So why am I worried and not happy? I guess, in part, that’s just my nature (have to poke the world in the eye from time to time). However, given one of the subjects that was a topic in Friday’s post, I have to admit I am worried that some radical assholes might be accessing the blog in order to find me and to seek revenge. Am I being too paranoid? Maybe, but do you understand why this blog has always been anonymous?
The vast majority of blog views were of the Home Page and were referred by Guck Foogle. (However, maybe that means the “radical” topic in Friday’s post was not the reason for the boom in Guck Foogle referrals.) The world’s dominant search engine does not allow me to access the search terms that lead people to the blog. I tried a little research on my own to see if I could unearth those terms, but was unsuccessful.
Of course, this record day came after I stopped monetizing the blog. (That happened on November 1.) However, if I recall correctly the day that previously “held” the record did not generate an extraordinary amount of ad revenue.
The number of views on Friday was 38 percent higher than the previous high; the number of visitors was 54 percent higher. (Those deltas are unusual for a blog of this age.) The number of views of the Home Page on Friday represents 6 percent of all such views for the ENTIRE YEAR! Maybe this chart will make the point more clearly:
The blog had more views and visitors on Friday than on the previous nine days COMBINED. Once again, for a “mature” blog that is most unusual. I can’t blame bots, either, because the source of the views was known and the number of visitors was proportional to the number of views.
I, of course, hope that some of those who read the blog on Friday will continue to do so, but my experience with other days that had exceptionally high totals for views/visitors tells me that won’t happen. Guess I should just be happy for the day, but I am not wired that way.
Oh, here’s the punchline: the numbers of views and visitors for Saturday basically tripled those for Friday. The MO was the same as Friday, though: many views of the Home Page referred from Guck Foogle.
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Courtesy of Rubens Junior and related to my praise of Amazon on Friday comes this hysterical story:
“One day, I was attending a customer over the counter at a Nissan dealership where I used to work. He wanted to buy rear differential fluid for a 2023 Rogue. The dealer’s price is outrageous, around $140.00 per liter. He pulled his cell phone and started tapping in front of me; a couple minutes later, he said, ‘I just bought it at Amazon, $45.00 shipping included, maybe you guys should do the same.’”
His story really made my day. Reminds me a little of my having to get new TPMS sensors for the F-Type. The Jaguar dealer (now former Jaguar dealer) wanted three times as much to install the sensors and program them to the car as the shop that services the car. Why do people take their car to the dealer for service except for warranty work or recalls?
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So, one can hope that the toppling of the brutally evil Assad regime in Syria is a path towards a more peaceful Middle East. One can hope that the leader of one of the rebel factions that, apparently, now rules Syria can be believed when he said, “We are open to friendship with everyone in the region – including Israel. We don’t have enemies other than the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran. What Israel did against Hezbollah in Lebanon helped us a great deal. Now we are taking care of the rest.”
I wouldn’t want to make any plans based on hope, though. As the old saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding.
#SoWhyAmIWorried?