1.16.2009

Earth Goat turns four


I just realized that this blog turned four years old on January 12. That's pretty old for a blog, no?

Thanks to all the contributors and commenters over the years. A lot of hilarious and inspiring stuff has been written here. It's been a real pleasure to have a place where we can all stay in touch when the spirit moves us. And how about a shout out to the Blogfather -- Pete -- whose terrific Babies Are Fireproof was the template and inspiration.

Things have quieted down. The election warped our focus, and summers bring us close to flatlining. Lots of people have their own blogs now, and Facebooking has replaced a lot of the stuff we used to do here, but many workshop blogs have come and gone, and we're still kicking. Not to get all sentimental, but that says something really good about the IWW classes of 2003 and 2004.

Some stats:

* 976 original posts, one of which cracked 100 comments
* Several blips in the media early on
* 203,076 visits
* 109 visits per day average

We are now preparing for our descent into Year 5. Please return your tray tables and chairs to their former upright, locked positions. I know you have a choice in blogs, and I'd like to thank you for choosing Earth Goat. I hope to see you again in the future.

8 comments:

El Gordo de Amore said...

All hail Grendel!

Seriously, thanks.

the plunge said...

Yeah let's keep this puppy out of the Hudson!

cfp said...

Blog years are like dog years. So actually this blog is 28.

Really, it's probably older. If the point of dog years is that a dog has a life span of about 1/7 of a human, then maybe a blog year is longer. I remember hearing that the average lifespan of a blog is one post. So this old nannie really is methusalen. But for the sake of the her feminine modesty I won't bother to calculate.

Anyway, happy birthday! Ever since BAF washed up on the rocky shores of my own wandering interests, I've been especially glad to find occasional sanctuary. You are the first people I will rant at on several of the topics dearest to me. Here's hoping you can see the compliment in that.

Thanks to Grendel for welcoming me and the rest of us!

Fid (Felicity) Thompson said...

truly we are grateful
cheers grendel

Prism Review said...

This is actually dunkeys posting, I'm just horrible at remembering various google passwords. Anyway -- I'm speaking for myself here but I'll intuit that others agree: I may not post or comment often, but I check Earth Goat at least daily and appreciate being able to read everyone's thoughts. Also:

-- the topline quotes (Pete's doing these?) are always great.

-- the links are outstanding (538 was my election crack and I saw it mentioned here first, I think)

-- again, it's good to hear about goats' and babies' success. A 03er won a Glimmer Train contest a couple months back -- anyone notice? -- and I saw the actual sketched face of a a baby in my morning LA Times the other day. Great world.

-- everything Dutch rocks.

Grendel said...

It's also El Gordo's birthday! Happy birthday, Fat One of Love...

And no, Dunks, I do the quotes. Or rather, I find them on the Web and copy them.

TLB said...

Happy Birthday, Earth Goat and El Gordo. The initials of both are EG. Coincidence?

I do love keeping in touch with y'all. This blog may predate Facebook, but it's more personal too.

pjkm said...

Thanks, Grendel, for keeping this going, with so much good cheer and good writing.