State of the Blog

(With apologies to Clark for stealing his post title).

This blog turned 3 months old yesterday. It also got its 3000th visitor recently. I have to admit, both are more than expected. Three months and 3000 visitors may not seem like a whole lot, especially in a year when blogs have become so popular that the word "blog" itself has topped Merriam-Webster's words of the year list, but it seems like a lot to me. I jumped into the blog on a whim, really, and had no idea where I would go with it. I really never thought I'd last past the election. In the process of lasting three months, I've discovered several great blogs, most of which are, unfortunately, underread. I've also gotten some great comments (I don't think I've really gotten a bad comment yet), and met some very cool blogospheric neighbors. I still like some of the big blogs, like Crooked Timber, Deltoid, Leiter Reports (though I have to admit I was so impressed with the posts by the Stanley brothers when they were visiting bloggers that Leiter's own posts have lost some of their appeal), and Majikthise (her blog reads like a small blog, but it's definitely a big one from within my frame of reference), but I have to admit that the first blogs I read, these days are the great little ones, such as Siris, Philosophy, etcetera, Mormon Philosophy & Theology (a fact that must baffle my friends who know me as a staunch secularist), Semantic Compositions, and the others over there in the blogroll. All in all, it's been a good experience, and a great way to write something everyday (when my computer works) that doesn't require writing, rewriting, and more rewriting just to be submitted, rejected, rewritten again, resubmitted, conditionally accepted, and... well, you get the picture.

Hopefully, as the blog grows, and I become better at the whole blogging thing, the people who read this blog now will continue to do so. Perhaps I'll even attract new readers, though I'm not terribly worried about that. I kind of like the blogosopheric community that I've forced my way into already. So, thanks to everyone who reads and comments, and thanks to all of the bloggers whose posts are better than mine (i.e., all of you) for giving me something interesting to read everyday. Remember, I'm always open to suggestions, criticisms, requests, comments, and unqualified, glowing praise.

UPDATE: Oops, I should have listed Pharyngula as one of those big blogs that I still really enjoy (not that anyone really cares that I excluded it). Seriously, when Myers posts on biology, is there any better blog out there? Sure, his posts on politics are sometimes not much better than my own (which is saying a lot!), but the biology is top shelf. I wish I could post about my discipline as well as he posts about his.