Fourth Anniversary!

This week marks the fourth anniversary of this blog. I started the blog on December 17, 2010 with a simple "Test" post. The first "real" post was on December 23rd.
For those of you who like numbers here are a few -

On the Second Anniversary* of the blog, December 2012:
Total Views: 44,690
# Followers: 88
Total Posts (2011 and 2012): 90
Average Posts/Week: .86

Third Anniversary, December 2013:
Total Views: 100,000
Total Posts (2011-2013): 175
Average Posts/Week: .89

Fourth Anniversary, December 2014:
Total Views: 186,301
#Followers: 165
Total Posts (All time): 313
Average Posts/Week: 1.5

In case you're curious, here's the Top Ten list of most viewed posts (the number to the right is the total number of unique page views for the year):

A glimpse into my modeling past Jan 17, 2013	4434
MicroLux Hobby Acrylics Sep 4, 2013, 10 comments	3591
Track plan Dec 23, 2010, 3 comments	1199
Clinic Etiquette Jan 15, 2014, 7 comments	787
Model Railroad Influences Oct 9, 2012, 6 comments	574
Missed opportunities? What might have been? Jul 12, 2011, 13 comments	569
Maine Two-Foot Adventure Aug 4, 2014, 6 comments	555
"Hoarding," "Collecting" or Savvy Buying? Nov 6, 2013, 5 comments	480
CV 40000-series Howe Truss Boxcars Oct 29, 2012, 6 comments	406
Foreground Trees Aug 5, 2011, 4 comments	382

I'm not sure what any of these numbers mean, other than someone seems to be reading this stuff. I don't get hung up on post counts and the like - I also don't practice the "post a day minimum" you hear about in blogging circles. I write a post if I have something to say I think you may find interesting.
Posts dealing with modeling projects and the layout tend to garner the most responses - either through the blog or directly to my email inbox. I'm not particularly suprised many of the posts with the most views are editorial comments on the model railroad hobby as a whole. "Hoarding, Collecting or Savvy Buying?" and "Clinic Etiquette" both provoked a lot of discussion and response. I think the MicroLux paint post sitting firmly at number 2 is a result of Google searches for Micro-Mark or Micro-Mark paint....As for the others, who knows why they've risen to the top.**
I'm particularly pleased at the increase in the number of meaningful comments (there's always been some spam comments, which I eliminate as soon as I find them) I've been seeing on the blog, particularly in the past few months. At this point there's just over 510 comments - and some of the comments are almost "mini-posts."
The one comment this year that I was particularly surprised and thrilled to receive was to my Model Railroad Influences post. I admired Russ Griffith's modeling and articles - and was especially thrilled to get a heartfelt note from his son in the form of a blog post comment.
I'm not sure why there's been an increase in subscribers to this blog, and an increase in comments, but I think many modelers are using blogs as a replacement for the long-standard "Yahoo" mail lists and the like.
I started this blog to create a diary of sorts that would document the building, rebuilding and operating my home layout.
At this point I'd consider the blogging experiment to have a success, and plan to keep writing as long as I'm able and have something to say. The fact that so many other modelers seem to enjoy it is particularly gratifying.

* There are no stats available for the first year since I didn't include them in the first anniversary post!

** Of course, by including the list of Top Ten posts and associated links here all I've done is guaranteed people will click on them, increasing their total views more!!