Saturday, January 2, 2016

Happy New Year and 5th Anniversary!

First of all, Happy 2016 to all the readers of this blog. 
Technically, the anniversary of this blog is December 17 - I made my first post on that date in 2010, meaning this past December 17 was the 5th anniversary of this blog. 
Sorry the blog has been so quiet for the last couple of months. I ended up with a rather no-notice project at work that consumed (and continues to consume) a LOT of time - so I let the anniversary pass without comment!
But in keeping with what's become a blog anniversary tradition - here are a few numbers - 
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

Fifth Anniversary, December 2015:
Total Views: 288,625
# Followers: 192
Total Posts (All time): 421
Average Posts/Week 2015: 2.0
Average Posts/Week All Time: .61

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 as of December 31, 2015:


6578
Sep 4, 2013, 10 comments
3633
2771
Dec 23, 2010, 3 comments
1192
Jan 15, 2014, 7 comments
786
Jan 22, 2015, 10 comments
699
Feb 9, 2013, 1 comment
600
Aug 4, 2014, 6 comments
588
566
Oct 9, 2012, 6 comments
536

For those keeping score, these are just about the same as last year's top ten. 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. 
I'm not surprised to see the Track Plan post sitting firmly in the top 10. But I'm amazed that "A Glimpse into my Modeling Past" remains, by far, the single most popular post on this blog. "Prototype Modeling and the blogosphere" 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. I've also noticed that posts that get specific mentions and links on other model railroad blogs definitely impact the number of views a post gets. 
...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 712 comments - and some of the comments are almost "mini-posts."
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. 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!!

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