Discounting multiple views by the same members, maybe 300 of the board's total membership (current 817) have actually viewed the post, which would (could) mean fifteen out of 300, or five percent (or forty out of 817) write full time.
Thank goodness we're writers, not statisticians.
-This is in a public thread, so you could also have non-registered members viewing. How many lurkers are there on WriterSanctum? Not sure, but right now we have 24 users and 16 guests. I'd guess 40% of the views come from guests. That would mean registered users provided about 300 views only.
-Yes, multiple views count as views, and if you assume that 520 views means 300 unique visitors, it doesn't make sense. It would mean that most people visited only once. I think every time an interested thread is bumped, people check, and people tend to check often similar threads. How many times did you see this thread? 3, 5, 10? So redo your calculations. I'd guess about 45 to 100 registered users viewed the thread. Remember only about 300 views come from registered users, based on the percentage of guests. And there are lurkers who like to lurk regardless of the topic.
-This is in a public thread and many people,
especially writers making an income from writing, don't want to disclose this information.
- This is following a thread where people discuss the "absence of big sellers" in this forum, where you argue that most people here aren't successful writers, then try to pull numbers to prove it. Some users might not want to contribute to that line of thought and to the idea that, as non full-time writers, they are dead weight on this forum. The question comes as a dare of sorts, as in: "Are you a real writer?" Nope, I don't want to answer. But it's an interesting discussion. I might want to read it.
So if you want to check the percentage of "full-time writers", a poll would be better, for sure. And it would be cool not to have assumptions about this. Some writers make a lot of money with their books but like their other jobs, for example. Some writers live in areas with low living cost. That said, I do agree that making a living income from writing is an excellent measure of success, and it's interesting, but what's the point of checking that? To check the usefulness of the forum? Writers who aren't commercially successful might have insights on small things that they do well, or even as readers.
Now me, nope, only coffee income from writing. I'll go back to my non-successful-writer cave and hide in shame. Ha! Just kidding. Proud of where I am.
I just replied because bad Math drives me insane. Seriously.