TER has 430,000 published reviews; it's not exactly a secret. I'll guess the average reviewer has about 8 reviews, so about 50-60 thousand "active" members. I'd guess there are at least 10x as many lurkers, so a good 500,000 or more people who consult the site at least semi-regularly.

Playboy Magazine has a circulation of 3 million in the US (4.5 million worldwide). If we assume 20% of purchasers/subscribers read the article in question, then maybe 600 thousand people or so read it.

Now there must be some degree of overlap between current TER users and readers unfamiliar with it; I'll guess that nearly all TER users would read an article in Playboy about the "hobby"; if 10% of TER users read Playboy, then we have on the order of a half-million people introduced to TER for the first time.

How many might actually visit the site? Quite a few might visit once, but it requires a VIP membership to see the good stuff, so many wont bother to return. If a fifth of them wind up followinf the site, then TER might see a 15-20% increase in readership.

This is all pure estimation of course, but based on some conservative assumptions.

I do know I have had no problems with the site, so it hasn't been slammed, certainly. 20% sounds good.

As far as revealing the community, I don't think it's been splashed over the public by any means.

For Ms. Avalon, I'm sure it's a huge boon, though, so congrats to her

O.