A blog on all things to do with economics and related subjects
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Last post
Given the readerships statistics for Anti-Dismal, in short bloody awful,there is no point in continuing the blog. Demand does matter, a product with no buyers should be forced out of the market. Thus this is the last post.
Everyone feels like that once in a while, but one of the reasons you would still want to do this is that it might be good for the clarification of your own thoughts.
Also, are you sure you're aware of how many people following this through RSS and rarely comment (if ever)?
Finally, you might want to try something else, for example, start or join a group blog. Those seems to be able to generate the amount of content and traffic you might want.
I did a survey for an Asian University a couple of years ago, and 80% of blogs get less than 150 hits per day. At the time I was getting about 500 and thought THAT was really bad.
Also Tumeke's ratings a are utter garbage. They award bloggers with nothing better to do than post 6 or more times a day and link-whore.
I also lurk by RSS, unfortunately I lack the education to comment, but read mainly for my own education.
You write very succinctly and are much better than some other bloggers in that measure. It will be a pity to see you go. Have you thought of the reward of the blog for your own sake rather than to win popularity points ?
Does the market not recognise that quality differs from quantity and that fewer discerning visitors may be as good as or better than more less discerning ones?
As Matt says, there's no more important time for intelligent economists to be blogging -- if the financial crisis has shown anything, it's that there's too few intelligent economists about!
Don't worry about the quantity of your readership; the most important thing is their quality: You're talking to the very people who need their economic delusions ripped away, which your blog has been heroic in doing.
I urge you to reconsider, perhaps after a short break?
After all, you have to argue to SOMEBODY about the economic nonsense your see all around, you don't you? If you find yourself yelling at the radio, then why not put that yelling into (electronic) print?
How could you not, for example, want to shout at the radio about this from our new Prime Minister:
"The question is: faced with [housing market booms and their aftermath] again would we do something different to address it? To my mind, this question should lead economies to consider whether monetary policy, fiscal policy, and prudential policy should be more counter-cyclical, and lean against credit growth in an upswing."
How disappointing, many of us get the urge to give up from time to time. It would be a shame that a blog written with what appears to be a lot of clear thought and intelligent opinion is to be no more.. I imagine DPF will have something to say about this which will probably see your visitors go through the roof..
I hope you will keep blogging also Paul. Down to you, obviously, but I suspect you have a much bigger readership than you perhaps realise, or the stats show.
It's not the number of readers that count. Trillions of people follow the fortunes of Brittany spears. Does that make news abour here more important than rational economic commentary?
As a regular reader of your blog it will be said to see you go. As a stage one lecturer it will be equally said to see you go. I regularly use material posted on this blog in the classroom.
Paul, I am an occasional reader of your blog. I really appreciated your incite and wisdom. I would add that your wisdom is refreshing among the noise and rabble that counts as media reporting. Dave
Hang in there Paul, the voice of reason will be needed more than ever over the coming year or two, when all around us we wil hear the economic ignorami begging the Key govt to take steps that will ultimately slow down the recovery.
"Demand does matter, a product with no buyers should be forced out of the market. Thus this is the last post."
I must have missed your advertisements because I have never heard of you until today. I'll poke around your blog for a sanity check, then let you know if you can post here ever again.
My thoughts - have a rest for a bit. Your contribution to the debate is very valuable as you can see from the comments here. If you get keen again you can pick it up where you left off!
I to will be sad to see you go. I only get to read your blog outside of work hours - a number of companies block traffic to sites with a html og blog. Wordpress and .org sites don't get blocked. You may have a workplace free rider problem. That may have an impact on the depth of your market and therefore your stats are under representing the potential readership. On the basis of visitors who are not free riding (people willing to pay with their own money)your pool of the market maybe a lot higher than the data at first glance tells.
If it is still your intention to finish blogging would you mind making the material on your site available for a bit longer - that would enable me to continue to free ride off your work to build up my economic information.
More economists need on the web or in the media. Makes for better information and stories than the standard journalists investigating their navel for lint that passes for many columnists/reporters/bloggers.
Paul, your blog was one of those few places where I could read rational commentary. Your analysis is really needed these days so I do hope you reconsider. Never underestimate the quality of the readers that visited your blog and the power they have to effect change in this country. Julian
I think this blog is great and you have a really interesting selection of posts. Maybe like the other folks say you could just post something less often, like every week. It sounds like a lot of people read this quite often, like I do. I have not commented before, as most of your postings are self-explanatory and don't need a comment really. Paul Thompson, UCLA Professor of Neurology
"Demand does matter, a product with no buyers should be forced out of the market."
Come now, nobody in the US Congress, White House, Treasury Dept. or Federal Reserve thinks that way. Why don't you buck up, fly to the US on a private jet and ask for a financial bailout. C'mon, you're entitled to a piece of the pork barrel pie!
Besides that kind of thinking, just goes to show how unenlightened you are. Let Keynes show you the way!
I did enjoy your blog while it lasted.
ReplyDeleteJim Miller
Associate Professor of economics, Smith College
There, there...
ReplyDeleteEveryone feels like that once in a while, but one of the reasons you would still want to do this is that it might be good for the clarification of your own thoughts.
Also, are you sure you're aware of how many people following this through RSS and rarely comment (if ever)?
Finally, you might want to try something else, for example, start or join a group blog. Those seems to be able to generate the amount of content and traffic you might want.
I would miss your blog if you stopped. Try taking a break then coming back to it.
ReplyDeleteI follow your blog via RSS and thus seldom pay a real, stat-mattering visit. But I do enjoy it and would be sad to see it go.
ReplyDeleteI hope you come back, I enjoy reading your blog :(
ReplyDeleteWe need all the economists we can in NZ, fact checking the "facts" that comes out of the media/political-blogs :P
Sorry to hear this.
ReplyDeleteWe need more academics blogging in New Zealand.
Bryce
www.liberation.org.nz
I did a survey for an Asian University a couple of years ago, and 80% of blogs get less than 150 hits per day. At the time I was getting about 500 and thought THAT was really bad.
ReplyDeleteAlso Tumeke's ratings a are utter garbage. They award bloggers with nothing better to do than post 6 or more times a day and link-whore.
So don't be discouraged.
I hope you reconsider.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I think many blogs are seeing much reduced traffic at the present time.
Have enjoyed reading your posts
I also lurk by RSS, unfortunately I lack the education to comment, but read mainly for my own education.
ReplyDeleteYou write very succinctly and are much better than some other bloggers in that measure. It will be a pity to see you go. Have you thought of the reward of the blog for your own sake rather than to win popularity points ?
another rss lurker here, i ll miss your blog.
ReplyDeleteAnyway probably blogging doesnt satisfy you anymore, although I think you could carry on at a lower tempo(1post/week)
In any case thank you for all the insights.
Does the market not recognise that quality differs from quantity and that fewer discerning visitors may be as good as or better than more less discerning ones?
ReplyDeleteAnti-Dismal is a boutique not a warehouse.
No!
ReplyDeleteAs Matt says, there's no more important time for intelligent economists to be blogging -- if the financial crisis has shown anything, it's that there's too few intelligent economists about!
Don't worry about the quantity of your readership; the most important thing is their quality: You're talking to the very people who need their economic delusions ripped away, which your blog has been heroic in doing.
I urge you to reconsider, perhaps after a short break?
After all, you have to argue to SOMEBODY about the economic nonsense your see all around, you don't you? If you find yourself yelling at the radio, then why not put that yelling into (electronic) print?
How could you not, for example, want to shout at the radio about this from our new Prime Minister:
"The question is: faced with [housing market booms and their aftermath] again would we do something different to address it? To my mind, this question should lead economies to consider whether monetary policy, fiscal policy, and prudential policy should be more counter-cyclical, and lean against credit growth in an upswing."
I agree with PC - hang in there, sir.
ReplyDeleteHow disappointing, many of us get the urge to give up from time to time. It would be a shame that a blog written with what appears to be a lot of clear thought and intelligent opinion is to be no more..
ReplyDeleteI imagine DPF will have something to say about this which will probably see your visitors go through the roof..
I hope you will keep blogging also Paul. Down to you, obviously, but I suspect you have a much bigger readership than you perhaps realise, or the stats show.
ReplyDeleteDoes the readership statistics include the RSS feed readers?
ReplyDeleteIt's not the number of readers that count. Trillions of people follow the fortunes of Brittany spears. Does that make news abour here more important than rational economic commentary?
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteAs a regular reader of your blog it will be said to see you go. As a stage one lecturer it will be equally said to see you go. I regularly use material posted on this blog in the classroom.
Sean.
Paul, I am an occasional reader of your blog. I really appreciated your incite and wisdom. I would add that your wisdom is refreshing among the noise and rabble that counts as media reporting.
ReplyDeleteDave
Hang in there Paul, the voice of reason will be needed more than ever over the coming year or two, when all around us we wil hear the economic ignorami begging the Key govt to take steps that will ultimately slow down the recovery.
ReplyDeletePaul, I'm continuing to the very end (brain willing) and I'd have much fewer hits than you. Keep it up - it's good for our mental wellbeing. Anna
ReplyDelete"Demand does matter, a product with no buyers should be forced out of the market. Thus this is the last post."
ReplyDeleteI must have missed your advertisements because I have never heard of you until today. I'll poke around your blog for a sanity check, then let you know if you can post here ever again.
My thoughts - have a rest for a bit. Your contribution to the debate is very valuable as you can see from the comments here. If you get keen again you can pick it up where you left off!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck...The Optimist
I to will be sad to see you go. I only get to read your blog outside of work hours - a number of companies block traffic to sites with a html og blog. Wordpress and .org sites don't get blocked. You may have a workplace free rider problem. That may have an impact on the depth of your market and therefore your stats are under representing the potential readership. On the basis of visitors who are not free riding (people willing to pay with their own money)your pool of the market maybe a lot higher than the data at first glance tells.
ReplyDeleteIf it is still your intention to finish blogging would you mind making the material on your site available for a bit longer - that would enable me to continue to free ride off your work to build up my economic information.
More economists need on the web or in the media. Makes for better information and stories than the standard journalists investigating their navel for lint that passes for many columnists/reporters/bloggers.
Yeah... The colour scheme is vapid but the contents are about 7/10 (a good read but not shit-hot). O.K., you may post.
ReplyDeletePaul, your blog was one of those few places where I could read rational commentary. Your analysis is really needed these days so I do hope you reconsider. Never underestimate the quality of the readers that visited your blog and the power they have to effect change in this country.
ReplyDeleteJulian
Keep the RSS feed open; keeping the subscription is cheap for us. Then we'll know when you start up again. Perhaps after a summer break?
ReplyDeleteSee you in a couple weeks. DC's great. Ira and Sue say hi.
I'll second the comments above. And I'll put you on my browser's start page if you come back. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers
Julian
You have been tagged - will that get a new post from you :)
ReplyDeletehttp://tvhe.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/weve-been-tagged/
I think this blog is great and you have a really interesting selection of posts. Maybe like the other folks say you could just post something less often, like every week. It sounds like a lot of people read this quite often, like I do. I have not commented before, as most of your postings are self-explanatory and don't need a comment really.
ReplyDeletePaul Thompson, UCLA Professor of Neurology
Hey, Paul? Does this mean we can plagiarize anything on your blog?
ReplyDeleteAgain, I read through RSS and would be sorry to see you go Paul, have a break over Xmas and come back refreshed :-)
ReplyDelete"Demand does matter, a product with no buyers should be forced out of the market."
ReplyDeleteCome now, nobody in the US Congress, White House, Treasury Dept. or Federal Reserve thinks that way. Why don't you buck up, fly to the US on a private jet and ask for a financial bailout. C'mon, you're entitled to a piece of the pork barrel pie!
Besides that kind of thinking, just goes to show how unenlightened you are. Let Keynes show you the way!
My face is starting to turn blue, Paul.
ReplyDelete