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2007 NSLog(); Blogging Stats

As I did last year, here are the results of my 2007 blogging.

                 2007  2006   2005   2004   2003   2002
                 ----  ----   ----   ----   ----   ----
Posts             493   560    940    993   1335     68
Comments         2961  2832   4956   7104   5491      9
Ratio            6.01  5.06   5.27   7.15   4.11   0.13
Comments         2961  2832   4956   7104   5491      9
My Comments       362   459    545    749    639      0
Ratio            0.12  0.16   0.11   0.11   0.12   0.00
Avg. Length       994   925    824   1023   1195   1836

So, I blogged and commented less frequently in 2007 than in 2006, but I wrote more per post and received more comments. In general, that could mean I posted more thoughtful content. Or maybe the switch to WordPress late last year made it easier for people to comment.

6 Responses to "2007 NSLog(); Blogging Stats"

  1. Data and statistics are always a neat thing to look at closely.

    But sometimes, conclusions and interpretations have value, and sometimes they have no value.

    For example, you can be watching a football game and John Madden will pipe in with a stat related to a POSITION of play on a team in early 1970. DUH. This has zip to do with today or anything else. It is a number from then. Meaningless.

    No other variables are noted (longer playing season, college level play changes over the years, expansion teams, draft choices, heck...even the use of Stickem by wide receivers to "catch' a ball in days of yore, by being a human velcro in the way of the football swinging by).

    I have not read the archives so I am not familiar if this site is expressing more insight and wisdom than previously; thus, inducing comment.

    I am keenly pleased to see a blogger noting his comments and their growth or decline. THAT is a class act all by ittself!

    Regardless of the reasons you can conclude for greater input by your readers, I will add that WordPress is user friendly by far to the competition (EBlogger the worst).

    Another eye popper for me is Average Length stats above.
    In 2002, to 2003, your posts (comments?) declined by over 600 words each. But that smaller post (a 1/3 decrease in verbiage each time out) generated an additional whopper of comments .

    You cut your words the next year by almost 200 words LESS per outting, yet INCREASED another 1600 comments.
    You would think at THAT rate, if you said nothing, you would have more comments than the entire rest of the net combined!

    Doing the same stats for 2006 and 2007 shows an increase in length (a pittance frankly) with a marginal (130) more comments.

    What are we to make of this?
    Is it greater writing?

    Is it the change to WordPress? (yup)

    Is it more people using blogs as a source of news, info, communication than did so at the turn of the century? (probably).

    Were people just getting to know you in the early prosperous years?

    Give yourself credit!

    Then, look at that ominous trend of comments from a height of 7104 ('03) to 2961 in ('07).
    Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

    To buck this trend, we start your new year with a comment early on 1/1/8 and hope you scoot to 7 or 8 thousand by the end of the year.

    Best regards,
    Danny Lucas

  2. [quote comment="45169"]I have not read the archives so I am not familiar if this site is expressing more insight and wisdom than previously; thus, inducing comment.[/quote]

    The problem there is, also, that the number of comments often seems to have no relationship with the quality of the post. A post that says nothing more than "Poop!" might get more comments than a post on solving the country's dependence on foreign oil.

    [quote comment="45169"]Another eye popper for me is Average Length stats above. In 2002, to 2003, your posts (comments?) declined by over 600 words each.[/quote]

    Well, first off, not many people knew about my blog in 2002 as it started in December. Additionally, I discovered that long posts don't work quite as well as shorter, punchier ones.

    [quote comment="45169"]Then, look at that ominous trend of comments from a height of 7104 ('03) to 2961 in ('07).[/quote]

    I'm not. The ratio is only 1.14 lower and rose almost 1.0 over 2006. 🙂

    Thanks for your thoughts.

  3. Gee Erik,

    If you started in December of 2002, that data (2002) skews everything. I would skip that year (except as a memento type item) and go forward with comparable date, namely compare full year to full year.

    I think it valuable in the world of blogging that you are tracking this, and hope you continue and refine it for in depth results about blogging (specifically here AND in general).
    I doubt data exosts like this in many areas.

    What's the deal with the ratio, giving you contentment, while there is a clear decline in comments (rather dramatic since inception - full year 2003?

    Do you see ratio as an Electoral College letting you win without popular vote? Curious phenomena in real life and here.

    Now, the rest of you bloggers and commenters get a word in here so 2008 kinks Erik's chart off the wall.

    Best regards,
    Danny Lucas

  4. [quote comment="45175"]If you started in December of 2002, that data (2002) skews everything. I would skip that year (except as a memento type item) and go forward with comparable date, namely compare full year to full year.[/quote]

    No offense intended, but I think you're taking it far more seriously than I am. I wasn't sure after the first post and I'm still not sure now if you're not just yanking my chain or being facetious.

    My blogging, at various times, has several different purposes, but almost never is it "to get comments" or "to write long posts" or "to write more posts."

    [quote comment="45175"] What's the deal with the ratio, giving you contentment, while there is a clear decline in comments (rather dramatic since inception - full year 2003?[/quote]

    I'm not sure what you mean by "what's the deal?" I think the ratio is interesting because the more comments each post earns, on average, the more "comment-worthy" the posts were. I rarely seek to write things solely to be "comment-worthy," but in a year when I gave up things like the Question of the Day and added polls (lots of which don't get comments because a "comment" is a vote), I was happy to see the post:comment ratio increase.

    So happy I smirked for a second or two and then moved on with my day. 🙂 I don't read much into it.

  5. No offense taken.
    No chain yanking.
    No facetious.

    Just a keen interest in numbers, more precisely, what the numbers are really saying. You post yours under "About Me".
    You start the New Year with a first post on statistics about you. And, you interpret them.

    I confess I have not read your blog. The stats listing caught my eye. So do golf stats, stocks, and a myriad other aggregates of numbers. As long as the criteria are correctly established, interpretations can be accurately surmised.
    All of the above I do about as long as you do before you smile and start your day.

    However, you also DO keep stats and over a long term.
    THAT has more value than a bland stat counter that tells you zip to interpret.

    Why does it matter? This form of communication is the future. It is as if Bill Gates left his garage door open in the early days and said to you, as you walk by, "come in and look around".
    Most people would continue walking. I came in and looked around your post.

    What if you got a dime any time a toilet was flushed anywhere in the world,... with one catch? Each time a flush occurred, someone had to "click" a button next to the toilet.
    If they do, you get a dime.

    Welcome to Google Ads and more.

    Look at this post I read:

    "The Internet keeps growing every day in number of users, and also in the number of websites. Just take a look at the number of domains in the United States: 514,555 new domains created in the last 24 hours (12-12-2007); 139,070 domains transfered in the last 24 hours; and 96,541,906 domains are active ( .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, and .us) in the United States, according to the domaintools.com website. This means that as the Internet matures, a lot of new business opportunities spring up all the time.

    The fate of any new website is an enigma in the beginning. Some websites will succeed, while other websites will fail. The truth is that the majority of websites fail, and many do not earn any money at all for their owners."

    Over 514,555 NEW domains in ONE day.
    Yup, that catches my attention.
    And, 139,000 TRANSFERRED makes me think "Hmmm".
    That is about 1.3% of the active total (96 million) being transferred to another party; like a real estate home being sold.

    I am hugely curious as to the common denominators of success and the common denominators of failure.

    I am curious why 1.3% of folks sell their site, and why it is bought. Imagine if Heart Attack Jack took his blog and said "I am not doing this anymore. If someone who had a heart attack wants to buy it and continue what I started, it is for sale"
    Better yet, what if there was a site established to do this. Sort of an Ebay for domains, eh?
    When you approach to sell, a third party enters and "fixes it up" to get more value for the buyer and more money for the seller (and a tranaction fee for the work).

    You are aware that Erie has long been a "test market" area for many products (and they never see the light of day due to failure in Erie OR they go nationwide due to success in our market). I have a hunch this holds true for the Internet too.
    Stats are hard to come by, unless you watch closely.
    For the record, Google knows just by you making a click, so the toilet fortune above is relevant to any serious blogger.
    And serious does not mean pensive or brooding.
    The toilet gets flushed either way every day.
    Having someone PAY you for that just because your seat was occupied a nanosecond....that kind of serious is what I mean.

    Here is another thought Erik. 😕
    The mortgage crisis we are in as a nation was largely due to lack of oversight and lots of fraud. Homes were snapped up, a coat of paint added, and prices doubled, and SOLD.
    The mess is still being flushed through the collective system.

    What if someone were to take a site like GoErie, for example, and come in, give it a coat of paint (their colors are atrocious), 😳 make it easier to navigate, fix the flaws that need tweaked (too numerous for this discussion), and then RESOLD the site.
    The same could be done with Erie Blogs or any member/nonmember. With 500,000 domains popping in for ONE DAY, there seems to be a lot of growth potential to me.

    That kind of stuff runs through my head when I click your post on stats. Then, I smirk a couple seconds at the thought and move on with my day. I don't read much into it (from my point of view). Others may think that IS seeing a hell of a lot missed by others. 😯
    Nice to meet you. Have a great day. 😀

    Best regards,
    Danny Lucas

  6. [...] I did for 2006 and 2007 (but not in 2008, it seems), here are the results of my 2009 [...]