New user, first test post

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 4:38 am

Hello to all,

I am a registered Where's George user visiting for the first time. I registered here after reading some in the forums and seeing some commonalities with forum posts on WG.

I may fumble about a bit until I get accustomed to the workings of this site.

nodisch18 · Post by **nodisch18** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:26 am

Hi Christopher,

i had a quick view at your profile and i saw these stats:

Bills Entered: 14,945 Hit Rate: 19.29%

Bills with Hits: 2,883 Total Hits: 3,443

Is wheresgeorge really that popular in the US that already ±20% of the bills is entered in the database...?

BTW: Welcome!

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 3:53 pm

nodisch18 wrote:Hi Christopher,

i had a quick view at your profile and i saw these stats:

Bills Entered: 14,945 Hit Rate: 19.29%
Bills with Hits: 2,883 Total Hits: 3,443

Is wheresgeorge really that popular in the US that already ±20% of the bills is entered in the database...?

BTW: Welcome!

Thanks nodisch! Where's George is still relatively obscure in the US, at least in terms of percentage of bills in circulation. These are the stats from the site summary:

Total number of bills entered into Where's George?
36,225,670
Total dollar value
$209,082,680
Number of bills with hits
4,025,337
All time Hit Ratio
11.11%
Total U.S. Currency in circulation
(as of March 31, 2003 as reported by the Treasury/FMS)
$652,945,714,116
Where's George? bills as a percent of total U.S. Currency in circulation
0.0320%
Number of new bills printed every day by the BEP
37,000,000
Value of new bills printed every day by the BEP
$696,000,000
Number of new bills printed since the start of Where's George?
65,083,000,000

nodisch18 · Post by **nodisch18** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 4:07 pm

Do you have lots of fakers...? People who exchange seriealnumbers with eachother. Or just make their own serialnumbers...?

11% procent is still a very, very high number!

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 3:07 am

nodisch18 wrote:Do you have lots of fakers...? People who exchange seriealnumbers with eachother. Or just make their own serialnumbers...?

11% procent is still a very, very high number!

There are the usual lot of fakers, but there are also a great many sleuths willing to hunt them down and report them, and webmaster Hank Eskin has software to check the validity of hits on a person's account. People found abusing the site may have their accounts closed without warning or question.

To clarify your first question, the 11% figure is the hit ratio for the site, or bills hit divided by bills entered into the WG system. About one in nine bills entered at WG has been hit at least once. A well-marked bill like the ones I stamp (front and back) runs about a 20% chance of being hit.

WG bills represent a very small (0.0320%) fraction of the total number of US bills in circulation worldwide, and are a statistically rare find. As a cashier at a retail business taking in $400,000 per week, I found one per day on average, and have participated at a level far above most "georgers" who don't handle money for a living

I am eager to become more familiar with this site and its users for an idea of bill stats and personal stories about bill tracking in Europe. A WGer is usually perceived as an odd bird, and may be ignored or maltreated, depending.

Christopher