Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sunday.


Though it was quite inclement and rainy,
my family and I had a great time in and out
of Auckland.

Back home where things are comfortable, good and bad,
and ready to work through a summer project.

The hits are historically low, with
some days registering fewer unique visitors than when 
the page was completely closed. If anyone has
any constructive ideas to keep the page open,

Have a great week!

Fab


27 comments:

  1. Just let it run. It'll go through highs and lows on hits. I am glad you can see more than just the current day's posts though.

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  2. I emailed with Cal a bit ago. There haven't even been 100 people on the site today. I'm to blame because I have nothing new to say. And there's not enough content that has interested me.

    But it's like watching Willie Mays with the Mets! It's heartbreaking.

    I know I'm one of the naysayers, but the notion that there are lulls seem unfathomably optimistic. From what I see, the page is in steady decline numberswise, and except for Cassandra and OPH it'd be empty for the past month.

    I love RYS and CM and feel horrible that I couldn't keep my efforts up for it. But it kills me to see it foundering.

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    Replies
    1. Ditto. Joe Namath at the end. I wish I could have helped.

      Welcome back, Fabby.

      Cal

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    2. If you're going to resort to panty hose, I'm out. No, wait...

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  3. I say close the site for the summer and see how you feel in the fall. Any chance people could split up moderation? Maybe, in the fall, you could split it up by days of the week?

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  4. Regardless, know you are appreciated!!

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    1. There's no need to split moderation. There's zero work. I'm embarrassed that there's no traffic. Of course it can be left up but I think its hard won online legacy is tarnished by the wheezing site it has become, where TRULY only about 4 people are contributing. I sense Fab is torn about it but he did say that if it wasn't a going concern he'd close it. The numbers are insane. I think today was less than 100 unique visitors.

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  5. Leave it up for the summer. See what happens.

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  6. Say, if you kids are bored, I could always taunt, tease, and torment the humanities proffies. It never fails to get a rise out of them!

    The only problem with this is that I never really wanted to taunt, tease, and torment the humanities proffies. I have always been a fond lover of the humanities, and Doug knows the academy and the world are better off with humanities proffies---when they've being creative in the humanities, and not espousing silly things, such as postmodernism or coerced nudity. If you disagree, a sella-expressed, rational argument might convince me otherwise.

    By the way, things over in the physics department are going great guns, with enrollment in my intro-to-modern-physics course this fall up past 70. As usual, I am still grappling with the issue of standards, so the next time you flip on a light switch, remember that upwards of 15% of the juice came from a nuclear plant---and don't forget to worry.

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    1. Sorry, that was supposed to be "well-expressed," not "sella."

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    2. Actually, "sella" works. I love to sella. I love to sella in the moon-a in the June-a. I love to drink-a, maybe a scotch or two-a or a beer so cool-a, anything-a ethanol-a, or a "I want more-a," I love, I love to drink!

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  7. Well, shit. I blame myself. The door to this shop has already closed in my face twice, just as my contributions were ramping up. Would I be melodramatic and narcissistic to propose that I am killing it yet again? Almost surely, yes.

    I have noted a pattern: we get a bit navel-gazey about low volume, then that discussion is often yanked from view -- either the comments themselves or whole posts -- after which the volume of posts and comments declines still further before it climbs again. Of course, my impression could be way off, and it's also not clear what role either the discussion or its disappearance played in any decline, as it could have been simply the earlier trend continuing.

    The other thing is, it is summer, or close enough. Perhaps we're seeing a typical seasonal decline conspiring with some other factors to generate a lower-than-typical low, such as will never be seen again.

    I have a list of about a dozen ideas I'm currently working up for posts. However, about 50% of the time I post, it was because some event inspired me to create something de novo. So I don't know how long it will take me to deplete my list at the curent rate, or if I'll even get through the dozen before the lights go off again.

    What I can tell you is that don't know what the fuck I'll do if this place closes down, and this is going to be a very long summer for me either way. I get more out of a single post and a few comments here than several times that much from any other source.

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  8. Would it be crass of us to recruit on Twitter?

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  9. Obviously, we need another Stommel to pile on.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Don't underestimate your value. Doing the reruns puts you in a pretty good league.

    Anyway, CM is kind of like the old Dunkin Donuts in the middle of the night. You could go in there and maybe nobody would be there; but if they were, they were real people and you were glad to see them.

    More like "Gimpy" than Willie. Or maybe a little of both.

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  12. This comment has been removed by Frod.

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    1. Pppffffftthhhjjttttt!

      (Shakespeare was wrong. The pun is not the lowest form of humor.)

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    2. This comment has been removed by my proctologist.

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  13. OK, if it's a more rational argument you want, you're just jealous because enrollment has doubled in the physics department. If it's any consolation, our Dean who says the-thing-that-is-not says it's decreased, so sucks on the high-energy program, which JUST brought in $1.1M! So now you know why I haven't been around much lately: I've been fighting for half our grad program's life.

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    Replies
    1. Your dean either went to the same school as mine did, or they share DNA.

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    2. It may be more like a case of King Charles II, the last Hapsburg ruler of Spain. His parents were uncle and niece, and he had another uncle-and-niece and two first-cousin marriages in his ancestry. His genome was more screwed up than if his parents had been brother and sister. The effects on his body and mind were predictable. Prince William did well to marry a commoner.

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  14. Hey, everyone. Thanks for the notes and so on. Two longtime community members wrote really persuasive notes and convinced me to just "relax" about the page and let it run.

    "Legacy," someone wrote. "Who gives a shit about a legacy? Burn it down yourself or LET it burn. It's all the same."

    That writer is from Waxahachie, but I probably didn't have to tell you.

    XOXO
    Fab

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    1. Tell him I'm still not riding in that '77 Camaro of his, even if he puts Uriah Heep on the 8 track, not even if it's in quad.

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    2. "Burn it down yourself or LET it burn." That is sage. We are so programmed to intervene and FIX things, or at least stop the bleeding, that it is discomfiting to let it ride. And yet, to do nothing can be a conscious decision.

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  15. Chiming in a bit late, but I, too, am in the "relax and let it be what it decides to be" camp. As I think I've said before, I'd have no problem with the page being active when somebody had something to say, and silent otherwise (like a Quaker meeting, or perhaps Brigadoon -- how's that for a mix of metaphors?). But I realize that might leave the moderator dealing with a lot of unhappy (or, more likely, downright insulting) email, and an unpredictable moderating load (and/or one made up mostly of deleting comments from spambots), none of which sound pleasant. Really, it has to be rewarding (at least in some perverse way) for the moderator(s) who actually make it run, or it doesn't work at all, so you should do what works for you, Fab.

    In the meantime, I'm glad you had a good vacation. Hope you're rejuvenated for whatever you have to/want to/choose to spend the summer doing.

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  16. Also late to the party. I'm sorry I don't contribute more.

    A couple of weeks ago, there were lots of posts about the end of the semester. Those folks are now decompressing while a few of us are swamped with the grading and final exams. Then we'll decompress.

    As usual, I agree with Cassandra.

    And THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH for all you do here, Fab and Cal.

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