Ah yes, the Blogiversary. One year of bringing you the hits. And the catastrophic failures. Our Countdown of Ugh concludes with the worst post of the year, as measured by your complete indifference. Nothing on this site received less love than this one. It came to you, hat in hand, a humble post seeking attention. And the Internet looked elsewhere. The Internet yawned.
What was it? Continue reading
Color me stumped. I have no idea why this one was ignored by you, the readers. Sure, it might not be to everyone’s taste. But the second lowest post of the entire YEAR? Huh? Why? There’s some good content in this post! And there it sits, unloved, unwanted. The Internet has passed it by, again and again and again.
I just don’t get it.
Unlike the mealymouthed case against the case for CodeX, or the agonizingly misguided pen reviews, this one is – dare I say it! – not all that different from most of my other posts!
Is it because of the screaming headline? Maybe I pushed too far? Okay, fine, perhaps substandard haiku in America does not exactly rise to the level of a “national nightmare.” The point is arguable! Reasonable people may differ!
Or was it the tone and the timing? Maybe because on December 20, the height of the holiday season, people did not want to read a screed against “Captain Good-at-Counting” and “Suzie Number-Game.” What can I say? I thought they might!
And they did not. You, reader, did not care one bit.
You not-cared enough to make this the second least popular post on the site. Of the entire year!
Except…now that I check the stats, I see one thing. One ray of hope. Sure, the post barely garnered any traffic. But it did get a like. Exactly one like. From reader Jeff S., who’s been there from the blog’s earliest days, supporting and commenting. I haven’t done a check on this, but I have a feeling there are many posts in the archive with one like from Jeff S. Maybe that’s why I kept going! Jeff S. liked it – which made me think there must be others who would eventually turn up too. He was the first guest at the party, smiling and waiting as I unfolded the card table and strung up the decorations and set out the bowls of chips. Thank you, Jeff S.! I hope you’re still having fun now that the place has gotten a little more crowded!
So here’s the post, in all its dismal ineptitude. Avert your eyes, people!
The Jacke Wilson Blogiversary Countdown
Least-Popular Post #2
Why, why, why did this fail? I’m happy to hear your theories in the comments, readers. Do you hate haiku? Hate haters of haiku? But I love haiku! I want it to be better! Am I alone in thinking there’s a problem? Am I alone in caring?
Was it the last line – “Let’s let go”? Too subtle? Too demanding? It’s practically my philosophy of life!
Oh, the misery of a post about haiku that has no audience. If a blog post fails in the forest…and there are no observers…
It’s the Blogiversary here on the Jacke Blog. One year of bringing you the hits. And the duds.
We’re counting all of them down. So far we’ve seen a pair of Objects grabbing spots five and four on the list of most popular posts.
On the list of duds, we’ve seen a hopeless pen review and a half-hearted commentary on a new name for ebooks.
(Really, those pen reviews are hard to beat. “The dream dies.” That was my dream? I’m tempted to write an Object about those two posts.)
I’m not sure what to make of the next one. I put a lot of effort into it. I thought I had something important to say about an important and timely topic (i.e., the changes to the publishing world). I linked to an article at The New York Review of Books.
I even used the phrase “Skirt-Chasing Poobah.” Is Google not indexing my site? That must be a phrase that people are typing in.
I did all these things and more. This was a serious commentary on a serious review of a serious book! I spent half a cross-country flight putting it together!
And…you hated it. Your indifference was humbling.
Ah well. Perhaps we don’t need stories about the Kings of Publishing and how they’re dying out. Maybe we just need to look forward. Maybe we’re too busy creating our own new paths.
The Revolution Will Not Be Blogged!
Or rather – the Revolution will be blogged. But the ancien régime will not.
Or rather – the ancien régime will be blogged. But no one will care!
Failed Blog Post of the Year #3
It’s been a great year here on the Jacke Blog. We’re celebrating our twelve-month anniversary by posting the most and least popular posts of the year, as measured by your hits. Or lack thereof!
Today we’re at #4 of our countdown of ugh. I’m including a pair of posts, each of which could stand (sit?) in the bottom five on their own. I think you need to see them together to see how wretched they truly were.
Words fail me. I don’t even now how to begin to describe these. What was I thinking?
Well, apparently I thought – hey, here’s a blog for people who like good stories, maybe a blog for writers, a blog for lovers of literature and philosophy, so maybe I should…review pens! A writing tool!
Except I didn’t really review them. I linked to a review of them. And then I added sort of a drifting promise that I would try one out.
People, you were right to give this one no attention whatsoever! I would not even say it’s a good Facebook post. I would not even say it’s a good tweet.
Here’s the post in its entirety.
It’s anniversary week here on the Jacke blog! That’s right, one whole year of bringing you writers laughing, objects, small-press shoutouts, and whatever the heck else I’ve been up to in these 300 or so posts.
So how to celebrate? I thought I’d run through the archives and feature the five most popular posts of the year. And the five least popular. (I’m going by straight hit counts here, not counting likes or comments or emails or reblogs or anything like that.)
Without further ado:
Jacke Wilson’s Anniversary Celebration
Least Popular Posts of 2013-2014
#5
Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich argue for the need to replace the word “ebook”:
We need to embrace digital reading as its own medium, not just a book under glass. That means imagining a new language for reading as an experience, starting with a new word to use instead of book.
Their solution comes from “a crack team of novelists, journalists, and publishers conducting a gonzo experiment in the future of publishing”…
You hated this one. You really hated it. Or at least ignored it.
At first I was surprised to see this one here. It has a nice picture? But then I realized the problem with the headline. Who the heck knows what CodeX is? In fact, it’s a name made up by guys who want to rename the ebook. And in the end, I basically say I think it’s an “interesting” idea (my recollection is that I never figured out why “ebook” isn’t far superior). So I used in the headline a made-up word that a) nobody knows, and b) I myself think is probably unnecessary.
“Renaming the Ebook” probably would have gotten more attention. But alas, the post had the headline it did and got the attention it deserved. Poor little post! Drifting out there all on its own.
I had a lot of posts like this in the early days. I think I was so immersed in ebooks then, as I was putting my own out, that the world of publishing and formatting and handcrafting and DIYing and all of that was endlessly fascinating to me. But not to you!
Congratulations, The Case for CodeX! You made it onto this year’s list of least-popular posts at #5. That’s your last hurrah. No go get back in your dark little corner until I call for you again (which might be never)!
Jacke Wilson 