The Gazette Turns Nine

It’s traditional to make a big deal about arbitrary chronological milestones, and who am I to ignore tradition?

So, this here blog-like thing turned nine years old today. Or, it might have been yesterday. The historical records contain certain, ah, discrepancies. But “close” counts in hand grenades and blogging.

If I was less intellectually honest, I’d boast about “Nine Years of Continuous Content Free™ Blogging,” but that wouldn’t be technically accurate. Perceptive readers, and those with too much time on their hands, will recall that I abandoned blogging for a few months a couple of years ago. Even deleted all the old posts and comments and stuff (although like a good packrat, I kept an archive). But I couldn’t quit it, and revived the Gazette, much to the chagrin of the entire interwebz, I suspect.

A lot about blogging has changed over the years. Most of us bloggers no longer do a lot of cross-linking to other blogs. The sense of community has shifted to Facebook (and Twitter, to a much lesser extent). Very few visitors take the time to leave comments. But, also the competitive pressure is also gone – at least for me. Does anybody look at visitor stats anymore, unless blogging is your livelihood? I might think to look at my stats every six months or so, but it’s just not a big deal. 

I’m still writing for an audience, however large or small it might be. I always have at least one person in mind whenever I post something. It might be you. If you like what I write, then it definitely was you. Possibly.

I guess I’ve reached the point where I’m comfortable that I run this blog, and that it doesn’t run me. I hope you’re comfortable with that arrangement as well. And if the quality of the writing has degraded over the years, at least there’s not as much of it anymore. Try to take some comfort in that, will ya?

I do very much appreciate those of you who have chosen to drop by here every now and then to see what insanity I’ve conjured up. I’ll keep doing it if you will.