As commented on by my fellow travellers in the blogosphere, stats for this blog dropped off dramatically (but stayed at a consistent level) in 2023 after what appeared to be an incredible (and implausible) peak in 2022. All of which led me to suspect that the majority of my visitors were of the non-human variety.
This month, it seems that the bots are back. In the first seven days of this month, my stats have pretty much match (and will today surpass) what the blog managed for the whole of May.
Furthermore, there's been an apparent resurgence of interest in my 1-2 year old posts about Ronnie Spector and Ramones and selections (all with dead links) featuring Lovers Rock, Big Audio Dynamite and Fad Gadget.
To everyone that visits here, whether you've recently discovered this blog, or have joined at various points since I started all this in 2020 and have offered kind words of appreciation, encouragement (and correction, where frequently needed) and shared some frankly brilliant anecdotes, I'd like to say thanks, it really means a lot.
I never imagined that, when I put out a "50@50" selection in December 2020 that I'd still be doing this but here I am, 788 posts later.
In a bid to embrace the bots too, The Robots (or Die Roboter, to give the song it's proper German title) seems like the perfect choice.
Starting off with the original video from May 1978, followed by a performance on German TV show Rock-Pop the previous month, a June 1991 update to accompany The Mix album (which finally gave the single a UK Top 20 hit) and lastly, bang up to date with a live performance from the Pepsi Center WTC in Mexico City on 30th May 2023. All fantastic, of course.
I seem to have a lot less bots than last year when I look at my stats.They like daily posters.A couple of days not posting can throw them off.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways it is better (and often sobering) bto see the actual numbers!
DeleteI think you've hit the nail on the head, CC, the bots are clearly targeting quantity rather than quality!
DeleteAnd yes, the actual numbers are always a good antidote to any potential delusions of grendeur or self-importance...!
Ah, wonderful Kraftwerk - my favourite gig ever was seeing them the day after my 18th birthday at Hammersmith Odeon. It was just fantastic. Unlike those irritating bots - I sometimes notice random days when the stat graph suddenly resembles a mountain range (it's usually a plateau with a few little bumps), and they're all from somewhere called "other"!
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on your 788th post, here's to many more.
Wow, I don't think I celebrated my 18th in anything like as much style!
DeleteAnd yes, the bots have gone even more bonkers. In the few days since posting this, my June stats have now surpassed April and May combined...!
In keeping with the above comment on my "delusions of grendeur or self-importance", Ernie @ 27 Leggies noted this week that his 2023rd post landed in 2023. I've worked out that, if I stick with daily posting, I should achieve something similar... in May 2027!