Tobold's Blog
Thursday, September 18, 2008
 
Hear me brag!

Writing this blog is a considerable effort, which I sustained now for over 5 years and over 2,200 posts. I don't do it out of financial considerations, which is why you don't see any ads here. I do it because I want my voice to be heard, and because of the recognition blogging earns me. Official recognition, in the form of a press pass to a Blizzard convention, and a comped account for WAR is nice. But the more important part is recognition I get by my readers, in the form of them showing up in the first place, and, even better, leaving comments, feedback, and discussing what I write about. And because that recognition is so important for my motivation, you'll have to live with me telling you occasionally about milestones I reached. Yes, that is a sort of bragging. I'm not ashamed of that. If you don't like it, you could simply skip those posts.

According to Sitemeter my blog just passed 2 million visitors since I installed the counter in February 2004. I had few visitors back then, but now get around 3,000 every day. I also have about 2,000 readers of my feed, with no way to tell how many of those are also visiting the blog directly, and how many read only the feed. Visits per month have been pretty constant recently, so I'll have nearly a million visitors this year. According to Google Analytics just over half of the visitors find their way here via a search engine, although some of them are specifically searching for me, with "Tobold" being one of my top search terms. The other half are split rather evenly between direct visits, and people coming in via links from other sites.

I'd like to thank all visitors for coming here, but am especially grateful for those who come repeatedly, and those who participate in the discussion in an intelligent and polite way. You keep coming and participating, and I keep blogging. Deal?
Comments:
/applause (for both Tobold and the rest of us) :-)

May this blog outlast all the games that we talk about, lol!
 
When do you start selling T-Shirts?
 
Sounds fair to me.

Even as a WoW player (and now a Wizard101 player, when the Launcher doesn't crash on me) I find myself reading almost every one of your posts, regardless of the topic. Then I just have to read the Comments section and the discussion which evolves.

Tobold, it's a reflection on you as a writer that your Blog encourages mature, intelligent discussion among your readers. Keep up the great work.
 
Deal :)
 
You write good stuff most of the time, you point good discussion points, keep it up ! :)
 
Deal!!
 
I believe FeedBurner has a feature for measuring "click through" - users that click through the feed to visit your site.

Of course, to set it up, you'll need to allow it to change your feed address. If it is of interest to you, Google does most of the work automatically.
 
Congrats, Tobold. :)
 
Hi Tobold I've been a consistent lurker on your blog and this is my actual first post. Keep doing what you do. Hopefully this blog will remain for years to come. In a way you are pretty similar to a man I greatly respect when it comes to intelligent discussion and politeness. His name is Dennis Prager. Ever heard of him? He has his own radio show and talks about almost everything in life. His show and your blog are in ways similar that's why they both are so addicting to me. His shows are free to listen to on http://dennisprager.townhall.com/ via streaming or downloading/podcasting. And again keep up the good work and grats.
 
Gratz mate, long may you keep blogging :)
 
Well deserved bragging... I think I'm near 100,000 in two years... half of which are myself.

Very nice, man.
 
Well done. :)
 
Long live the king!

Congrats
 
guild-mate-hug incomming :)
 
It has gotten better once you stopped writing all that WoW Death Knight crap :)
 
Deal. I'm always happy for you when you post metrics or talk about some recognition you received. Doing what you do is a lot of work and I know you don't get paid for it. This is by far my favorite blog and seeing you get rewarded means you'll keep posting.
 
Apparently you were even used as an example at the Game Developers Conference in Austin to encourage developers to reach out to bloggers.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/09/17/agdc08-tobold-is-famous/
 
BTW, Tobold- I don't know if you saw this, but Raph Koster wrote yesterday that Margaret Wallace put up a screenshot of your blog at AGDC. :)
 
Cheers, Tobold!
 
You need to count all your posts on MTGO boards!!!
 
I love reading your blog, keep it up! I'm sure there are many more silent fans like me.
 
Grats on all your blog accomplishments! Unlike epics, they won't become worthless in the next expansion.

Although I haven't tried out many other games you write about (LOTRO, WAR), I enjoy reading your perspective and comparisons with WoW. Clearly people at Blizzard read your blog too, as noted when they linked to your famous Freezing Jihad post. Looking back at that post, it's eerie how much of it is like the actual WotLK.
 
This blog is better than most of the game reviews profesional game sites have. The blog sphere is a more natural and raw way to get into the games. With magazines, game review sites, they are often skewed because of their own money flow. Take IGN for example, they reviewed the game "Grid", a multiplat for ps3 and xbox360. Now they gave the 360 the advantage because of better looking collisions and to prove so they used an ingame clip. It turns out the clip was actually from the ps3 version and caused some outrage among ps3's community (which already gets enough sht when compared to 360 on games). Now that IGN didnt want to bite the hand that feeds them they rescinded the review offered and apology, but aside from that still offer such slanted reviews on games. The damage was done, IGN favors xbox360 obviously (proof grid review) and if it were a blog review of the game instead may have been more insightful and biased for reasons besides "not biting the hand that feeds you".

This blog is entertaining, brings real people to leave un edited comments about the daily topics and Id imagine HUGELY valueable for both games and game industry as there is hardly feedback that isnt contained or skewed by other factors, including fanboism and funding.

Keep up the good work,
Did it for the lulz
~anon
~tenmohican
 
You were always a class act on MODO and I was sad to see you leave those forums. I'm glad you have truly moved on to greener and better pastures. You always tell it as you see it and write with great insight and wit. Congratulations.

- a former WizO
 
Its a good blog Tobold, and it isn't blocked by most work firewalls :)

Lets hope it stays that way!
 
Congrats! I was turned onto this blog from another blog that was linked from another blog that was linked in an article on Massively.com!!
 
Good work, mate.
I only wish that i started to read your blog sooner :)
 
Congratulations Tobold.

Keep on blogging i keep on reading ;D
 
You got yourself a deal, Sir!

As a matter of fact and fiction, your insight and clear writing style have been a bit of an inspiration to me now that I started my ramblings about my gaming. So as long as you keep your style and quality, I will have something to reach for.

Greatness comes with giant leaps.

Copra
 
Congrats Tobold!
 
You have a very thoughtful, entertaining blog that is fun to read not only for your posts, but for the comments and discussion that follow. Keep up the great work! =)
 
Your Blog rocks!
It's the best MMORPG-Blog I know, your comments are always dead-on and you are able to analyze the problems, difficulties and aspects of the games from a very level perspective. It has become the only game-blog I read on a regular basis.

And I am pretty sure me installing War right now has something to do with you describing it fairly.
 
Tobold,

No thank you sir. Any kudo you get you deserve. Your blog has gave me not only entertainment this past year, but the inspiration to toss my hat into the blogging ring. If I am still in the "blogosphere" in 5 years. I'll owe you a frosty adult beverage.
 
Whoa, my site is #4 on your recent visitors by referrals. It makes me feel a part of the whole Tobold phenom.

Congrats on five years! I'm going to have to work on a shorter posting technique if I am going to last that long.
 
great blog, thanks for entertaining me at work =)

Should talk about your insights on south american/latin players/market.

Samuel from brazil!
 
Congrats, Tobold!

You have yourself a deal!
 
It's a deal Tobold.

You have a very readable and interesting blogging style.
 
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Congratulations!
 
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