Statistics can be misleading but the increase in page views may reflect the renewed reputation of NikonGear since the turmoil. Search engines presumably play a part?
I have noticed both here and elsewhere that certain topics receive an unexpectedly high hit rate considering the content. Certain key words in the thread title can generate peaks of hits at times. These do not necessarily translate into new members or contributors.
The higher level of new members in 2016 is likely previous membership 'rejoining' NikonGear now they have caught up, I expect new members joining may level out. The more recently joined membership, perhaps less experienced, may not have much to say, the experienced, core membership will likely have more to say. Also there is now a solid resource of good quality information in the pages of data held here. That is a priceless resource which probably being being tapped into by visitors and members. That background data will attract visitors and will continue to grow, perhaps now more gradually.
There is also the possibility that people are gradually becoming more experienced in the new digital technology and feel the need to ask questions less often, they may also be at a personal saturation point, having learnt what they feel they want to know by asking questions, just browse the forum out of interest particularly where nice photographs can be found.
Do we have statistics going back over the original NG years? THAT would be very interesting, perhaps they were not made available...
Are there more detailed statistics broken down by sections of the forum? I haven't explored that avenue here.
Do other forums show a similar trend?
