EIGHT HUNDRED

This is my eight hundreth post on this blog since joining Blogger in 2005. My Blogger Stats tell me that I've had over 300,000 page views over this period, whatever that is worth. Most of these have come via Google and may have been very transient (ie post not read).

This statistic may seem puny to real bloggers, but I make no attempt to get or hold a readership. Mostly I write for myself and then if a subject I've blogged on comes up in conversation I send the person a link.

The posts with the most page views have been:

Power Points where I discussed suspended Jersey Police Chief's evidence to the "Independent Jersey Care Inquiry" into child abuse on the island. (1,373 views)

Bono's House where I proved that Bono lived in Killiney. (1,288 views)

Remembering the Somme where I reported on the opening of an exhibition on Ireland and the Somme in WWI which went on display in the Dublin City Library & Archive in October 2016. (1,072 views)

Retuning the Harp where I reported Felix Larkin's talk on Harped History: Joyce, 1916 & Revisionism. (989 views)

Jon where I commented on the ridiculous and counterproductive complaint by the disgusting Jersey troll, Jon Haworth, to the island's Commissioner for Standards. (969 views)

I seem to have a fairly international audience, subject to the qualification about page views above.

I rarely get comments. The exceptions include 37 on Power Points and 48 on Jon. These, in particular, reflect the absence of independent main stream media in Jersey (CI), that there is significant discussion of real issues on the blogs, and that my blog has dealt in some depth with Jersey issues over the years. The comment count would be higher but for the fact that I had to moderate comments due to the Jersey troll, and dissallow most of his.

I am very careful with my blog posts. I put a lot of work into them and treat them with the same care and attention as I would an article for a national newspaper or an academic journal.

I try to use my own images as much as possible and this is generally not too hard as I report a lot on events I've attended and places I've been. Otherwise I just nick stuff. So where I have stolen or mutilated the images of others, thanks and please forgive me, it's in a good cause. I also take some consolation from the fact that, in turn, I make my own images freely available to others.

Finally, thanks to Blogger for doing all the work, for keeping an eye on my stats, and for some nice user-friendly templates.