Hey, I almost forgot… today is my one-year blogoversary.
A year ago today, I posted my first blog entry: “Comedy is easy, politics is hard.” Re-reading it, I obviously had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Truth is, I hadn’t really been following the blogosphere much, and looked to the relaunched HA mostly as an exercise in forcing myself to write every day. I had read an article on blogging in the New York Times that made the amusing observation that never before had so much been written, by so many, for so few readers. And so with modest expectations, I set a relatively ambitious target of 200 daily readers after 12 months.
Nobody is more surprised than me to have overshot that target by about a thousand readers a day.
As I type this, at about 5 p.m., HA has already logged over 1,100 unique IPs for the day. I don’t generally like to reveal my site stats, and I have no plans to publish them on a regular basis, but for the curious, here are some excerpts from my current weekly Site Meter report:
VISITS: Average Per Day 1,162 Average Visit Length 6:08 PAGE VIEWS: Average Per Day 3,151 Average Per Visit 2.7
While I haven’t done much research, I’m pretty sure this makes HA the most widely read liberal blog covering WA state politics. Indeed, it probably makes HA the number two local political blog, second only to the much hyped (un)Sound Politics.
I am particularly gratified by the amount of time my readers spend on HA. I don’t know of another blog whose visit-length and page-per-visit stats even come close… and while I’m not sure if these statistics are significant, the raucous, lively comment threads certainly are. During my first few months, I was lucky to get a single comment per post, but now my threads routinely reach triple digits, and often number several hundred a day. My threads are a bizarre place, where useful information is exchanged despite the insults and obscenities flying in all directions. Unlike the sterile, troll-less threads one typically finds elsewhere, we encourage comments from those on the other side… even the really, really stupid ones. So thank you all for participating. (Well… most of you.)
Anyway, perhaps I’ll gather my thoughts and post some more insightful observations on my first year blogging when I have some more time. But I just wanted to acknowledge before the day passes, that without all of you, I’d just be typing into the ether.
So… thanks.
You’re welcome!
Hey congratulations Goldy!!!
congratulations on your first year. enjoy your comments and actually all comments. it is enlightening to read other’s opinions and not just ‘believe’ in our own views.
Here’s to many more years of blogging – if you can stand it!
Congratulations and a shehechianu to you, Goldy!
Congratulations…I would to give you a count on the number of times Cynical has used the word “PINHEAD”…but I lost count after my shoes and pants came off, and that was only in the last week.
Thank you for giving us a sandbox to play in, you must be a real cat lover.
goldy, happy blogoversary (cute) your doing better than err amerika. one correction, the obscenities mostly come from the left. glad you could cough up an acknowledgement tho. come on, admit it goldy, you need us conservatives. oh, just for the record I think sometimes we forget to close the window. So site visit length for the most part may not mean squat.
Congrats, Goldy. on your first year, for the righteous stats, and thanks for all the encouragement for blatherWatch. Since blogging, Tom Robbins’ words have never been more meaningful: “Writing,” he said, ” is an enterprise that demands unabated discipline and concentration — but, by God, it sure beats working.”
Happy Anniversary, Goldy!!!
Your blog is indeed a lively place spoiled only by YOU KNOW WHO!!!
Goldy,
Hearty congratulations on your first bloggin’ year. Thank you for the many opportunities to think and play on HA!
I’ve only recently started reading your blog, which I suppose says something bad about me. I have been enjoying it, though. So as to this new-found pleasure, I say better late than never.
a little off topic, but, It is very nice to see your ‘viewers’ growing constantly. I see many new (possible) new posters in the threads, unlike poor O’reilly and his viewer fallout. Since October the right wing Screamer has lost over 1,000,000 viewers. But alas, he will always keep our own resident wingnuts. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvn....._21299.asp
1 year and 650 posts later, isn’t about time to pony up some of those beer bux and pay for a preview/edit button, Goldy?
PS, A great BIG thanks to Stefan Sharkansky for HIS preview button where I regularly check my work.
Dear piggeee, I really don’t think O’Reilly is too worried… especially since his numbers beat ALL of CNN libs combined:
FOXNEWS O’REILLY 2,396,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY/COLMES 1,508,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,473,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,457,000
FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1,347,000
CNN LARRY KING 893,000
CNN PAULA ZAHN 577,000
CNNHN NANCY GRACE 566,000
CNN AARON BROWN 508,000
MNSBC OLBERMANN 496,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 331,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 320,000
E! JACKSON TRIAL 149,000
CNBC DENNIS MILLER 103,000
And golly, gosh, gee whiz, I sure don’t remember Paula ever showing up anywhere on the Publishers Weekly Bestsellers list in the last few years.
Goldy,
Looked back at your first post.
You had only three posts on the same day. Then somehow people posted randomly for the next 5 months.
SP likely has more traffic.
However, you have far more comments despite their rotating cast there from the public school haters (here, here and here) to the spreadsheet peddlers.
The last couple of months you have scooped the competition so badly, such as in the Schiavo matter, to have taken almost all of the air out of the competition at times.
Goldy we ask
Goldy we beg
Will you consider:
1) Adding software to allow the preview of comments
2) Consider a new web host so that there isn’t such a delay in calling up HA.
If you decide to, I think Cynical and Joseph will work with the rest of us to host a fund raiser for you.
Congrats. I am sure that just like they did with Air America, the right wing turds were predicting (actually just hoping) for your demise from day one.
To danw and the other PINHEADED LEFTISTS out there—-
I FU**ING SALUTE YOU STUPID BASTARDS!!
Goldy–
No wonder you were so grouchy on the prior thread. You were simply overwhelmed by your own accomplishment. I think I’ve figured out what you are all about Goldy. And I guess you have my schtick pretty much figured out too.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to insult you, your questionable intelligence, your physical attributes and your general pessimistic outlook on life!
uhhh..thank you.
Congats to you, Goldy. I never post in the comments but I’m a regular reader and really enjoy your writing/opinions. I figured I’d take this opportunity to say thanks for the blog. I’m not surprised at your success and I suspect your readership will continue to grow.
Good luck!
Congrats Goldy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and thanks for the forum.
Thanks, Goldy. I appreciate the time and effort you put into this blog. It truly must be an act of love. My only regret is that the far right would not be so vitriolic in their comments or go back to their homebase instead of trying to convert us by insult. May we be blessed for many more years by Horsesass.org.
Thanks; I find HA really enjoyable and worthwhile to read. And I hope you get lots of beer money (I sent some a while back).
A fellow microbrew fancier.
Danny @ 20: “My only regret is that the far right would not be so vitriolic in their comments or go back to their homebase instead of trying to convert us by insult.”
Insults may not convert anybody, but heck, it sometimes makes for “interesting” reading, although the insults do get out of hand sometimes. But, let’s face it, if all the comments were “I agree with you Goldy 100%”, it’d be one boring blog. As jpgee said much better than I could, “it is enlightening to read other’s opinions and not just ‘believe’ in our own views.”
I also would second Erik’s suggestions in #15, as I now know it’s not my ISP that is slow!
All that said, congratulations, Goldy, on one year, and may there be many more!
Let’s all step back in time to that famous first post…..
(smoke machine effects kick in)
Hello All – I’m David Goldstein.
I’m a newbie blogger, but don’t let that get in your way of haivng fun here and engaging in a little left-wing punditry.
I’ll start out with something particularly relevant – Keyword Optimization. I think this will take us over the top. We’ll See.
beer, bikini, Nancy Pelosi,barf
al gore, internet, Tipper Hickey
great beer, amber, pale ale, bavarian malt, hefeweizen
schlitz sucks, equine posterior, whitehouse.com
gary coleman, different strokes, special wrestling edition
hairy bikini, Nancy Pelosi, more barf
pro-wrestling, hooters, peewee herman, sick twisted liberal, more beer
(Hey, it’s a liberal work in progress)
Damn, it’s been only a year?!? Where does the time go….
(Facing Mr.Cynical) Heres to all you RIGHTY TROLLS …I FU**ING SALUTE YOU STUPID BASTARDS!!
(raising glass in the air) Here’s to another year of shit slinging, may we all harass on the ass!
Hey Goldy;
Stephan and his Cronies are speaking at some seminar on Blogging tomorrow at the UW….were you invited? or is this another righthand circle jerk?
Mazel tov, Goldy! You’ve accomplished a whole lot more in a mere year than many of us blog-slackers have done in quite a bit longer. Hell, I’ve been here almost two and a half, to no notice whatsoever.
Then again, you post occasionally. :-)
Congrats on your first year Goldy.
S’fun.
Goldy: Congrats! Keep blogging – preferably AGAINST Eyman, FOR Marummy!
1 year blogging? Do you need taxpayer support to keep going like PBS? Maybe some Democrats will find a way to fund you from the public till.
Congrats Goldy! We are unworthy.
Chardonnay @ 7 “admit it goldy, you need us conservatives”
Heck, I’ll admit it! Nothing like the good fun of bouncing the truth off the dense pointed heads of conservatives!
We are unworthy. -Comment by Donnageddon— 5/11/05 @ 1:01 pm
I think you’ve made us all look like fools.
And I just helped you do it. -Comment by Diggindude— 3/26/05 @ 12:05 am
Gotta love it when the loony left is accidentally honest!
CAT @ 31
that’s when they are off their meds.
STOP @ 31 Again the neo-con comprehension problem strikes again!
“ We are unworthy. “ -Comment by Donnageddon— 5/11/05 @ 1:01 pm
“ I think you’ve made us all look like fools.
And I just helped you do it. “ -Comment by Diggindude— 3/26/05 @ 12:05 am
Direct quotes babe, read ’em and weep.
In the immortal words of Steve Martin….
It’s really great to be here. I know that sounds phony……
Congratulations Goldy – You have far exceeded Andy Warhol’s expectations.
I think you’ve made us all look like fools.
And I just helped you do it. -Comment by Diggindude— 3/26/05 @ 12:05 am
Gotta love it when the loony left is accidentally honest!
I only helped, you led the parade!
That was back when you were just anonym”ass”.