It’s a Wool-Gathering Blogiversary!

Seven years ago on this date, I finally got around to relaunching a site on ye olde world wide web, which as anniversaries go is sometimes termed the ‘wool’ or ‘copper’ anniversary.

As with previous versions of this blogiversary post, I’ll be looking at the posts that were popular over the past year and other stats worthy of wool-gathering.

Star Trek

Once again, my posts related to ranking every episode of every Star Trek series topped the list of total traffic to the site. This was not a surprise. What has changed from last year has been that the Whole Enchilada ranking is no longer the most visited. The hits now go:

1. Every Episode of Star Trek, the original series, Ranked
2. Every Episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Ranked
3. Every Episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Ranked
4. Every Episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ranked
5. (Big drop) Every Episode of Every Star Trek Series, Ranked: The Whole Enchilada
6. Every Episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, Ranked
7. Every Episode of Star Trek, the animated series, Ranked

Note that Voyager continues in second place. In fact, it was number one for most of the year. As I discovered when I originally posted the rankings, love for that series is far stronger than its general rep.

I’m also reminded that I really need to update some of the existing Trek series, which are blossoming.

Most Visited Posts (apart from Trek)

Other than Star Trek, the seven most visited posts in the past year (whether they were from this year or no) were:

1. Fewer Lightning Strikes and More Slow Burns (2021)
2. Cue Rockin’ Blogiversary Music (2021)
3. Schedule Management: The 0-50-100 Method for Tasks (2016)
4. You Too Can Die of Dysentery! (2021)
5. Prepare for Brood X! (2021)
6. My 50 Favorite Films, 2020 Edition (2020)
7. 2020 Additions to the National Film Registry (2020)

Note that, by a wide margin, the highest number of views outside of the Star Trek rankings was “A Viewing Guide for Star Trek: Enterprise,” but since that’s clearly also Trek, I skipped it.

I really don’t understand the popularity of the first entry, which is a great article for sure, but its title doesn’t seem like anything favored by an algorithm. Ah well. The schedule management post has been popular for years… and if that helps people better manage their projects, all the better (it really does cut through a lot of Dilbert-esque bull). I am glad that most of the posts in the top non-Trek seven are from the past year. I mean, that means I’m posting relevant things, right? Maybe?

Posts I’d Like to Get More Views

It’s hard to compete with Star Trek, a pop culture powerhouse that’s been around for over 50 years, so I strongly suspect, unless I unwittingly tap into some niche topic made timely by the zeitgeist, that Star Trek posts will remain the biggest source of traffic. Still, when I looked over all the posts I made over the past year, there’s a few that I would have liked getting in the top seven (sans Trek):

• Beverly Cleary: An Appreciation
• What will the House of Mouse do when the Mouse isn’t entirely in the House?
• Ending the Story in Flight
• Comics Are Not Lucrative for Writers or Artists
• Farscape and Mental Health
• Writers: Beware the Hope Rustlers!
• There is no number seven

For people my generation, Beverly Cleary was her own pop culture powerhouse and the interviews I linked were great. Farscape, likewise, is a show I love, and the article I talked about uncovered what I think may be one of the subconscious reasons I like it. Intellectual property and Disney is a topic I don’t think I’ll tire of, nor the success or lack thereof of creative folk. Finally, I always like thoughtful pieces about storytelling and pieces that warn writers of bungus often need to be amplified.

So there it is. Another year in the can… or the rear-view mirror… or lost in a metaphorical 404. See you in another year, many dozens of posts and, if all goes well, a couple hundred script pages.