This Makes No Sense
So this makes no sense.
First, in case anyone's actually reading this on a regular basis (and according to Statcounter, there are about 10-15 of you 'returning visitors' every day), you may have noticed that it's been a LONG time since I've posted anything - nearly two months. So why on earth do you keep coming back? (please note, I'm not at all displeased that you do; I'm just surprised by it).
Second, back in the day (2005 and the early parts of 2006) when I was posting like a maniac, the best we ever averaged was about 40-50 visitors per day. Not bad. But now (again, according to Statcounter), we're averaging 96 a day (with a peak of nearly 140). Most of these folks are new, and I'm guessing they don't come back. So why on earth are new people coming to this site, when nothing new has been posted here in such a long time? (once again, I'm not complaining, just curious).
Add in to the mix that in spite of all this traffic, almost no one ever comments anymore. Hmm...
Part of me wonders if Statcounter is accurate (I think it probably is); so is it robots crawling the blogosphere, looking to harvest email addresses? Or is it real people?
[ATTENTION ALL REAL PEOPLE READING THIS - would you kindly leave a comment on this post and just say hi - just tell me where you're from (vaguely), how you found your way here, and what you were looking for (that you did or didn't find), and if you come back regularly or not. I'm not looking for biographies or anything like that - I'm just curious if there's really a pulse out there. Anyone?]
My guess is that very few people will comment. Gawkers? Strangers passing in the night? Or perhaps they just aren't real people at all. I just don't know...
Some of you (all three of you 'real people' who for some reason or other ARE in fact still reading) - I'd be curious for your input on a followup question. As you've probably noticed, I haven't been posting a lot. There are a number of reasons for this.
First, things are busy in a church plant (no surprise there, but they were busy in seminary too, and I found lots of time to post then).
Second, because blogger didn't support tags when I first started blogging, I split my content out into multiple sites - personal stuff on Granitepeaks, photos on my photoblog, rubber meets the road stuff here on SLD, theological musings on Wayfaring Pilgrim, and stuff about the church plant over on the Missoula Project site. And when you get busy, it becomes a whole lot harder to post to 5 different blogs, let alone one (that said, it's not like I've been overly busy posting on those other sites either).
Third, (and probably closer to the real reason for the slowdown), for the first time in my life I'm spending an awful lot of time talking to folks who share their stories and struggles, and because I'm a pastor planting a church, there's a chance they might tune in and find this blog. And so even though a huge number of blogworthy conversations have been happening, I've been reluctant to talk about what people are saying, lest they think I'm simply using them for blog fodder. I really want to respect the privacy of people who are wrestling. And so I haven't said a lot about all the interesting things that are going on, at least not publically on the blogosphere.
Given all that, I find myself wondering:
- should I combine all my blogs into one (and just mix content, so there's at least more volume getting posted, even though that means people might have to sift a little more to determine what they're interested in)?
- should I give up blogging altogether?
- should I start a new blog, under a new name, and just not tell anyone about it - then I could write what's on my mind and not have to worry about someone who knows me in real life reading what I thought about their conversation?
posted by Pilgrim in Progress @ 9:00 PM
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