I’ve been perusing the WordPress end of year stats they send you.
It’s disheartening to see my most popular posts in 2013 were from 2012 and prior to that even. No 2013 posts made the cut.
It’s never nice to realise you are no longer relevant despite WP trying to ease my pain by saying it means I have staying power. I admire your good intentions WP but no point sugar-coating it.
My busiest day was Feb 10th and this post, Kids say the darndest things, take a look again, it’s got kids shouting insults.
My most popular post was Camden Town is not Disneyland, no surprise since tourists must be looking for Camden Town and unfortunately stumble upon this mess.
Secondly was Ask Ina, a pisstake of the Barefoot Contessa. The dark side to this is that I still get comments from people asking for cooking advice thinking this is actually Ina Garten’s website so I feel quite bad and offer my own advice on cooking the perfect Mac and Cheese. I do stress to them I am not Ina, I can’t carry off a denim shirt quite like her.
The best information WordPress reminded me of were my comments tally and I would like to give a shout out to not just the Top 3 but also everyone else who regularly comments here, yes you could try harder to crack the top 3 but I won’t hold that against you. You’re just not as full of gas as this lot:
1) Pouring My Art Out: If you’ve been checking other people’s stats then PMAO has been topping everyone’s comments charts. This one just loves to banter, he’s a perfect foil for exchanging gibberish, and his imagination never ceases to floor me, I’m very grateful to have met him here. Many thanks AB!
2) Linda Vernon: In a community of hilarious ladies, Linda is one of the funniest. Her brain, Peanuts, continuously takes us on a strange adventure, her humour is right up my street being weird and wonderful. Thanks for being around Linda (and Peanuts).
3) GingerFightBack: The only UK resident on the list! Most people I follow are across the pond, never found too many Brits on WordPress funnily enough. GFB lets us glimpse into the life of many a character. There’s sausages too. Thanks GFB!
Happy New Year everyone!
PS: Today’s header picture is one of my favourite places in Camden – it’s my back garden!
londonsurvival 
El Guapo
/ January 3, 2014Eh. The only worthwhile thing WP does is have a decent, occasionally working blog site.
And it lets me read stuff like yours.
Happy new year, Joe!
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014Shhh..Wordpress listens..
Happy NY to you too!
She's a Maineiac
/ January 3, 2014Happy New Year to you! I love your garden. I can almost imagine myself sitting there right now…enjoying a beer or three…ahhhhhhhh….
She's a Maineiac
/ January 3, 2014by the way, it’s minus 30 here right now. You read that right.
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014How is that even possible to exist in that temperature?! You are hardcore folk over there. We get a bit of frost and the whole country grinds to a halt.
Wouldn’t need to keep my beers in the fridge though!
She's a Maineiac
/ January 3, 2014I trekked out to get the mail yesterday and halfway through I actually thought, “well, if my heart stops and I drop to the ground, maybe the snow plow will kill me before hypothermia sets in.” It’s so cold, they actually called off school today because more than five minutes you can get frostbite. (plus we just had a blizzard…)
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014😀 You’re glamourising death by snow plow!
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014I have loads in my fridge since I had such a quiet New Years Eve – it never got drunk. Damn jet lag.
That is pretty much the whole garden, it’s probably smaller than a standard American bathroom 🙂 Easy to maintain though.
Hope the weather is not cramping your style still?
She's a Maineiac
/ January 3, 2014Easy to maintain is what I aim for in most areas of my life now, Joe.
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014Yay… I am the fullest of gas!!!
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014Yeah, but don’t erm…unburden your gas…around here. Too late, I’ll have to open a window
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014I save my best gas for you…
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014Gross 😀
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014I guess.
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014Now how do I make crème brulee
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014She would make that shit. She’d go to the store and buy 6 ready made creme brulees and eat them all until she found the best one and then that is the one she buys in future.
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014We got Jessica a crème brulee making kit for Christmas… comes with a little blow torch…
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014That sounds cool. Handbag sized?
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014Yes… very smuggelable…
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014That’s a cooler weapon than a gun. You can very slowly char things
pouringmyartout
/ January 3, 2014Good for cooking and extracting information.
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014In that order
pouringmyartout
/ January 6, 2014Or simultaneously.
susielindau
/ January 3, 2014I believe WordPress did something to how it counts views. They used to ping pong around a lot once inside our blogs. My top posts are from 2012 too!
Happy New Year!
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014Interesting…but I better not investigate and get annoyed with WP again!
Happy new Year, looks lie you had a great Xmas!
gingerfightback
/ January 3, 2014Cheers Joe – Happy New Year – Seems a shame that the mostly morose British bloggers (Dr bloody Who is the only thing they seem to write about) have missed out on pissed flights to Thailand avec les Francais et al. Be strong and dream of sausages!
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014I wasn’t sure if they use WP, I have friends using Blogger but I can’t get on board with it.
Dr Who?
Bad joke
gingerfightback
/ January 3, 2014Same here – Dr What?
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014I like having mostly Americans and Canadians. I feel like I am keeping an eye on them and if they step too far out of line we can take back control- armed with sausages!
gingerfightback
/ January 3, 2014And pork scratching drones
joehoover
/ January 3, 2014Yum! Going to war sounds tasty
gingerfightback
/ January 3, 2014And crunchy
benzeknees
/ January 3, 2014Top 3? I’m hurt Joe. I have been in the Top 5 Commenters on a number of sites but you only posted top 3, so you ruined my record (sniff). Once you’re moved I’m sure you’ll get back on your high horse & post some memorable posts again, hahahahahaha!
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014😀 You didn’t make top 5 I’m afraid. And you highlighted my error not doing 5 people as I forgot to carry on!
Mooselicker
/ January 3, 2014You can blame Google for the big stats from 2012 posts. They pretty much made WordPress blogs unimportant in search engines.
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014Well, they got mine right in that case
aFrankAngle
/ January 3, 2014Happy New Year, Joe! and cheers to GFB!
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014To you too, it’s dragging already though, don’t you think? Only the 6th January, feels much later
aFrankAngle
/ January 6, 2014Besides … it’s colder here than it should be!
BTW … Time: The Musical’s final act is will be in progress during your Thursday morning featuring song titles with season(s) or one of the seasons that isn’t in the form of a compound word (no summertime).
Lily
/ January 3, 2014Lol I love that people actually think you’re Ina. She does look great in demin…and I’m assuming she looks good in black too. Hah WordPress also tried to ease my pain with the “staying power” comment. Oh well.
I love Linda! Her biblical posts are hi-larious.
Linda Vernon
/ January 4, 2014Ah! Thanks Lily! You are so sweet! 😀
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014I am worried about a lawsuit from Ina’s people. Though these people emailing me can;t be the brightest, they should probably not be allowed loose in a kitchen with knives if they think Ina wrote this.
Edward Hotspur
/ January 4, 2014HAHA I have the same thing as you. PMAO is my number one commenter, and my most popular posts were all from 2012 or early 2013. This is because I stopped really trying to write as much, and it was kind of a chore.
But don’t feel bad about all that. Consider Michael Jackson – Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time, or second, depending on that Eagles Greatest Hits album, but anyway, he never ever put out a record that sold that many copies again. I’m betting he didn’t feel bad about it. And consider most 1960s bands – not a one of them has put out a good album since 1978, except maybe The Who. And those are considered classic bands!
You wrote some classic posts that people still read years later – that’s way better than writing posts that NOBODY reads. Right?
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014Good points, but I know people only find the posts from looking for something else. It’s probably irritating for them to stumble across this when they want some useful information.
And I’m not dead like MJ either so I can feel at ease with my stats now.
Edward Hotspur
/ January 6, 2014They might think your posts are just lovely.
Fortunately, in my case, my holdover post titles have everything to do with the content.
Linda Vernon
/ January 4, 2014Joe! I can’t believe I came in second in comments only two PMOA, Commenter Extraordinaire! But I’m not surprised that I made the list because I really love your blog and all the great concepts you always come up with, and I never leave without feeling just a tiny bit happier. From the Collins sisters to your travel vacation narratives to your Mom’s hysterectomy story, well I don’t care what it is — you are always as entertaining as all get out! And I’m looking forward to more fun in 2014! (And I’m glad to get the 13 out of the date!)
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014Thanks Linda. 🙂 Likewise.
I’m hoping people get competitive know. Comment Wars! This could be a blog series
Linda Vernon
/ January 6, 2014Oh I love the idea of comments wars!! Everybody talks a lot in comments but nobody ever really talks about comments.
joehoover
/ January 7, 2014I dunno, you lot have guns…
Linda Vernon
/ January 7, 2014Oh shoot. All I have is one of those balls on a stick with the little spikes . . .
appletonavenue
/ January 5, 2014A nice year end review. Sorry I did not make the top 3, but I will try to do better next year. Unfortunately, that means I have to whittle my reading list down so you don’t get lost (the email notification thing never seems to work).
Hope 2014 has good things in store for you!
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014You made 4th place! I did three then I was offline a few days and forgot to do the rest. I have an apologetic post to do now and feature the missing two people 🙂
appletonavenue
/ January 6, 2014🙂
Laura
/ January 6, 2014My most popular posts seem to be the ones with pictures of bugs on them.
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014What are the search terms?
We need to know what is driving people to you. What do they want with the bugs?
Laura
/ January 7, 2014My #1 search term is “why are there so many flies in my house”.
joehoover
/ January 7, 2014Should have guessed. Psycho glamourised keeping your dead family members body’s around. But it never explained how to properly embalm them to avoid decomposition.
benzeknees
/ January 7, 2014If I didn’t even make top 5, no wonder you forget about me!
joehoover
/ January 7, 2014I could never forget you! 🙂
Main Street Musings Blog
/ January 7, 2014Wait . . .is that a photo of your garden or Ina’s Garten? 😉 Happy New Year!
joehoover
/ January 7, 2014And too you. Alas it is mine 🙂 It is probably the size of Ina’s herb patch!
susielindau
/ January 14, 2014Everyone who has posted their stats had a better year in 2012. I think they should come clean and admit they stopped giving us extra views when readers ping pong around our blogs. A WordPress engineer told me that a while back.
Happy 2014!.