A quandary
A while ago I was messing around and installed some software on a server.
It’s a sort of analytics thing that measures traffic to websites. It’s like a concierge who counts the people entering a house, what rooms they visit, what they nick while they are in there and where they go after. At least it doesn’t flog that information to others like the Google yoke.
It is a lot more powerful than I first thought and as some nice, simple features such as a single list of sites and how popular they are. I hooked it up to a few of the sites that I run. Immediately I saw which were the popular sites and which got very little visits.
I took a snapshot that covers a few days.
Okay, so I host a lot of smudgy sites, but that’s only because I smudged them. Client confidentiality and all that shit.
The first thing that struck me was the traffic to Anna Raccoon’s archives. I was delighted with that.
Next was Martin Scriblerus. Again, a respectable placing in the league, as I suspected it would be.
The surprise was “A Pipe and a Keyboard“. That site is outdated and abandoned. I do use it very occasionally myself to refresh my memory on some point or other but I didn’t think anyone else would. One of the reasons I ran the comparison was to see if I could delete the site altogether. Maybe it should stay?
I was a little saddened at how far down “Smoking – on Ethics” came. I suppose I could merge it with Rambles into the Smoking section? That would release the server anyway.
The sad note was at the bottom of the table. Nisakiman’s site is more or less gathering dust down there. Yesterday it had three visitors and all three shot out of the site as soon as they got in. They didn’t hang around to read anything anyway.
So do I delete the site? It would seem like wiping Nisakiman from history, but it is nearly two years since he went to the Great Smoking Room in the Sky.
To delete or not to delete? That is the question.
Why hurry?
Two years is hurrying?
Nisakiman's posts were always interesting and insightful. Is there some way you can preserve them, like the blessed Anna's have been, for posterity?
It looks like I am!
I found a nice way to use lockdown time.
First on Nourishing Obscurity and over last few days with Flaxen Saxon I have been reading old posts. In both cases, started by accident through a link to a much earlier post, on another platform. But then, from what you say, you know.
It is fascinating. You learn more facts, but also you come to know the blogger. I did the same with Mlle Raccoon but arrived at her blog via a long forgotten link, after which used the Last and Next links to track back, and forwards, in time.
As an aside I learned where these back and forward links appeared on each page. Interesting how they vary. Sometimes Radder's is annoying because you have to wade through screeds of troll shite. Radder's patience with these is a wonder.
What I am getting at in a round about way is: why not occasionally throw in a link to an interesting post somewhere in the middle of Nisakiman's archive. Then curiosity will have me going back and forwards.
As I have said before, thank you for your own issue, and also for the cluster of stars that you shepherd. M Scriblerus is a daily ramble for me.
I wish you, Her Indoors, Cat, Dog, the Coffee Shop and your new pipe well.
"why not occasionally throw in a link to an interesting post somewhere in the middle of Nisakiman's archive". There are sadly relatively few posts – only 44 [compared to this site which has 4,700]. What I have done as a sort of compromise is to add a "Try a Random Post" link on Nisakiman's sidebar.
When I used to bother with Twitter, I used to follow poets John Hewitt and Seamus Heaney. Hewitt has been dead a long time, Heaney more recently, but someone used to post lines from both. What about re-posting some of Nisakiman's stuff?
I could repost some here, but it wouldn't seem right somehow. It would be akin to plagiarism in my book. I'll leave the site there with the new link I mentioned above.
Dear Grandad
I guess much depends on how much it costs to maintain Nisakiman's blog. If not much, then err on the side of posterity. Otherwise ask for donations for the upkeep (which was the codename for Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb – was trying to remember last Tuesday!).
Prompted by the comments I looked at Captain Ranty's (RIP) old blog. The domain name for his later one is for sale – $3,695 – so presumably lost.
This post may interest: https://captainranty.blogspot.com/2013/02/debt-and-taxes.html
Notable link and quote by TSL 14 February 2013 at 08:28
Nothing changes, not even in two hundred years, other than get worse. Much worse.
Best wishes to Herself and Yourself and animals.
DP
Okay. I'll err on the side of posterity. I don't like asking for donations as it makes me sound like a miserly old scrounger!
The good Captain had some great stuff on his site. Another who is greatly missed. I still get a bit of traffic from his site which is strange but nice!