Comments on: Chasing an Answer Another Time

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:04:26 +0000

MJ, ya know what I was saying about “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”? Find out what part of the world that would be, which would be in the daytime at that hour. Three am here is 5 o’clock, where? Maybe time travel is really big in England or someplace, and you could do something specific to appeal to that market. Just a thought.

(Doing Therapy)

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:48:45 +0000

And what I’m saying is that there is nothing “right” to do. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and hope it keeps getting bigger.

By: M. J. Young

M. J. Young — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:02:05 +0000

Oh, yeah. The point really is wanting to know what I’m doing right so I can do more of it.

–M. J. Young

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:03:43 +0000

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The important thing is people are reading your pages. That HAS to be a good thing, right?

(Doing Therapy)

By: M. J. Young

M. J. Young — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:07:28 +0000

Ah, I don’t have that data. I know how many people hit my pages (all of my pages as a conglomerate, not any individual page), and I know the same stat as an average of all Entertainment Section writers and of all writers across the board (which is considerably higher).

It is conceivable that people unaware of my series are finding it on Friday when they start looking for a movie to watch over the weekend, but that’s quite a surge particularly given that none of the movies I’ve done are in theatres now nor when I did them. It also does not explain the sustained tendency for Friday to be high–those people would either become regular readers (in which case they would also catch the Monday posts on Tuesday, and today’s numbers are not at all elevated), or they would realize that my articles aren’t going to help them find a movie for the weekend and will stop coming at least until I start writing about another movie.

My personal theory is that some individual somewhere is posting links to my new articles on Fridays, probably a blogger somewhere who writes once a week or who writes on a subject that incorporates my work once a week (writing about other things on other days), but tracking down such a link is a bit of work I’m not really in a position to pursue–too much to do, too little time, and I’ve got to get something written for Butterfly Effect soon.

And no, if you try to help me I will stop reading your posts. Thanks anyway.

–M. J. Young

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:34:06 +0000

So a Friday surge would be expected across the board, but one which hits me harder than most of the other site writers is not expected.

I notice you said “most” not “all”. What’s the common thread? Figure out which have the highest Friday surge rates. What do they have in common? The key to the mystery is there.

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:04:26 +0000

I’m still not ready to abandon my “Surging just because it’s Friday” theory. Time travel is a popular topic. Are there any other time travel writers with whom you could compare surge rates? Maybe I’m totally wrong, but if all time travel pages surge, it could be you’ve got a hot topic for Friday checking. Check your surge rates against any other time travel writers. Perhaps all time travel pages do that.

Oh yeah, and the time of day means very little. As Jimmy Buffet said “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”

By: M. J. Young

M. J. Young — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:17:11 +0000

That’s an interesting analysis, John–but the “day” starts around three in the morning my time (it is apparently on a west coast server), and I check it early in the afternoon, so it’s Friday morning visitors mostly. Of course, I sometimes check it later, too, or the next day.

Also, you overlook a critical point: what I am saying is not that traffic on my pages surge (which it does) but that it surges RELATIVE TO OTHER EXAMINER ENTERTAINMENT ARTICLES. Sure, if my traffic went from (say) ten to a hundred, and the average went from fifty to three hundred, that would be interesting (because my traffic increased by a greater percentage than the average). But what I’m saying is that the average traffic increased from (say) fifty to a hundred, and mine from ten to three hundred. It it were merely that more people were hitting more pages, that discrepancy would not exist.

So a Friday surge would be expected across the board, but one which hits me harder than most of the other site writers is not expected.

–M. J. Young

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:22:12 +0000

Oh hey, that sounded rude. It was more meant as a chiding sarcastic kind of thing. Of course you have more hits on Friday night. More people are online, looking for dates, looking things up, doing homework, etc. A Friday surge would be expected I would think.

By: JohnA1nut

JohnA1nut — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:59:58 +0000

And MJ needs it explained to him why more people are sitting at their computers on Friday at the start of the weekend than are sitting at their computers on Wednesday….. I thought you were a Mensa member. You can’t figure that one out?