It seems FmH provokes strongly divided feelings. To judge, at least, from the, admittedly unscientific, ratings I’ve been receiving at BlogHop and EatonWeb, which for some godforsaken reason I just decided to check in on.
At the former, while 46% of respondents ‘love it’ or rate it ‘good’, an almost equivalent 38% feel it ‘sucks’ or ‘hate it’. And on EatonWeb, it gets an average rating of 2 out of 5. I would have thought there would be a strong selection bias in favor of loyal readers voting. Since I don’t think people with a negative reaction to FmH hang out here very often, the fact that passersby took the time to register their negative opinions suggests to me that their feelings are very vehement and FmH is strong medicine.
One could speculate that it is my in-your-face political sentiments that mightily offend a considerable segment of the reading public. But I suspect there is an element for some of revulsion about:
- my tortured ponderous prose style,
- my self-conscious cocky opinionation about even the nonpolitical topics over which I shoot my mouth off
(I recall a reader comment once several months ago to the effect that “…your narcissism is showing; think I’ll take a month off…”. Other readers have often flamed those who post critical comments here, but that has usually been only when they seriously misunderstand my points and need indelicate correction. No one countered the “narcissism” comment this time, although perhaps it was just that the Enetation commenting system was unreliable around then?? [grin])
- the clumsy lack of sophistication of my web design,
- and, yes, probably even the slow load times
I’ve gleaned from some of the negative ratings that people don’t like ‘linklogs’ anymore. I like the balance of posting links and whipping up commentary that I do, and it is not likely to change much. The height of appreciation for and notice of FmH came during the post-9/11 period, when I was at the height of fevered obsessional linking. Hey, I needed to read alot about what was going on and how people were reacting; I shared the links. Simply that, more than anything else, is what I’m doing here, and it is in the plain, original tradition of the early weblogs — a timely log of one’s websurfing, with more or less elaborate comments.
I have long commented on how static my readership is. It is uncanny; every weekday, I get 350-400 visits according to my counters, no matter what. It jumps briefly to 500-600 when FmH gets linked to in some major medium, such as the recent Le Monde mention; then it returns to the 350-400 of you. Are we in a rut together, or is it devoted and loyal readership? How can we tell? One of the interesting things at the EatonWeb page is a lengthy and growing list of ‘similar’ weblogs, although I’m not sure what the criteria for similarity are. Check them out, most are unfamiliar to me. Although I venture to say I wouldn’t find most of them so ‘similar’, you regular readers might find they exercise the same muscles in you that FmH does. Don’t rest on your laurels with FmH. In a world where everyone “blogs” (as you know, I pronounce that word with some disdain), will FmH remain relevant and viable? FmH’s ecological niche may fill, with co-evolvers or predators. With the explosive growth of weblogging, there’s plenty of room for evolution of your tastes. Take a look. Then, if you will, come back and challenge me with whatever you’ve found out there.
But, not to forget, I’m thankful for all of you who continue to stomach me. I’m a big fan of yours.
And if you’re one of those, masochistic or otherwise, who comes back to FmH again and again because you love to hate me, I would love to hear from you, I really would. I’m thankful you’re here too, although puzzled by it. Post a comment here, or write me. Anonymously if you wish. It’ll be fun.
