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Naturally many of the users of this stackexchange site are going to be observant Jews who keep the laws of Shabbat. This means that many users will not be using the site at all for one day a week. Does this put us at a disadvantage in general and is there any way to make sure that this fact is noted when being evaluated as a beta site? I would be interested in knowing if there was any reflection of this type of drop in traffic during the mi.yodeya days.

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On the other hand, the "professional" Stacks also have substantial dip over the weekends.
"Professional" i.e. not the hobbyist sites such as RPG, Boardgames, etc. Rather the programming sites, DBA, PM, Security, etc...
I can speak for ITSecurity.SE, weekends (Sat. and Sundays) drop down to near ghosttown levels, then bounce back up.

Overall, the SEI folk seem to look more at the trending, and not specifics of a given day(s).
So, I wouldnt worry about it.

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To your last point, here's a graph from mi.yodeya's hit counter for April 2011.

You can see significant dips on:

  • Sabbaths: April 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30
  • Passover first days: April 19 and 20 (latter less so because only observed outside of Israel)
  • Passover last days: April 25 and 26 (latter less so because only observed outside of Israel)

Graph showing April 2011 data for Page Loads, Unique Visits, and Returning Visits

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It will definitely make it hard (but not impossible) to get the Enthusiast badge

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    ... and yet, some people that I have every reason to believe are Shabbat-keeprs have it. I don't know what the trick is. I have trouble conceiving of someone who's more enthusiast-ic about this site than I've been, and yet, I've never achieved that badge.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 2:34
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    It's easy - hop on Friday afternoon, and again right after havdala... and then go wash the Shabbat dishes :)
    – AviD
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 6:25
  • @AviD According to this analysis, it'd have to be quite late Friday afternoon for me (Central Time). I guess the dishes-postponing technique would help me in the Winter.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 21:09
  • @AviD interesting. I was under the impression that it worked by 24 hour periods, and not by calendar days. Guess not.
    – HodofHod
    Commented Sep 15, 2011 at 15:21
  • I remember reading somewhere (on meta.SO?) about browser plug-ins that continually ping the SE sites for updates. If you put your computer to sleep for shabbes, this might serve the same purpose.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 15:52
  • @IsaacMoses, I've twice made it well into the 20s (consecutive days), only to just miss it on a crucial MoTzaSh"K.
    – Seth J
    Commented Feb 26, 2013 at 17:23
  • @SethJ (et al) it's midnight-to-midnight UTC. I earned Fanatic last winter (in the yomtov-free zone) by doing the "Friday afternoon, then after havdalah and before UTC midnight (local 7PM)" thing.
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Feb 27, 2013 at 2:32
  • @IsaacMoses I think those of us in Central Time have about as hard of a time getting that badge as anybody.
    – Daniel
    Commented Feb 1, 2015 at 19:11

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