350,000

Something odd happened last night.  As of a few hours ago, 350,000 different people have visited this web site.

That's 350K as measured by unique internet address.  My regular readers probably use several different addresses, but since we've crossed by a thousand or so it probably comes out in the wash.

I never guessed when I started that it would get so much attention.  I thought a few history nerds might drop in from time to time.  Who are you, and what are you doing here?  I offer these observations, based on the stats:

Not many of you comment.  Thanks so much to the lovely people who do leave a word or two.  There've been some absolutely stunning conversations that leave me amazed at your cleverness and knowledge.   In fact, when it comes to brainpower, you guys are scary.

A lot of you are doing homework.  (Hi kids!)  How do I know that?  From the search expressions that bring you here.  Speaking of which...

I am #1 on Google for the search term "ancient Greek toilet".  Says it all, really.

A surprising number of you want to know how to use autocorrect in Word.  Even more of you want to convert all your letters to uppercase.

The most popular posts overall are the ones about bizarre ways to die.  Though the people who visit those via search engines usually just read them and go.  Maybe it was something I said.

About 8,000 of you are in China, which is rather odd considering there's no Chinese edition.  Either that, or I've sold 8,000 English edition books in China that I'm not aware of.  Or maybe they have the world's largest ancient history class.  I suppose we must hope for the last.

Only a handful of you are Greek!

I'm still puzzling over why so much of the comment spam that I have to eliminate points to divorce lawyers in America.  Is there something about ancient history that causes divorce?


18 comments:

Nicky Strickland said...

Hi Gary, congratulations!

I tend to be a lurk-visitor than commenter. But the final paragraph of today's post had me lol for real. Perhaps all those arguments about who wore/did what breaks brains o_O

Gary Corby said...

Hi Nicky, you most certainly count as a welcome regular.

The divorce lawyer thing is bizarre.

I can only assume the divorce lawyers pay spammers to leave links all over the internet. Is divorce really that big a business?

Or are married couples sitting at home arguing over Sparta vs Athens in the Peloponnesian War?

R. S. Doiel said...

Web statistics can really capture some
unexpected things. Enjoyed this particular bit of analysis but I also
your stories and the stories about writing them.

All the best.

DeadlyAccurate said...

"Or are married couples sitting at home arguing over Sparta vs Athens in the Peloponnesian War?"

What else is there to argue over? Toilet roll direction? That would be ridiculous.

Kitty said...

I am #1 on Google for the search term "ancient Greek toilet".

HA HA HA !!! People actually google that?

I have a friend whose parents were born in Greece. My friend, Mike, was born in the US but grew up in Greece, so he speaks the language. I plan to pass your books on to him when I've read them.

RWMG said...

Perhaps divorce lawyers know that marriage guidance counsellors recommend couples who aren't getting on read Thucydides as a dreadful warning of what lies ahead if they let antagonism get out of control.

Gary Corby said...

Welcome to the blog, RS Doiel, and thanks.

Robert, I like your theory.

Yes, people really do google for ancient Greek toilet. I'm not sure which is more sad: that they asked the question or that I knew the answer.

Not long ago there was a massive surge in people googling whether the US political system was more like Rome or Athens. I wrote an article on exactly that a couple of years ago. The follow-up comments from the clever readers were so erudite and so vast that between us we could have written a textbook. As it stands, I fear we might have done the political history homework for hundreds of American school children.

On the toilet roll direction...you're right Deadly, that would be a ridiculous thing to argue about. Everyone knows the paper should hang closest to the wall.

Kitty said...

This has absolutely nothing to do with ancient Greek toilets, but I thought this was worth passing along: Ireland’s newest stamp features an entire short story

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Nicky Strickland said...

I think couples arguing over the Peloponnesian War would be okay as long as they didn't try to re-enact said war (though that could make for some entertaining you tube clips lol).

Sean Wright said...

Toilet roll direction can start a land war in asia in our household. Role against the wall or away from it. Almost as vicious an argument as scrunching versus folding.

Karin said...

Must comment so that the polar circle is not left out of the counting. I read regularly (hope it shows somewhere as a number in the more obscure countires visit statistics) and always enjoy!

Unknown said...

*waves* I'm very much a lurker, but I enjoy your blog. Originally found you through Janet Reid back around when you got your first book deal. Been an occasional visitor ever since.

<3,
-J

Gary Corby said...

Then a belated welcome to the blog, Jess.

Hi Karin, I think you might be Scandinavia's leading representative -- I'm pretty sure you're the only one ever to comment -- but you might be happy to know there are fellow Swedes who drop in from time to time, and there seems to be a shy Norwegian and Finnish contingent.

Sean, please tell me you're going to write a book about toilet roll direction to be titled The Wright Wars.

Sean Wright said...

Gary, the victor usually writes the history, and lets just say I'm on a hiding to nothing :D

PT said...

Gary, there should also be a slight Danish attendance, as I've been recommending your books and blog since I discovered then via your agent's blog.

Gary Corby said...

There is! And may I say thank you PT for your lovely and much appreciated support.

The blog has been visited from more than a hundred countries, many of them however with only a few visitors. Ghana is on the list for example, but isn't exactly a major player. Ditto for Botswana and Macao.

In the case of Denmark, the Danes uphold a proud 0.4%. Which might not seem like much, until you realize that's 1,400 people.



PT said...

And btw, one of the Swedes visiting you blog might actually be me, as my mobile operator (Telenor) has it's internet gateway in Sweden and I very often read your blog while in the train.

One of the Finns is definetly one of my sisters whom I introduced to your books (and blog) while she was visiting me last year (I'm originally a Finn but I live in Denmark).

You might also be interested to know that saxo.com, the biggest Danish internet bookshop, has finally a listing for Sacred Games so I was able to order it last week. Although Amazon UK have listed the book for a long time, I didn't want to use them as they ship to Denmark via postal service and I have bad experiences with that. With Saxo I can pick up my order from their delivery point which is close to where I work.

Elani Temperance said...

Congratulations!

I came to your site through Google Search, although I don't think it had to do with toilets. I must have stumbled upon here while researching for my own blog. As I greatly enjoy the way you write, I often come here for a good laugh and inspiration. I'm a Hellenistic Reconstructionist Pagan (or Hellenist), and although the ancient Hellenic religion does not play a huge role on your blog, I am interested in ancient Hellenic society as well, and you have great topics. Thank you for your efforts!