I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

WordPress recently sent me an alert, letting me know that it was my second anniversary of blogging. So I decided it was time for the obligatory self-congratulatory post. But I’m not a monster, here is a picture of my dogs, to make everyone happy:

Like the previous year, I did a lot of blog posts about Game of Thrones, the excellent show on HBO. I really should do more movie or book reviews. But I did review some cool TV shows that didn’t include Starks and Lannisters, and I kept up with monthly MicroStory writing, so there was a wee teensy weensy bit of diverse things going on.

I’ll try to do more things, different things, more different things now that I’m in Year Three.

What Was Hot?

Like last year, let’s look at the Top Ten Posts of All Time (within the domain of my work…)

Top Ten Posts (By Views)

• In Defense of Theon Greyjoy. What? (3694 views, up from 1120. Goes from #2 last year to #1)
• In Defense of Stannis Baratheon (3190 views, up from 1223. Stannis drops from #1 to #2)
• In Defense of Robb Stark (1889 views, up from 747. Robb is on the rise, from #4 to #3)
• In Defense of Bad Boyfriend Jon Snow (1647 views, up from 694. Jon jumps from #6 to #4)
• Melisandre, Hot or Not? (1643 views, up from 712. Missy is holding steady at #5)
• By the Old Gods and the New: Religion in Game of Thrones (1599 views, up from 684. From #7 to #6)
• Who Are Those Guys Again? How to Tell Friend from Foe in Game of Thrones (1411 views, up from 528. From #10 to #7)
• Defending Theon Greyjoy (1288 views. First time in the list, at #8)
• The Amazing Spider-Man Movie Broke My Daughter (1240 views, First time and at #9)
• In Defense of Arya Stark (1215 views, up from 609. Arya drops from #9 last year to #10)

Now, I know views don’t really mean that much. After all, for all I know these articles have really popular images that Google is fetching. But I’ll work with them.

I’m not surprised that it was heavily Game of Thrones, roughly 2/3rds of all my posts are about the show. So I’m most proud of my Amazing Spider-Man post making the cut, since it was a very personal experience for my daughter and I, and I was proud of how the article turned out.

In the bottom 10 posts, 8 were from my monthly MicroStory collections (I totally understand why they’re there) and 2 were from articles outside of my blog that I had reblogged. Fair enough.

Warning, there might be Game of Thrones spoilers in the next section. If you’re still interested in my Big Picture summary, feel free to skip to the bottom.

Like last year, I thought I’d list the popular polls I had as part of my posts.

Polls

• Stannis: Yea or Nay (619 votes) from In Defense of Stannis, 2nd most popular post
• Who is the Worst? (364 votes) from In Defense of Theon Greyjoy, most popular post
• Robb Stark and His Decision Not to Marry a Frey (319 votes) from In Defense of Robb Stark, 3rd most popular post
• Jon Snow and His Decision to Abandon Ygritte to Warn the Night’s Watch (290 votes) from In Defense of Robb Stark. (3rd Most Popular Post)
• Theon and Stark Captives (207 votes) from In Defense of Robb Stark (3rd most popular post)
• Robb and Lannister Captives (204 votes) from In Defense of Robb Stark (3rd most popular post)
• Sansa Stark (155 votes) from In Defense of Sansa Stark (not in top ten)
• Melisandre (143 votes) from Melisandre, Hot or Not? (5th most popular post)
• King Joffrey (138 votes) from In Defense of Joffrey Baratheon (not in top ten)
• Arya Stark: Best Character or THE Best Character (137 votes) from In Defense of Arya Stark (10th most popular post)

Robb’s post is the big bully, because his had those 4 polls… we’re starting to see posts without any polls getting in to the top ten, so even if the polls are popular (relatively speaking) the posts are not holding the same rank. That’s not surprising.

Big Picture

WordPress has been changing their stats page, so I haven’t been able to figure the average views per day. I might return to this post and add that in when I do some hand calculation. But I now have 587 followers (up from 287) so that makes me very happy.

In fact, I’ve been very, very happy with this experience. Blogging has been a lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed all the interaction and comments from people dropping by, or my (and I am amazed that I’m saying this) long-time readers who faithfully comment and check out my stuff.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate you all.

In a couple of days, I might post an update on the annual Weird Search String Terms that intersect my blog. I love doing those. And I should actually write a better anniversary post, talking about things that I started up (like the Pug Film Festivals where I watch Kung Fu movies with my dogs when my wife and daughter are away.)

Best regards,

Pat

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© Patrick Sponaugle 2015 Some Rights Reserved