Happy Birthday, you old Blog, you!

Today is (roughly) the second anniversary of ANOTHER POINT OF SINGULARITY here on BLOGGER.COM. I ran a previous incarnation, the POINT OF SINGULARITY, on Xanga for a few years before bailing to come here, so all in all I've been a so-called "serious blogger" for about five years, and I maintained a web presence (not really a blog but kind of a catch all static webpage that got updated often enough) fairly constantly since about 1997. Why? Well, in part, web development was my job for a while, and you get into the habit. For another, I enjoy sharing not just my thoughts with other people, but also something they can put to use in a hobby sense (particuarly, in the wargaming hobby). Some of my earliest "resource pages" saw a lot of mileage over the years, being referenced in many places and used again and again (such as the PBeM Emporium, on the web since 1997, and my Wild West Skirmish page, which has been around about the same amount of time). About four years ago I started getting out of the static web page stuff and devoted more time to blogging style web pages. Why? Well, it's easier to update for one thing, and generally pretty network friendly wherever I go. Constantly updating pages (as I did back in the Emporium's heyday) gets very old, very quickly. I just can't do it any more. A blog post, though, that takes a few seconds.

During the last year or so, I've noticed the traffic for this blog has gone up dramatically. Part of the explanation for the traffic is undoubtedly the fact that I'm not shy to link to a post of my own in another forum-- after all, I took the time to write it, why not have someone read it? Some folks have come back,and I even have a few regular customers, you might say (judging from the traffic reports). That's a lot of fun, and I appreciate that they think this thing is worthwhile enough to return occassionally.

During the year since the LAST anniversary, I've also noticed a lot more critical reaction to some of the posts that I have put on here. For instance, I recently received my first hate mail about a post that dared to question the policy of reimbursing GMs for conventions. I have also been called (literally, at my house) for posts that were critical of individuals in this or that group. Yes, I have people who scan this blog on behalf of other people, with the express purpose of reporting back to the 'offended person', to try to whip up trouble for yours truly. I'm not exaggerating. I've always been somewhat astounded that people take posts on a hobby so deadly seriously. Especially when there are so few of those "hobby organization" posts to begin with! As a result of the new "Label" feature on the current incarnation of Blogger.com, I've been able to categorize posts better, and thus have found that it's become easier to collect statistics on any topic posted here. For instance, oh, just taking something out of the blue, it turns out that the term "HMGS" only shows up in less than 2% of the posts on here. Don't take my word for it, count it yourself. And when it does, it always ignites a sh*tstorm, so to speak. Oh well, it should hardly be surprising in an age that values perception over substance.

In closing, I'll be continuing on here for another year at least. I enjoy this pastime. If I offend somebody with something I write, feel free to comment on the "Post Comments" section. Heck, if it's that important I'll post your point of view on the subject, no skin off of my nose.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope you continue to read in 2007.

Mister Nizz