer). I looked at buying replacements, but after the Arc 2 (which is flat in the front half) was released, the secondary prices for the original Arc skyrocketed. If I could figure out a way to transfer the receiver from the broken mouse to the mouse with the broken dongle, I'd be thrilled.

When I'm browsing from the phone, I'm not logged in.

Also, I want to add, that ads became a little better, but they still autoplay with music on and cover half the screen, blocking images and text.

As a majority, I use site mainly for the archive, yaeh... when I check numbers / pieces / sets and stuff. But when in bathroom, it's a quick glance over the latest articles.

If I am on mobile I am already logged in. But sometimes I'll check real quick on the computer at work to avoid using data and thus won't be logged in. But I usually look at homepage articles really quickly to justify beingnhere. Otherwise I would track sets when I buy new sets.

@Squidy74H Glad to here! Theres some Aussie spirit still alive!

I wonder if theres a thing with mothers and Lego. Mine struggled at first with City Starter sets but she did manage to build a small Friends cart thing, one bird from Lego Ideas Birds and made an attempt at a small Brickheadz.

Shame I havent had the same luck converting people. :(

@SpoonTree said:
"I can't believe the Pope uses Brickset!]

Maybe he wants a 501st battle pack?"

I pretty much mainly view Brickset on my iPad which I have no problems with and definitely prefer over a phone to view any web pages and I always login once the page loads up for me. I like logging in because 1) it does take away all the ads, 2) I then have my preferences in terms of news articles showing up and 3) it will have my owned set lists and notes which I like to always view and make tweaks too. Love Brickset!

It's nice to see that I am not the only one from my country here. Though I am curious what Person from the Vatican state was looking around here. Guess even the Pope needs to play a bit from time to time. ;)

@Huw said:
" @Alatariel said:
"Very interesting! I'd like to see the number of visitors per country normalized to the population of that country. I bet some European countries will outrank the US then. "

Done -- a table is now in the article, and you are right. The USA is well down the list."

Thanks, Huw! Very interesting indeed.

@OzLego8389 said:
"Weirdly enough, I started using Brickset for insurance purposes. Because I live in Australia, there is a high chance of bushfires, so categorizing every set means I can get some money back if it all melts :/"

I also live in Australia, and I wouldn’t say most of the population is prone to bushfires! Certainly those in regional areas or on the edges of national parks may well be. But that’s only a small percentage of the population.
Some people think we all wear Akubra hats, wield giant knives, drink Fosters beer, and have pet kangaroos and koalas - don’t want to perpetuate bushfire myths too! ;)

Some very interesting stats here.
Go Australia! Huge numbers by both overall visits, and even more as a percentage of the population!
Aussie Aussie Aussie, oy, oy, oy!!
:)

@Paul_DLH said:
"To be honest, I had not realised that the ads reduce if you are logged in. I'd just assumed they were there all the time. It was one of the suggestions I'd made about improvements to the site......but unfortunately my suggestion was deleted rather than letting me know that it already existed."

Your suggestion wasn't deleted, but it was moved to the 'Rejected' tab of the suggestions page; it's still there, right near the bottom: https://brickset.com/suggestions/rejected ^^

Thanks Huw, awesome info.
Go Aussie, hitting above our weight again.

I use an Amazon tablet with it's Silk browser, I thought they would be more popular due to their low prices but that's what makes these type of articles interesting. I also use the keep logged in option it's excellent for avoiding ads.

Fascinating. And bonus points for the correct use of 'myriad'.

@SpoonTree said:
"I can't believe the Pope uses Brickset!"

More likely that it's a friend of mine who is a Jesuit priest that is assigned to the Vatican. (PadreSJ on Twitter.) Pretty sure I've sent him a link at least once this year. :)

I am shocked that it's such a small percentage that log in (even eventually). The few times I've landed here via a new device or browser, I nearly have a seizure from being inundated with all the ads and have to immediately log in before proceeding. However, I get the same experience with other fan websites I only occasionally visit that regular users probably log into, so I can see how a casual browser might not bother. Still, that seems like an unusual ratio. Maybe the mobile app has a lot to do with it, although I find that app almost unusable.

I think we’re beyond beating a dead horse, but one final response. I don’t think either of us is going to convince the other “you’re doing it wrong”.

@PurpleDave said:
"I hate typing on an iPad because I actually learned how to touch-type in high school, and you can't do that if there's no way to tell the keys apart. So, onscreen keyboards and those new projected-light keyboards are all useless if I have to watch the keys instead of the screen."

I also touch type, and do it when I have a physical keyboard. But I am adaptable enough to be a thumb typer or swipe typer on other devices. Most tablets can accommodate Bluetooth physical keyboards, too. Posting here is lightweight enough that I am ok with using the onscreen keyboard.

"Carpal tunnel is a problem with mice that are designed badly, like every mouse that Apple has ever manufactured."

Your anti-Apple bias is showing. How do you know if I’m using an Apple mouse? My sister also has problems with carpal tunnel, and she’s die-hard Wintel. She has for years used a trackball instead.

"These days I exclusively use travel mice with my own computers because the two Arc Mice that I got have died"

Maybe you should choose less flimsy mice.

Love metrics...almost as much as I love Lego! Thanks for the post!

I view from Japan but am perplexed how one user from the Vatican is visible but I am not. Surely I cant be the only one.

@aamartin0000:
Yeah, you're right, any mouse that craps out after a solid ten years of use must be garbage. The second one had a cracked bluetooth dongle right out of the box, and I could have taken it back for a refund...except that it was also nearly ten years old at that point.

The travel mice actually are basically disposable. They've got a retractable USB cable, and those basically have a finite lifespan no matter how robust you make them. But I think they cost about $10-15 a pop, so if I have to replace them every few years, that's still cheaper than one of those high-end gaming mice, and far more comfortable to use than anything that's not going to set you back three figures.

As for the Apple mice, almost every single hardcore Apple fan I've ever known has insisted that the default mice are perfectly fine, and you said you don't like to use a mouse because of carpal tunnel. It seemed a logical conclusion that you didn't invest in an ergonomic mouse.

Always surprises me to see mobile users as the majority. Only ever seen this as a desktop site, although I have done quick searches from my phone here and there. At this point it's second nature to open a Brickset tab and look over new articles/reviews before actually doing work.

@lemish34 said:
" @OzLego8389 said:
"Weirdly enough, I started using Brickset for insurance purposes. Because I live in Australia, there is a high chance of bushfires, so categorizing every set means I can get some money back if it all melts :/"

I also live in Australia, and I wouldn’t say most of the population is prone to bushfires! Certainly those in regional areas or on the edges of national parks may well be. But that’s only a small percentage of the population.
Some people think we all wear Akubra hats, wield giant knives, drink Fosters beer, and have pet kangaroos and koalas - don’t want to perpetuate bushfire myths too! ;)
"

Very true. I spent a year as an exchange student in Australia, you’d have a hard time finding Fosters there. I can also vouch for the no pet kangaroos or koalas (but they do hop around downtown Melbourne and Sydney (or should I say the CBD). As for there not everyone wears an akubra, technically that is true because occasionally they do fall off while wrestling crocodiles. Of course Steve Irwin is proof that you don’t need a giant knife, wrestling crocodiles is perfectly safe with your bare hands, or a single bare hand if carrying your baby so it doesn’t get eaten by a dingo.

But seriously, while we’re on the topic of stereotypes, you failed mentioning asking Tasmanians to show you the scar!

@Huw said:
"^ Google Analytics doesn't, or more likely, isn't allowed to."

They arent allowed to track anyone under 13, they recently got in a lot of trouble for doing so on YouTube

@Japanbuilder said:
"I view from Japan but am perplexed how one user from the Vatican is visible but I am not. Surely I cant be the only one. "

The two lists show the ten countries with the most visitors, and then the ten with the least, respectively. There's a big gap between those two - any countries with less than 99,626 Brickset visitors but more than two - so I imagine that Japan must sit somewhere within that range ^^

@ggj said:
"Why do so many people still use Internet Explorer?? And who are the ones who use Amazon Silk??"

I still use Explorer on my Windows Vista, everything works well, Firefox is too heavy for it, and I don't like or even want Google Chrome...

@captainbnj said:
"So many features that make Brickset unique from other sites require logging in to fully utilize. I’m surprised only 5% of users do so."

Hell, I'll log in just to kill all the Ads!! LMAO
Seriously tho, I have to add new aquisitions to my collection and mark new releases to my want list..!!

I'm actually surprised about how little people use brickset logged in!

So based on this info there's no people under 18 visited this site...seems legit lol