Happy Birthday, Blue Skunk
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 06:17AM 
The Blue Skunk Blog is now three years old.
Such milestones seem to be a good time to review and revise, so I took a good look at my Why the Blue Skunk? and My Biases pages and made a few tweaks.
In 36 months, there have been 787 posts (averaging of 22 posts a month) on the Skunk. In July 2006 I posted only 3 times and in May 2008 I posted 36 times.
Over the past year (August 2007 to July 2008) these are the stats generated by my blog host:
| Page Views | 606,323 |
| Page Views / Month (Avg) | 50,489 |
| Unique Visitors | 245,184 |
| Unique Visitors / Month (Avg) | 21,197 |
| Robot Hits | 491,142 |
| Robot Hits / Month (Avg) | 40,968 |
Or in a more graphical format:
The Skunk has 2,213 subscribers and GooglePage rank of 5/10. The Technorati authority rating is 183 and ranking is 28,458. I am not sure the significance of any of these numbers and I hope I haven't embarrassed myself. I've never gone out of my way to try to increase readership or ranking. As I've opined before, the Blue Skunk is the boutique not the Wal-Mart of blogs, appealing to only the most intelligent and discriminating of readers. (Deep enough for ya?)
Enough navel gazing. The important thing is that this entire experiment is just about as much fun as one can have with one's clothes on. Onward and upward.
Reader Comments (7)
Happy Birthday Blue Skunk Blog - one of the first blogs that I subscribed to -- one of the first that I read when I open my bloglines account. Thanks for all the insight, wisdom and thoughtful contemplation about libraries, technology and learning.
Happy Birthday Blue Skunk! Love the blog, the name, and especially the cute little skunk drawings!
Oh, I lost my HIPY PAPY BTHUDA BTHUDY post and can't get it back. I'd just been to my Desk and opened my birthday book because it was a new month and made a note of the important celebrations in my family this month. But Blue Skunk wasn't in my b'day book, so here we are and there we are! A very happy anniversary to you -- I hope you're celebrating with your kin, when the sun sets in the west (it's later here, and there's a folk dance weekend nearby starting soon!), and I wish the BS manyfine years to come!
Just got two much needed chuckles from the last two posts. Long live the Blue Skunk blog!
I think the check for the books I sent to Ecampus.com back in June must be on that same slow boat from China.
Happy Birthday Blue Skunk!
Those numbers look pretty impressive to me! Especially all those robot hits! I had NO idea it was even possible to purchase a robot yet, never mind get them to work a computer and read and respond to blogs. I thought they only existed in Star Wars movies and the I Robot movie with Will Smith! Yet here you've managed to attract almost 500 000 of them! Go figure.
On a more serious note, at any time in the last three years have you wished to not be a blogger? Has it ever been a chore? In the months that you were kinda "dry", did any guilt or a sense of pressure creep in?
If all of the people who subscribe to Blue Skunk were to send you a "Happy birthday to your blog" comment, it would be pretty overwhelming, I think.
Anyway... here's to many more years of GREAT posts. I'm doing a tiny presentation for the librarians in my board later this month, and your blog is the first one I'm going to show them as part of my recommendation!
Ciao,
Janice
Happy Birthday! Just glad I'm out from behind the firewall and can once again read the Blue Skunk without breaking International laws. :)
@Hi Donna,
Thanks so much for the kind words. I hope to be able to keep your confidence!
Doug
@Thanks, Linda. I'll let Brady know he has a fan for his drawings!
Doug
@ Hi Jane,
The Skunk requires little in the way of ceremony. A simple cake and a few close friends.
I am sure there is plenty of BS ahead. If you know what I mean!
All the best,
Doug
@ Janice,
We had electricity back at 8PM on Friday. Hope for your books yet!
Doug
@ Hi Janice,
Hey, I'd not thought of the robot thing in quite that way. You're right - it's worrisome. Are they taking over? Are they in politics and school admin and we just don't know it yet? Now I will have nightmares!
Writing in the Skunk has been a labor of love, to use the old cliché. I wrote a personal journal for many years and I see this as an extension of it. It is usually that I am busy (or on vacation) the months during which I post only infrequently. No, no sense of guilt.
I do tend to worry that my posts may be too personal, too silly, or lacking in professional value to readers. But then I think, "hey, to unsubscribe in GoogleReader takes about two clicks." One of the joys of no responsibility to an editor, to advertisers, or readers who may be paying for a subscription. Very liberating.
Thanks for the kind words and all the very best,
Doug
PS. I hope I have a good post the day you demo!
@ Thanks, Jeff.
Been enjoying your first posts from ISB! Sounds like you are taking them by storm!
Doug