When I was thinking of this blog post, I thought about an accompanying photo and title. I chose these to illustrate what I was feeling when I learned of people’s reactions to my previous blog post. In my head, that seminal quote from “Apocalypse Now” took on a slightly sarcastic twinge but accurate nonetheless. I chose this photo of the late, great Marlon Brando as an illustration of perceptions – this big, scary “monster” displaying a vulnerability ready for public consumption. I guess that’s how I see myself when I write on my blogs. I have been, for a few years now, seen as “the other”. Alarmingly apparent in Japan and below the surface here in Scotland, but with me as a constant companion. I have very few local friends here, so when I can’t make like E.T. and phone home, I blog. Now, I have irked others by what I have written in the past and I have found out about it through comments or via a private email or phone call. And that’s cool. To paraphrase Bob Marley, you can’t make everyone happy all the time, so you need to have dialogue to work things out. With that in mind, I’d like to ask to people who read my blog, if I’ve communicated something that is not to your liking or you think is just dead wrong, please let me know. I assume adults read this thing and while I know my audience is small (C7, I still don’t know how to work Analytics!), it’s big to me. I started this thing 4 years ago via Kaki Means Persimmon and I think I self-censored a whole lot less then. But I know that I like writing and expressing myself and being the extrovert that I am, I’m not going to shy away from being as honest as I can be on a public blog. But let me make this clear: this is my blog. Not my husband’s. He doesn’t know what I write and he’s not my editor. I would strongly prefer that if you want to say something about what I’ve written, please say it to me. I promise, I won’t bite. Hard.
Hey Kaki, re: Analytics, the site is unfortunately a bit complicated to look through, but I think that's cause it's more used by businesses and things.
ReplyDeleteHere's a site that will walk you through it:
http://tinyurl.com/58ptfy
If that doesn't work, just google "google analytics for blogspot" or something like that. Truth is it's much simpler than it seems. You're going to do 1) Go to analytics and give em your blog name; 2) They'll give you a bunch of html code that you highlight and copy; 3) You go to your blog, click on "Customize --> Layout --> Edit HTML" and then paste the block of code in at the bottom.
It's a blessing and a curse, though. On the one hand, you know people are reading your blog. On the other, you know when no one's reading your blog and it's kind of disheartening. Even Shiloh felt shitty about it in Japan for a little bit when numbers got low. You'd be surprised, though. A lot of people stop by without commenting. Some people don't even want you to know they read your blog, so I try not to make reference to the fact that I have a general idea of who's stopping by. For a while there, I was getting hits from all over central England, and I thought maybe Dave's readership was wondering who Contra7 is (I'm linked on his page). Unfortunately, I had to go private recently after an anonymity breach. Can't have my employer find out what I think about certain issues.
Anyway, maybe try analytics for a bit and see how it goes. My most consistent readership comes from about three Hawaii friends in LA plus one in Vancouver who's not Shiloh. Steph's gotten on board lately too, which has been nice.
C7