…although they may well be confused. Welcome to the club!
OK, I don’t really have 20,000 fans. But I did just pass 20,000 page views. I know, I know. A couple folks out here in the biblioblogosphere have half that many Bloglines subscribers and must get that many page views every 24-30 hours. But most of us toil in relative obscurity with a small number of friends (FTF and web) and family reading our witty repartee.
I’ve also picked up a good handful of new Bloglines subscribers over the last week. Welcome! I hope you find the place to your liking. I’m not sure if it’s due to Walt’s gracious words and inclusion of some of my babblings in the latest issue of Cites & Insights, or if it’s due to my 4th hosting of the Carnival of the Infosciences (#42), or my stirring up trouble re being slightly indirectly called ‘old,’ or at least ‘not young’ via a new leadership initiative from ALA, or just pure luck. Either way, again welcome!
To all, new or (dare I say it) old (nah!) long-time readers, feel free to let me know what you like, or don’t. I certainly will not promise to change anything. But it might have some impact, and I’d love to know why you decided to stick around, even if only temporarily. Even I haven’t been real pleased with my output over the last couple of months. School was the biggest impediment, as well it should be.
This whole web thing is so very odd. I see the little subscription numbers change in Bloglines; someone added my humble blog, someone dropped it. Except in the rarest of cases do I ever have any idea why. I know who a few of my readers are, but certainly less than half. One way, of course, to tell is by who comments reasonably frequently. A few because I know them from school and they tell me. A large percentage never comment though, and that’s certainly OK. But then there’s the feeling that it’d be nice to have some idea. Not in some big bad Big Brother way. I’m really glad we don’t have that capability.
Then again, I read lots of blogs where the writers don’t know that I do. I’d like to think that if they asked that I’d tell them though. I see no reason not to that I can think of, but I’m not saying that can be extrapolated to everyone. It can’t. People have their own reasons for doing things and that is OK with me. I’m just saying, "This web stuff is weird."
Anyway, welcome to the big weird web and my little corner/portion/slice of it. Feel free to introduce yourself, or not. And don’t forget that my email address is on my About page and my IM is on the right sidebar of all other pages, in case you prefer not to comment publicly.
And, yes, I fully know that this little event really is no great shakes in the grand scheme of things, or even as important as stopping to appreciate the beauty of a flower or the smile of a puppy, but it gives me a small little glow anyway. If anyone had told me back in January 2005 that I’d have well over 500 posts and 20,000 page views in less than a year and a half I’d have told them they were crazy and probably quit immediately on the offchance they were right. I’m glad they didn’t.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Meredith // Jun 24, 2006 at 9:11 am
Your blog is terrific because you’re not afraid to be yourself or to ask the tough questions. You are adding something unique to the library blogosphere and I, for one, am grateful for that.
2 Mark // Jun 24, 2006 at 9:36 am
Thanks so much Meredith! That means a lot to me.
I do try to learn a lot from one of the calmest and wisest folks out here (you, of course!), but it is a slow road most days and I end up being more myself now than the me I want to be. But that’s OK, because I’m slowly learning to believe that I’m not as “bad” as I thought. I just need to keep trying to focus the questioning in productive ways.
I sure hope you’re recovering from the physical (and other) stress of book writing. Keep being yourself and showing the rest of us “new” librarians ways to make a difference in this profession. It *is* a great time to be a librarian!
3 Iris // Jun 24, 2006 at 10:32 am
I don’t remember exactly why I started reading your blog. I do know that it was sometime in the last month, and that it was because I followed a link on somebody else’s blog (which is how I’ve found almost all of the blogs I read).
So I don’t know why I started reading, but I do know why I’ve continued: your voice is authentic. Whether I agree with you or not, I can always count on hearing what you really think and feel about the topics you tackle.
I’d say more, but then you’d have to lancet your head to relieve the swelling, and I imagine that this would hurt quite a lot.
4 Angel // Jun 24, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Congratulations on reaching your 20K views. May you have many, many more as you continue to ask tough questions, think and ponder, and just provide something interesting with a very strong and authentic voice.
Personally, I think I fall under the “I found your blog because someone else linked to it” crowd. On that basis, one has to wonder who got to it first. I hope that is not too much “chicken or the egg” for you. The reasons above are why I keep coming back. Heck, I usually read your stuff last when the Bloglines reads it because I can just skim everybody else, but I know I have to actually pay attention to what you write (I mean that in a very complimentary way). I think I am glad too not to have the Big Brother capabilities. I do look at the Bloglines subscriber number maybe once in a blue moon, but otherwise have no idea how many views, and a part of me does not really want to know. I have faith people will come if they like the stuff, and they will quietly leave if they do not. Kind of like a “blog for every reader” thing. You, on the other hand, need to keep looking so you can tell us when you reach 100K.
Best, and keep on blogging.
5 CW // Jun 24, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Congratulations! Keep writing!
6 Mark // Jun 25, 2006 at 7:05 am
Iris, Angel and CW, thank you all. Honestly though Angel, if someone were to ask me whether they should be reading you or me if they could only read one, I would not hesitate to insist that they read you.
While we may both be ‘old,’ you are a practitioner with the valuable benefit of having been an educator in other various guises. This gives your voice a very valuable quality that I may never attain. You also do a far better job of being moderate, except when required; probably via smarter decisions of when to post or not. Me, I often end up wearing my heart on my sleeve and/or going off three quarters cocked. Ah well. I look at it as a learning experience and hope it doesn’t come back to haunt me some day.
Thanks all! And thank you Michael for quoting my last paragraph at TTW. *That* was a very pleasant surprise first thing yesterday morning! I am learning to (re)engage with the world on its own terms after years in the military. I saw several smiling pups at the Farmers Market yesterday, along with buying some homemade cookies and fresh vegetables to enjoy. It was a fine start to a nice day.