I've never liked self-referential blog posts — that is, internet articles about the craft and process of writing and sharing internet articles. I want to read articles that are about something, anything, else. I don't want to read articles that are about themselves.
Still less do I enjoy articles framed as "how-to"s in which the author shares their blog stats, and their own perceptions of their own success, on the purported premise that you are interested in copying their process but actually based on their hope that you'll give them some engagement ("likes," "follows," "comments").
Nor am I thrilled by direct solicitations for engagement ("Leave a comment...") in the absence of any real conversation topic proposed. I know why people do this: Comments excite algorithms. These authors are simply asking you to boost their circulation. They may have no time or interest at all for what you write to them in that comment box.
Given all that, I've never used this blog to self-referentially share its own "stats." This is a philosophy blog. I've only talked about philosophy, not about the "success rate" of talking about philosophy. The purpose of talking about philosophy, anyway, isn't to be numerically successful at doing so.
However, insofar as it may occasionally be instructive to reflect on the "business" of doing philosophy, at least once every couple decades, I am curious to find out and you may also be curious to know:
For its first 13 years, this blog had essentially no readers, but in the last year, readership has exploded. I have no explanation for this, as I haven't been doing anything differently, and no one has personally contacted me nor interacted with this blog in a way that I'm aware of.
Not for myself, but for the sake of readers, I'd like to know if I'm doing something "right" or "wrong." Do you, dear readers — and I believe you exist — appreciate this blog? Should I continue posting here, to Dead Men Blogging?
Number of posts
137 posts are still live today. (I may have posted a couple others that I later took down.)
As you see, I posted a few times in 2008, then resumed in 2014.
2022 (9)
2021 (5)
2020 (10)
2019 (9)
2018 (11)
2017 (9)
2016 (2)
2015 (21)
2014 (50)
2008 (11)
Views
All-time page views are 119,000. I don't know if these are humans or bots.
Two-thirds of this traffic occurred over the past year: late 2021 and early 2022.
I have exactly one follower through Blogger (a person known to me).
I also have four non-spam comments ever (plus my two replies, accounting for the "6" you see at the corner of this screenshot). Those comments were from a stranger in 2014; someone I knew from elsewhere online in 2017; a stranger in 2018; and my husband in 2019.
If it matters or means something to you: Nineteen percent of readers are using Linux or Unix operating systems.
Most popular posts
Of the 137 total posts, 14 have over 1,000 views. These most popular 10% of posts account for one-third of the blog's all-time views.
- What do people mean when they say humans are 'basically good'? Jul 5, 2020 — 4.53K (Update: All the traffic was in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. By the end of January 2023, it hadn't reached 4.75K views, so I deleted it.) I moved the article to Medium.
- Douglas Adams: On preferring the term 'atheist' over 'agnostic' Oct 19, 2020 — 4.33K All the traffic ended in the middle of 2022. By April 2023, it had only just reached 4.9K views. I moved the article to Atheist-Theist Encounters on Medium.
- Do we perceive things as they are, or as we are? Oct 12, 2020 — 4.32K
- What do we want more than knowledge? Sep 8, 2019 — 3.45K - Update: All the traffic dropped off in January 2022. A year later, it had barely reached 3.5K total views. So I moved the article to Medium.
- Coming to recognize interdependence Jun 27, 2020 — 3.45K
- 'Surviving Autocracy': A search for new language Jun 6, 2020 — 3.14K
- Ross Douthat's "WASP nostalgia" NYT columns in Dec 2018 Dec 9, 2018 — 2.66K
- A compressed 500-word summary of 'Perpetual Peace' by Immanuel Kant (1795) Dec 9, 2018 — 2.48K
- Eunuchs in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace: An essay in 'Harem Histories' Aug 12, 2021 — 2.41K
- On deciding to act (quotes) Oct 21, 2020 — 2.21K
- Dangers of seduction: 'The Power of Sympathy' by William Hill Brown - Jul 13, 2014 — 2.16K - By May 2023, it had gotten 2.6k views, with occasional page views ongoing. I moved it to Medium.
- Denying the denialists Jul 26, 2018 — 1.61K
- On Harry G. Frankfurt's 'The Importance of What We Care About' Jul 25, 2019 — 1.14K Most views dropped off in April 2022, though there was a spike of 85 views during October 2022, and views never dropped off completely. It cracked 3K total views at the end of March 2023. I moved it to Medium.
- Quotes: What role does ideology play in our thought? Jan 6, 2022 — 1.08K
The least popular post has only averaged 1 view per year:
Hobbes: Bullshit artists make "nothing but words" May 25, 2008 — 14
How do people find this blog? Beats me
Ten percent find this blog through Google or another search engine, and a handful navigate through Blogger itself, perhaps when they've read one post on my blog and continue to another. As for the remaining ninety percent — I have no idea how they came here.
Popular in France
I'm originally from the US, and I write in English, so I'm not surprised that one-fifth of readers are from the US and UK. I'm currently based in South America, but I wouldn't expect many views from this continent, given the language I write in.
What surprises me is that 53% of readers are from France. I don't read or write French, I've never visited France, and I haven't intentionally focused my blog posts on anything related to France. I did write Zen and the art of flying: Planes and bikes in Saint-Exupéry and Pirsig (60 views) and Pierre Darmon on impotence trials in pre-Revolutionary France (185 views), plus nine other articles that contain a reference to "France" or "French." That leaves 92% of articles on this blog that don't mention France — including all of my Top 14 articles that have at least 1,000 views each.
A quick internet search tells me that French people like blogs — or did, in 2006. Thanks, internet.
Perhaps this is a data illusion, and it is simply that many people's network connections appear to run through France. I don't know how to know. (Does it surprise you that a philosopher would say that?)
It's a question
If I understood my own blog's circulation, likely the information would be neither interesting nor useful to anyone but me, and thus I would not waste anyone's time running my mouth about it. However, I don't understand it. It is a mystery. And mysteries often fascinate everyone. Again, I have no obvious followers. Except for Denise. Hi, Denise.
I am asking for a little help understanding it, in part so I can serve you better. Are real humans reading this blog right now? Should I behave the same or differently? Should I do more or less of that thing, whatever the thing is?
Rather than typing the answer to my question into an internet search box, I thought I would ask you, dear readers:
Could you please leave a comment? Tell me whether you like or dislike this blog. Tell me how you found it. Or just tell me about yourself, your life, and how you are feeling today. I already know who I am. If you're reading this now, there's a better than even chance you're from France. Please tell me something about France. You don't need to tell me anything about this blog. This blog is a digital artifact and does not, ultimately, matter. What matters is what we make of our lives. That's why we do philosophy. If you don't want to leave a public comment on this blog, contact me privately through my website.
This might be a bad idea
Possibly, the magic of this blog is that I rarely refer to myself as a human being who is doing the writing and I never ask readers to interact.
Possibly, right now, by making myself visible and reaching out this way, I'm ruining the pleasure you take in this blog.
On the other hand, maybe my saying a proper hello enhances your pleasure. And maybe it's rude of me not to try. So, I'll try.
Hello. Who are you?
4 years and 10 months into my Medium membership (Nov 2023)
Only 3 articles earned over $100 each. More specifically, these top 3 collectively earned $540.
The next 7 articles earned another $500
The next 10 articles earned another $400
The next 10 articles earned another $245
The next 10 articles earned another $145
The next 10 articles earned another $110
The remaining 400 stories earned less than $10 each; many of these earned only pennies.
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