This is the one hundred and first post since this blog started in late August 2015. I thought that justified a bit of an update on the blog and some reflection on how it has been going.
For those who like facts and figures, after the first 100 posts the site has had
- 18 216 page visits
- 10 484 different visits (many would be repeat readers, so I don’t know how many different people this represents)
- Visits from over 150 countries, with 74% of visits coming from Australia, followed by New Zealand (6.7%), USA (5.3%), South Africa (3.6%) and the UK (2.6%).
- The most viewed post is Same Sex Marriage: Ethical and Pastoral Reflections with well over 1000 views.
- In descending order, the 10 most viewed posts have been
- Same Sex Marriage: Ethical and Pastoral Reflections
- A somewhat sobering Christmas
- For better, but not worse: Marriage and Divorce in the 21st century
- Adam raised a Cain: When our children break our heart
- When Faith Turns Ugly: An interview with Deborah Hurn
- The Refugee my housemate: On opening our hearts…
- Churchless Faith
- Conducting a Spiritual Audit: A First Fifteen of Questions
- Why Christian Teachers and Schools Matter
- Dementia: Forgetting or Forgotten?
If you missed any of these posts, the weight of public opinion suggests that you should click on them now 🙂 Some of them were forwarded on via Facebook and other social media over 100 times, and I am always grateful to those who ensure a wider readership by doing so.
The majority of reader referrals come from Facebook, followed by Google and linkedin.com.
So far 264 comments have been posted, an average of 2.64 per post – though often people add extra comments on Facebook and I have no way to track what happens there. In addition to the 264 posted comments, I have had to exercise editorial oversight on a few occasions where people have made inappropriate comments – inappropriate because they maligned individuals, attacking the person rather than exploring the view they expressed. Mercifully this has not happened often, and while I am always reluctant to edit out what someone wants to say, there are times when I felt I had no real choice. Of course people sometimes say things I don’t agree with – and I have no problem with that. But how people say things does matter, and I want this blog to continue to be one which hosts lively but respectful discussion.
As far as hosting goes, I am grateful to the growing number of people who have contributed guest posts. I hope to include more and more people to our circle of contributors, and am delighted that it has been possible to publish insightful views which might not otherwise have been available. If you would like me to consider posting something you have written, don’t hesitate to ask. And if I tap you on the shoulder to ask for a post, please consider saying yes. Likewise, if you would like any particular topic covered, let me know. If I don’t feel I can write on it, I might be able to find someone who can.
So why do I run this blog? Because…
- I enjoy writing
- Some things need to be said
- It helps me to clarify my thinking and to experiment with new ideas
- Many people seem to find it helpful
- It helps me to stay in touch with people I have met in a wide range of contexts
- It provides a forum for other budding writers and thinkers
- It helps me to promote my books, and other books which I think are worth reading
- I am trying to decide which book to write next, and the response to different posts gives me a sense of what areas people would like to explore more
- It is fun, and I am learning a lot by doing it
- People read it – and seem to keep returning to it
So thanks for supporting the blog. I appreciate your encouragement and have been genuinely surprised and delighted by how many people I bump into who say, ‘I really enjoyed your post on…’ It is very rewarding.
As always, feel free to use any of the material you find on the site, and if you can acknowledge the source, that is a bonus. Incidentally, if you haven’t subscribed to the blog, why not do so? Sign up is easy (just add your email address where it is asked for) and ensures you will be notified of each new post. In the unlikely event that those emails prove a nuisance, all you need to do is to hit the unsubscribe option which is given at the bottom of the email notification. I won’t be offended 🙂
Well – with that, I come to the end of the one hundred and first post. So we are in to the second hundred, and I hope they prove as fruitful.
Nice chatting…
Remarkable how quickly 100 posts have come – thanks for writing views, provoking thought and helping us to think things through, Brian, always useful reading.