“Publishing… now.”
The above is the entire contents of an email I received from Erik Kain exactly one year ago today. The item referred to in this cryptically short message was my first ever guest post on the League (and in fact, my first attempt at a blog post anywhere). Over the next two weeks I submitted three additional guest posts; the week immediately after that I posted my obligatory introduction post, as Erik foolishly agreed to make me a regular contributor.
Which kind of makes today my one-year anniversary as both a blogger and a contributor for the League of Ordinary Gentlemen.
Those who despise personal reflection, navel gazing and gooey acknowledgements of gratitude would be wise to turn back now.
To say that the experience of writing for this community has been rewarding would be a drastic understatement. As a teenager and a college student, I always dreamed of being a writer. I didn’t even care if I was a successful one, I just wanted to feel the heft of a book I had penned in my hands. Others I knew had more lofty ambitions, and their fantasies involved bestseller lists and readings before acknowledged luminaries. My dream scenario involved me stumbling across my book at some library, and smiling. But those dreams had long been mothballed. Except for the odd corporate memo or birthday card salutation, it had been decades since I had written anything prior my first League submission. Now that I am writing on a regular basis, I find that my itch to write had never actually died so much as had simply gone dormant.
Writing for this site and all of you is a privilege, and a year later it still gives me a thrill every time I hit the “Publish” button. When I was an angsty 17 year old and wrote bad angsty 17-year old poetry (the only poetry in the universe worse than the Volgon’s) no one but me ever read my drivel, let alone gave me feedback. What a difference it has been, then, to have constant feedback, engagement, “linakage,” and community spirit surround everything I chose to share. Seriously, how space awesome is that? For everyone here that is an old hand at blogging, most of what I encountered this past year is likely passé – but I find I am still constantly bemused by almost everything. The far away and fascinating places people take my thoughts in the threads astounds me. I get about a dozen emails from readers a week; I happily answer each one, since it still amazes me that anyone takes the time to write me at all. Even the drive by trolls fill me with a kind of wonder of peoples’ continued ability to feel such passion about things great and small alike.
I think of being a League contributor a gift that everyone here has given me. The community here has not only put up with my political, cultural and personal musings, it’s allowed me to try my hand at fairy tales, religious edicts, multi-media cooking instruction, poetry, Euro-radio, spiritual journeys, troll worship, fables, celebrity tell-alls, corporate press releases, and a lot of other bizarre and really off the wall stuff. Not all of them hit the mark, but I love the freedom and encouragement readers here give me to go wherever I choose.
I spent some time this past weekend reviewing my pieces from the past twelve months, and was surprised to find how many of the damn things there were. There’s probably some sort of sociology experiment in seeing which posts were popular and which were met with silence; there certainly is a great psych paper in my emotional reactions to this phenomena. It’s funny – those pieces I think were my best posts by far (posts about growing up with guns, bullies, henchman, and Justin Beiber), the ones I was most excited about posting, were the League versions of Waterworld. When you link to those posts I think you can still hear the crickets chirping. On the other hand, a few that I thought were crap and wouldn’t have posted at all if I’d taken the time to go back and review were heavily read, and they engendered long threads of really excellent conversation by others. So what the hell do I know? If there’s a key to this puzzle, I have yet to decipher it.
With all of that being said, I’d like to beg your indulgence in my expressing some sappy but very sincere gratitude.
Thanks to Erik, of course, for allowing me to be here at all. To this day I have no idea why he handed the keys to some guy who’d been blogging for all of a week or so. My thanks go out to Mark and Jason as well, who (along with E.D.) have helped me learn through their example how to oversee and nurture a quality site, and who do so with equal measures of high standards, reason and conscience.
I owe an especially huge debt to the other contributors here for keeping me honest in my efforts to produce stuff that might engage or entertain. Seriously, the quality of writing that happens at this site is scary good. You can’t read posts by Russell, Burt, Rose, Tim, Pat, JB, Nob, Will, Rufus and (literally!) everyone else here everyday and not feel a need to keep improving just to try to catch up. The fact that they are also such great human beings and have become good friends is the only thing that keeps me from despising the lot of them out of pure petty jealousy, and secretly plotting their demise.
Thanks to my family as well for their patience, since time spent writing and helping Erik manage the League has been time away from doing laundry, taking out the trash and playing basketball. Every hour I take to write a post about my youth is time that could be could be spent sitting my kids down and telling and retelling them stories of my – wait, what? Oh. I see. I’m being informed by my kids that they are very grateful to you all that I now more spend hours writing and less sitting them down to tell them stories about my youth.
But most of my thanks go to the rest of you out there. Readers and commenters have always been the engine that drives the League, and my experience has been no exception. This past year has been awesome, and I can’t thank you all enough for that. I understand that there are a near infinite number of things you could choose to read on the intertubes; know that every time you choose to read a post of mine I appreciate it as the honor that it truly is. So thanks, everyone.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a whole second year’s worth of of posts to write.
Congrats!!! So many things in life to celebrate. I’m glad you stopped to enjoy a milestone and share your thoughts.Report
Cheers, mate!Report
Yeah, receiving commentary does give me a rushReport
Oh and Happy anniversaryReport
Comments are the best part of blogging.Report
FYI, your ‘Waterworld’ posts are some of my favourites.Report
Many happy returns old boy.Report
You are gentleman and a scholar, sir.Report
Happy anniversary, Tod. And FWIW, your growing up with guns post was one of the most compelling pieces of writing I’ve ever seen on a blog, hands down.Report
Yeah, I think the gun post is better than the first date story, actually.Report
Happy Anniversary! This place would be somewhere else entirely if you weren’t here.Report
Congrats, on a year, Tod!
I want to echo Jonathan’s admiration for a lot of your ‘Waterworld’ posts, that’s been a lot of great stuff. I find it hard to believe you’d not been writing all those years, the stuff you’ve published has consistently been quite excellent by any standard. I think there often just isn’t much to argue about in them, hence the relative silence from the commentariat.Report
Congrats Tod. I echo all of your thoughts. Writing here makes me feel equally lucky. Your posts are among my favorites and I’m glad we are ‘colleagues’. I share your frustration about ‘Waterworld posts’ (you’ve probably coined a new term) but the important thing to remember is that they are all being read and enjoyed. Your stuff is great and you should feel very proud of the work you have done in the last year.
Looking forward to year two.Report
Let’s not get too carried away with the analogy Mike. Waterworld the movie received zero attention because it was horrible. But lot’s of posts – many that you write for example – are very good, and reading them is a pleasure, despite the lack of commentary they engender. Sometimes there isn’t any easy entry to commenting other than to say “Nice post”.
If you want comments, try writing a post linking the second amendment restrictions caused the global warming hoax while simultaneously justifying abortion.Report
True dat. Every once in a while I feel an impulse to try and create a super-comment post like that but merging hot button topics. I twirl my mustache and then come to my senses.Report
Judiciously applied abortion policy could easily get the planet back down to a much more manageable 2 billion people which would have a much smaller global footprint, much smaller energy needs, and open up a lot of space that could then be returned to nature and grow plants that would sequester CO2 *AND* provide hunting ground.
It’d take fewer than four generations to do this, by my back-of-the-envelope calculations.Report
The other way, besides abortion, is mandatory carry of fully automatic weapons. See Burress, Plaxico, for the likely effect on male fertility.Report
If you say “NO FOREST FIRES” for a hundred years, you’ll get all of this debris and eventually the forest fire will be an unstoppable crown fire instead of a pleasant and healthy ground fire.
World Peace is exactly like that.Report
I think you thought I was trying to say something profound.
I just meant that a lot of men would be stupid/clumsy/careless enough to shoot their genitals off.Report
You know how much I love your writing. It boggles my mind that you’ve only been here a year, since I simply can’t imagine the place without you. And I am incredibly happy to call you my friend, as well.
Happy anniversary.Report
Congrats, Tod! It’s been a “space awesome” year! Though I believe the correct title for this post in internet lingo is supposed to be “Blog-iversary!”
And on the whole “Waterworld” phenomenon, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself since this joint started. Before the commenting culture had fully developed, and a good chunk of the feedback we got was from outside links, I had made it my mission to figure out exactly why certain posts got a lot of linkage and traffic, and others didn’t. Included in that mission was trying to figure out why, when we got Dish links, certain of those links resulted in thousands of pageviews, while others resulted in just a few dozen. It took a solid two years before I just gave up.
Once you reach a certain level of bewilderment, the temptation is to conclude that the number of pageviews/comments is in inverse proportion to the quality of post*, but that’s not correct, either – a lot of times, you do wind up with lots of pageviews and comments on posts that you put a lot of effort into. The next temptation is to figure that it’s largely a function of subject matter – hot button topics obviously will get more traffic than other topics. This is surely a big part of it, but even there, I’ve had throwaway hot button posts that have gotten little traffic, and throwaway hot button posts that have gotten massive traffic; I’ve also had really considered hot button posts with lots of traffic, and really considered hot button posts with little traffic.
I’d like to say that at some point, you just accept that it’s not possible to figure it all out (because it’s not!) and stop getting frustrated and flummoxed when that post you worked on for days gets 15 comments, no links, and 200 pageviews. But that would be a lie.
The best I’ve been able to do is to recognize that there are certain commenters whose opinions I hold in especially high regard, because they usually disagree with me, but also usually do a great job of really honing in on the weak spots of my posts when they do. If just one of those commenters provides positive feedback on a post where I presumed they would disagree with me, then I can feel confident that it was a good post. Of course, the next problem is, having concluded something was a good post, it’s a little annoying to see that no one outside the site is reading it.
*For example, compare the number of comments I got on two separate posts I did on Honduras:
https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2009/07/honduras-wtf/
https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2009/11/honduras-reclaiming-the-american-sphere-of-influence/
The second post has since actually wound up with a lot of pageviews, but only because of Google Images searches; it got only a handful of pageviews on the substance.Report
Happy anniversary and keep up the great work, my friend. Your participation in our community is intensely valuable and you embody the ideals of the Gentlemanly spirit to which the blog as a whole aspires.Report
Happy anniversary! You are a delight to read and to know.
As far as Waterworld posts, what I told Jay once (and I think Patrick has said the same thing on MD): You have to be at least a bit wrong to get comments. By which I mean, commenters here are reluctant to just say “Oh, good show, old chap!” – they want to have something substantive to contribute. If a post is nigh perfect, it’s hard to find a substantive response, beyond appreciation, and so the people who read it don’t tend to comment; while if it’s got obvious flaws, well, time to dig in! The way the comment system works is great for foregrounding comments and thus encouraging discussion. However, it also tends to obscure posts that haven’t gotten many comments yet, making pageviews less likely. People are less likely to link to perfect things, too, than they are to things they wish to disagree stridently with.
Jaybird doesn’t buy this theory, but I am increasingly confident of it.Report
I agree and I’m wondering if the obviously male dominated population has any thing to do with it.Report
We’re a conflict-oriented gender.Report
The hell we are!
(I know, not very clever. But it had to be said.)Report
I agree as well. There have been some posts where I do comment just to say ‘good show’ but it feels a little cheesy to do so. Maybe I need to get over that.
There are other times I make a trifling comment just to get the comment string subscription so I can get the updates via e-mail because I think something interesting might get discussed.Report
This gives me comfort and hope that my posts which have not garnered much linkage or comments weren’t dreadfully boring.Report
My that’s a clever theory. I’m gonna have to noodle it over a bit before I can weigh in on it tho.Report
Hey Tod — congratulations from a fan. I have really enjoyed reading your posts.
When are you getting started on that novel?Report
Just began researching for it in earnest last week. If all goes according to my timeline, I should be receiving rejection letters by next Spring.Report
Tod, it’s obvious to anyone with an eye for talent (and I believe I do have that) that you’re a natural born writer. You’ve got the gift, and I could see that plainly after you’re first few guest posts. No bewilderment from where I’m standing.Report
Perhaps now would be a good time for Russell to measure Tod’s head 😉Report
He’s not just a natural born writer. He is our Tod we shall have no Tod above Him.Report
Happy first anniversary, Tod. It’s been a delight reading your posts. You’ve covered so many different subjects so well, although my favorite will likely always be the post on your parents’ second date.
Looking forward to year two.Report
I used to enjoy your writing, but ever since I learned that you think they’re called “Volgons”, I can no support you. I am canceling my subscription.Report
What are they called? Volgi?Report
It’s like Christmas. No “l”.Report
Happy blogoversary Tod. Not only do I enjoy your writing I even enjoy your freudian slips. Keep up the great work. And don’t be so harsh on Waterworld, Kevin had to do /something/ to make Postman not be his Worst movie 😉Report
Speaking of Freudian slips, can someone with frontpage rights please add a after the word slips above? Didn’t work so good from my smartphone. 🙁Report
Got your back.Report
Wait, what’s supposed to be the front half of the link? You’ve got an open a and a close a but no link in there.Report
My phone said I did, but I can’t trust it. Now on a notebook so can use an actual keyboard to do this. It gets even more Freudian hereReport
And thanks Patrick. When is YOUR anniversary BTW?Report
I have no idea, to be honest. I wouldn’t know how to count it. First comment here? First time I posted at MD? First post on the front page?
This is the problem with these newfangled “live together before you get hitched” relationships, you don’t know what you ought to call your proper anniversary and next thing you know “first kiss”, “first naughty bits in the back seat”, “first real estate purchase together”, “signing ceremony with the judge”, “public affirmation with parents who didn’t know we’d been married for six months”, “first offspring”… they clutter up the reminder calendar.Report
As primarily a lurker, I do indeed often read your post. Happy one year of writing here!Report
Congrats Tod.Report
Granted, the penchant for navel gazing around here occasionally gets under my skin. But I’ve largely come to accept it as an inescapable by-product of the Extraordinary stuff that happens here among the Ordinary folks. Gotta take the good with the bad.
I don’t get the chance to stop by nearly as often as I’d like, but I am a most reliable lurker and I do indeed like lurking on your posts, Mr. Kelly: writing is fab and always promises a fascinating thread. Many thanks to your family for sharing you.Report
Tod, I’m part of your Waterworld problem. I read and think “dig the post,” but don’t say anything. And I, too, am a lousy predictor of which posts will take off. Kids with special needs and philosophy excepting aesthetics are not very hot topics, and abortion is not quite as hot as one would think. That’s about all I’ve figured out. And who could have guessed about Rush?
I love reading your posts and your comments on mine. You’re a big reason that I’ve really enjoyed writing here. You are a rare combination of very kind and insightful and funny.
Happy anniversary!Report
Dang, wish I had said that. So simple, so obvious. Put me down for an official +1.Report