Indulge My Curiosity

Posted on September 13, 2008    Posted by      512 Comments

The first day I wrote on Whatever, it got maybe 50 visitors, mostly old friends who I alerted by way of e-mail. Now it gets a few more visitors than that. My question for you: To the best of your recollection, when did you start reading Whatever? How did you find it? I’m just curious as to how people came here. If you don’t mind sharing, I’d like to know. Thanks.

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512 Comments on “Indulge My Curiosity”

  1. I blame Angelle :)
    She directed me to it about a year and a half ago, but I only started regularly reading in the past six-eight months.

  2. My son, BJS, was perusing the “Reader’s Choice” section of the local library and found an interesting-looking book called Old Man’s War. The “about the author” blurb on the dust cover mentioned the author’s “web journal” and gave the URL for it. I don’t normally read such things, but in this case I decided to see what it was like.

    The first visit included some discussion of your “being poor” entry, and a link to it. I was hooked. Now I visit it every day unless I am travelling, which doesn’t happen much. I tell other people they should read it, because it is more entertaining than most people’s novels.

  3. I think I stumbled in here after reading “Old Man’s War”. If I recall, didn’t the book jacket mention your website?

  4. A couple years ago my uncle had an advance copy of OMW. He wouldn’t let me actually HAVE it, but he did let me start reading it, the bastard! I read it in its entirety shortly after it was published, then saw a link to the Whatever in, I think, a post on BoingBoing about writers carrying the torch for Heinlein. I’ve been a daily lurker ever since.

  6. In about 2002 Michael Barone recommended two blogs when he was on the Mclachlan Group – Instapundit and andrewsullivan.com. I started reading both blogs. OMW was recommended on instapundit and after reading OMW I looked up your site on the web.

    The interesting thing is that now I read whatever more than instapundit. I can’t deal with the passive-aggressive right wing madness over there anymore.

  8. I saw you at Boskone 43, moderating a panel on political science fiction, and you mentioned your website.

  9. I started checking your blog after seeing so much praise dor Old Man’s War from Instapundit. OMW has quickly become one of my most frequent recommendations and read by most of the people I know.

  10. Originally visited because my girlfriend told me about Bacon Cat, but I didn’t stick with the site and put it in my RSS reader until I saw you quoted a couple of times on Daily Kos.

    I think I read Old Man’s War around the same time I started regularly reading Whatever.

  11. I read “Old Man’s War”, got hooked, Googled your name to see what else might be out there and ran across Whatever. As the Tralfamadorians would say, “So it goes”.

  12. Most likely a link from instapundit As for how long ago, not sure; I know I was in grad school, so no later than 2002.

  13. I’ve only been reading for a few weeks. My roommate kept quoting you, and badgered me into reading Old Man’s War, which I loved with a pure love. I figured anyone who could write that well for fun and profit could probably do it equally well just for fun.

    I wasn’t wrong.

  14. I don’t remember how long ago I started reading, but it was prior to OMW’s release. I was reading an entry on Making Light, read some of your comments, and for some crazy reason, clicked through to your site. I usually don’t bother to click through on much of anything.

  16. The URL was printed on the back of Old Man’s War what I found in the new releases area of the local library, and I thought “Say, this guy’s pretty good! I wonder if he’s published anything else?”

  17. I still have them bookmarked, actually.

    First exposure: April 14, 2006, “Richard Powers and SF Artwork.” I don’t remember exactly where from, but it must been linked at some graphic design blog.

    Regular reader since: June 13, 2006, “Writing Novels One Novel at a Time.” Probably via E. Bear’s LJ, after some stream of linkishness that started who knows where (Making Light? Gaiman?).

    Then I started reading archives and I can’t find my way out. ::weeping:: Someone send in a sandwich…

  18. I first heard of you in the Spring of 2006, when OMW made the final ballot for the Hugo, which I bought and read at that time. Shortly afterward, I discovered the Whatever, though I don’t remember where I heard about it; whether it was from the book, or a link from some SF-related site.

  20. Came across the “Agent to the Stars” from manybooks.net about 6 months ago – googled for Scalzi – browsed whatever – especially the creationist museum photographs – hooked

  22. I’ve been subscribed to the RSS feed for a couple of years now. Before that I got links to your stuff pretty regularly, and finally decided to just go on and subscribe.

  23. It was after Old Man’s War came out, because I had no idea who you were when I bought it.

    To the best of my recollection, I kept following interesting links that other blogs made to here, and then getting distracted by other posts. So I added the LJ feed. I’m not sure when that was

  24. Oddly, I’ve been online in places you’d think would send me your way since around 2000; I was a member of the Well back then and have visited Making Light frequently since back when it was two different blogs.

    I mention all that because I find it odd that I’d never heard of you or your writing, nor of this blog, until, I think, a year and a half or so ago. I was working at a gym, and they had an issue of Wired I read during a down-moment, which contained a two-page article that might have been specifically on you and Whatever or might just have mentioned both. I’m pretty sure it was Wired, though.

    So that’s how I got here. Only really been reading for about a year, I think.

  25. From Making Light, quite a while back. I think it was when Tor were acquiring Old Man’s War, and TNH was telling you something along the lines that you should start not expecting things to fall through, because “he” didn’t take people out for lunch for nothing. That could be a false memory, though.

  26. I know I’d linked through a few of times via friends or other sites or blogs in the past couple of years or so but I didn’t subscribe to the Livejournal RSS feed until sometime earlier this year, I think.

  27. I came here via Matt Stover’s blog; someone posted your video where you had the advance preview copy of CAINE BLACK KNIFE. I slavered over that blurry YouTube still of the Third Coming for hours.

    I figured, if you liked Stover’s work, you couldn’t be all that bad of a person. Then I bought OMW. The Satanic subtext was a tad bewildering, but I soldiered through it.

  29. I’d vaguely noticed you as a commenter at Making Light when someone mentioned you had a pretty good blog. You went into my rss feed pretty soon after that.

  31. How weird — I actually got directed here by friends, not by publications. I should read more.

  32. I found you by way of Joe Hill’s website and blog. He kept referring to this guy Scalzi and his impending visit to the Creation Museum. Bought OMW after a few weeks of reading Whatever on a regular basis, and loved the book. I make it a habit now to visit at least once a day, and encourage a lot of writers to do the same.

  33. I think I followed a link from Patrick Nielsen Hayden’s LiveJournal, after he posted to say that he’d just bought this novel that he’d seen on the web, but no one else should think that posting your novel on the web was a good way to get an editor to see it and buy it.

  34. When OMW went viral in Perth (thanks to Fantastic Planet bookshop) some friends found Whatever and started posting the odd link in their blogs. The first post I followed to the end was The Creationist Museum visit, and I’ve been a regular reader since because I like your voice and the way you write. Evil, yet charming.

    FWIW I read via a livejournal syndicated feed on my Friends page.

  36. It was after Old Man’s War. I took the book out from the library (2-3 years ago) and loved it. I either found the URL in/on the book, or I searched you out :)

  37. Only about 3 or 4 days ago, but I think I’ll be hanging around for awhile longer :-D

    I came here via Bad Astronomy, which I ended up at on the suggestion of my brother (same day I discovered your blog).

  38. I think my first visit was a couple of years ago, through a link off Neil Gaiman’s blog. After reading “Being Poor,” I knew you were a writer worth supporting, so I started buying your stuff and haven’t looked back. Whatever is now part of my daily reading, though I rarely drop any comments. Kudos on 10 years, and thanks for keeping at it.

  39. I started coming either early 2006 or late 2005. It was whenever I read OMW. I actually picked up the book because I had heard you blogged & thought a blogging author was cool- but I didn’t actually start following your blog until I started reading your book.

    I think heard about you via Uncertain Principles- but I’m not 100% sure on that.

  40. You had me at Bacon Cat.

    I had read Old Man’s War, but didn’t come over until I heard about the Bacon Cat on another website which I can’t remember.

  41. I started reading earlier this year, when Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy posted a link to your post about Writing for a Living and what that entails.

  42. I read Trader to the Stars a couple of years ago (library loan – sorry), liked your style of writing, googled your name, and came across your website.

    I pop in most days, and have made contributions to your daughter’s College Fund by purchasing OMW, TGB, TAD, and just last week, TLC.

    Keep up the good work (pretty please).

  43. I first fell in love with you – ahem, I first found the Whatever in 2005 when OMW got boingboinged. I got the book that day, cruised over here and the rest is just sad.

    Seriously, I love the Whatever for Sclazi, the folks and the general good mood around here.

    And also the lipsticked pigs.

  44. I first saw your name on Lee Goldberg’s blog when I was eading about the birdbrain that had her Star Wars fanfic for sale on Amazon. You were one that spoke out about it and I looked you up. Been following you ever since, as well as your books.

  46. I started reading Whatever way WAY back in the day… I think around 98 or 99, so around when you started. I was searching the internet for on-line books and found “Agent to the Stars”, which I read enthusiastically. Then I started reading your “on-line journal”, which read me to Shelleyness, which lead me to First Person Particular, which got me started on my OWN on-line journal. Then I was a “test reader” for OMW, and by that time I was firmly a slavering Scalzi minion.

  48. I don’t remember for sure. The first time I linked here from my blog was 7/23/2006, and that sounds about right for how long I’ve been reading Whatever. I must have ended up here via a link from somewhere, maybe Fark or Wheaton? Anyway, I had read none of your sci-fi books on 7/23/2006. Now I’ve read everything except Agent to the Stars, which I will read soon when it’s re-released.

  49. most likely a link from blog post about politics or technology, but I honestly have no idea exactly when or how I got here (I guess I could say that most of the time!)

  50. Around the time OMW came out someone (possibly penny arcade or maybe wil wheaton but I’m not sure) linked to whatever. I clicked through, read the archives, read the OMW excerpt, read Agent to the Stars, and have been reading regular ever since.

  51. I showed up here April or May 2006, shortly after you published your 10 tips on writing for teens (the one about why teen writing sucks). At the time, I was a wide-eyed 15-year-old who thought he wanted to be a journalist. I had stumbledupon the entry. It was fun to read, so I started reading more of your blog, then I read your books, and now I’m a full-fledged scifi fan, and a more mature 17 year old who used to want to be a journalist then decided he didn’t want to be a journalist and now sort of wants to be a journalist again.

  53. About 7 months ago I picked up an odd little book with sheep on the cover. The blurb in the back mentioned the writer’s web-blog so I looked you up and have checked back regularly ever since.

  56. I was pointed to your Creation Musuem photo essay from some unremembered skeptic blog. I laughed till I was in pain, and then added your blog to my daily reading list.

    Then, after having neglected the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genre for many years, I went on to read The Android’s Dream (loved it!) and all the Old Man’s War books (working on Zoe’s Tale now). You’re kinda responsible for getting me back into Sci-Fi.

    Now (referencing an earlier thread) if you could only get all those other books’ cover artists to make covers that an almost-50-year-old woman isn’t embarrassed to show in public!

  57. Wil Wheaton mentioned OMW and Whatever on his blog probably a year or two ago. I came over, liked what you had to say, (and the style in which you say it) and have just kept coming back.

  59. About a year ago. Picked up Agent at the library on a whim. Loved it and then followed the link listed in the about the author blurb. Now I am addicted. Whims will do that to me.

  61. let me update…I’m fairly confident that it was some sort of political post that led me here, as I indexed your feed under the politics label in my reader…

  62. I think I came via a link from some other writer’s blog. I have no idea when it was but it was before the cat/bacon thing.

    I stopped for a while but was unable to give you up. (I’m the one at the LATimes Fest of Books who confessed to that and asked you to sign OMW–which you likely don’t remember.)

  63. Gosh, it was a long time ago. I know it was from a link on BoingBoing or Making Light, but as best as I can place it, my first read was from before “Bacon Cat” and after “Being Poor”.

    Yours is one of my favorite blogs. You’re also one of my favorite have-to-buy-as-soon-as-new-book-is-announced writers. Nicole TWN and I have contests on who can get your new book soonest, but she just took a commanding lead with her Hate Mail win.

    I also appreciate Kodi the Wonder Dog and her Laser Beam.

  65. You had been mentioned at WWdN about a year ago. Shortly after that I was in my local bookstore and saw OMW. Another regular was in there and said it was great. I’ve been sold ever since.

  66. I’m a librarian, and always go look at or for, the websites of authors I’ve read and enjoyed. I don’t remember if I caught the link from OMW, or just went looking. I really do enjoy your books and your writing. I don’t agree with your politics, and think you’re kind of abrupt when you disagree with some of your posters; but like you say, your house, your rules. On the whole I enjoy your blog. (And I love the cat and Athena pics.) So I check in a couple of times a week now. You do good work, (and I can hope your political outlook will change).

  67. About a year ago. A friend blogged about the Coffee Shop book. I liked the title and wanted to know more. :)

  68. Football Jesus is what got me.

    It was linked from BoingBoing, and the third or fourth time I’d seen the name ‘Scalzi’ being touted there, so I followed the link and read the article. And laughed. And laughed. The premise was one I had come up with myself when I was a surly, anti-organized-sport, high school kid (long, long ago), but your presentation of the concept was much better.

  69. Memory is hazy… I probably got here looking up your home page after reading OMW and TGB, and hoping to find out what’s next. I initially misread some of the Whatever posts (Being Poor, etc.) as feel-good preachy fluff, but realized I was wrong, and that the level of snark was just what I needed on a daily basis (Anthony Bourdain only posts about once a month, y’know)

  70. I can’t remember the exact date, but I found this site in 2005. I know at least one other Malaysian who has bookmarked Whatever. I envy this blog for its (generally) intelligent, mature readers and commenters.

    Your report on the Creation Museum was a riot-and-a-half, and so were your readers’ LOLexhibits. I also look forward to your thoughts on the American political scene and all updates on the cats.

  71. Spring of 2004, it looks like. On the recommendation of an old college buddy (well, the spouse thereof, an honorary old college buddy herself).

    Thanks,
    -V.

  72. 2003. I was looking for sub guidelines to Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader and initially thought Whatever was associated with them.

  73. I originally came to see the famous poor post, referred by a friend. I’ve visited irregularly since then and about a month ago I finally made this my homepage. Thank you, btw, for the fine novels (write more, now, darnit !) and the entertaining site.

  74. I can’t remember the context for the life of me (maybe it was the Hate Mail entry?), but I got here through linkage by Penny Arcade sometime in the summer of 2002. I do remember getting hooked by the “Football With Jesus” entry, though.

  75. I’m about 95% sure it was instapundit, after 9/11 which was when I started reading blogs on a regular basis. What I find interesting, is not the question of how i got here, but why I keep comin’ back. I wonder why that of all the ones I started with, Ken Layne, Matt Welch, Virgina Postrel, Insty, etc., about the only ones I keep up with are the Whatever, Insta, and a couple others. Don’t know why, perhaps its the decent commentary on a wide range of subjects(whether I agree or not, that’s not the point), and for each person’s authority on some subject: John is a badass pro writer who has no illusions as to how to make money or WHY you’re doing it (hint: it’s not the romantic writer’s life or so many of them wouldn’t complain about making rent on their palatial digs . . . ). And frankly, I get the sense that John is in my demographic: geeky white guys who are punching WELL above their weight class when it comes to their wives :-) . . . who grew up about the same time in the sameish circumstances. I like the fact that the Whatever is a combo of some silly, some commentary, some mundane (not to be confused with dull or unimportant) family stuff from a guy’s opinion, and a bit of the “you kids get off of my lawn” vibe that happens when John gets a bit riled. Oh yeah, and the books. ;-) Pretty good stuff that.

  77. I’m another one of the folks who started reading after Bacon Cat. I followed the link from Fark and kept up for the following week or so to watch the ebb and flow of visitors. And then I did the silly thing and started reading the older entries.

  78. A friend recommended Old Mans War to me. After reading the book I noticed that the web site address was mentioned and paid a visit.

  79. Chris O’Donnell (not the actor – http://www.odonnellweb.com/) linked here back when you were talking about going to the creation museum. I just couldn’t miss that trip report, so I checked back until you finally went. It was well worth it. :)

  80. Instapundit’s ravings about OMW got my attention. Bought the book, loved it, came to visit here for more of the same wondrous snarky fun.

  81. To the best of my recollection, sometime in 2002, while I was working as a publicity manager at Del Rey. You were in the previous publicity manager’s database and I was very much into this crazy new Intarwebs thang, so I went through the whole database to update websites and blogs, found yours and got hooked.

    So, maybe around February, 2002?

    So thanks for six years of great writing and cat pictures!

  82. I can’t remember exactly. I’m almost certain it was via a link from another writer’s blog. I knew your blog existed long before I became a regular reader. The post that first got my attention was the one when you visited that creationist ‘museum’. And more recently, your political posts and the Big Idea posts have made me a regular lurker here. Contrary to what another commenter said above, I agree with your politics. :)

  83. You were listed as an attendee for JournalCon I (in Pittsburgh), so I popped in to your site to see how you wrote. I think I’d visited before, because you’d been in discussions on message boards, but after I met you, I started reading regularly.

  84. Alas, I forget the topic that first brought me here. I know I dropped in via Making Light until “I like reading this guy!” reached critical mass and I added you to my bookmarks. So…I’d say my first visit was over three years ago, and I’ve been reading you regularly for at least two.

  85. I saw alink on my Livejournal friends’ page- either for the OTW discussion or the creationist museum stuff, I can’t remember now.

  86. It started with the original “laptop to the coffee shop” post, whenever that was. I found a few references to it scattered about other blogs (probably Making Light for a start) and, since I often write in a caff opposite where I work, I googled for the source and came here. I then lost track of it for a while, came back once or twice when I saw other interesting posts referenced elsewhere, and eventually got around to bookmarking you.

  89. If memory serves, I began reading Whatever after finding it during a Google search not very long after I read the free e-book of Old Man’s War that Tor made available to promote their upcoming (and now open) web site.

  90. Today was my first visit, following a link from Making Light to the Schadenfreude Pie. Read that thread, then clicking around to see what other bits I might trip across.

    Since I am not a regular reader of anything, I am likely to be an irregular reader.

  91. I dropped by last year–I think?–via a link from Making Light. I remembered that I’d read some of your comments on ML, checked out Whatever, and decided to stick around.

  92. It was before 9/11 because I remember reading your article about 9/11 when it was still fresh. I also think that George W. Bush has always been president while I have been reading your blog.

    Since then I check out your blog on an almost daily basis and some days more than once per day.

    I found out about your blog via the internet. I was reading something that had a reference to something you had said. I don’t remember what it was given the time frame.

    Cheers
    Andrew

  93. You can blame Jay Lake ;>. And probably about a year or so. He noted that you’d something better than he could and that sent me over to see what it was. I no longer remember the particular topic, but I *do* remember whatever it was you said it brilliantly and I was hooked.

  94. I started reading 3-4 months ago and came here by way of book reviews and Wil Wheaton’s site. I have since read The blue Sheep book, Old Man’s War, Ghost Brigade and am about to finish Last Colony. Plus I really enjoyed the short story the other day about the superheros and even more so enjoyed the explanation and discussion about how it got on the web and how you got paid… that was very very interesting and enlightening. Thanks !

  95. I got here through Wil Wheaton’s blog. He linked to one of your entries about writing, and I enjoyed both content and style.

  96. Honestly, I didn’t start reading “Whatever” until a few months ago, and it happened because I had finally decided to set up an RSS reader to keep track of the blogs I liked to visit but always forgot about for weeks at a time. Once I had it set up, I started thinking about other things besides the half-dozen or so websites that I entered into it immediately that might be fun to keep up with. This led me to add a bunch of different blogs by sci-fi/fantasy authors, including Jeff VanderMeer, Cherie Priest, and you.

  97. I started some time in 2002. I found you via SK Viehl’s online blog. While cruising the website I found and downloaded the “Agent to the Stars”. I loved it!

    I do not comment much here or in forums, but I am a constant reader. I love your sense of humor and your engaging writing style.

    Thanks!

  98. I started reading about a year ago, after a friend lent me “Old Man’s War”, I liked it and purchased the other books. The link to this website was somewhere in the book, and I took a liking to it.

  99. I ended up in a group conversation with you at a local convention, found you entertaining, and later found out that apparently you had written several books. I visited scalzi.com in order to grab a list of books you had written (which I found) and found an extraordinarily entertaining blog to boot.

  100. Back in 2000, during the Gore-Bush race, a friend of mine pointed me to a web-blog being run by a local (in MD) radio DJ. That web-blog linked to an article on your Whatever, some thoroughly entertaining rant about the race. I read through some of your archives on a slow day, and then started reading almost every day since.

  101. I was deeply involved in Navy training commands and submarine deployments from 96-2003-ish. I didn’t discover Whatever until about then. I found Whatever through tnh and pnh’s Making Light.

    I read whenever Whatever is updated through the LJ-feed, and post comments irregularly.

    That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

  102. Found a copy of TAD on my library’s new release shelf. Loved it. Been a daily lurker ever since. :goes back into hiding:

  103. My first encounter with Whatever was the Being Poor post.

    My second encounter was after I read Old Man’s War (recommended by Wil Wheaton), and by then I was hooked.

  105. I arrived here a few months ago because one of the political blogs I read linked to this post about FOX News, Barack Obama and his blackity black blackness. After a few days of reading, I was impressed enough to go out and pick up Old Man’s War.

  106. Wil mentioned you and Whatever a year or two ago, but I didn’t become a daily visitor till after I read Android’s Dream (which I bought on impulse when I saw the paperback on a rack in the grocery store–I remembered that Wil had spoken highly of you).

  107. It was OMW.

    A stack of OMW was on the book cart at the B&N in Anchorage, not yet deployed on the “New Releases” shelf.

    What caught my eye was the title, cover painting, and the fact that it was in hardcover. Scalzi? Who the hell is Scalzi? Said I to myself – he must be something with that kind of artwork and a hardcover first issue. So I bought it.

    I didn’t catch the Whatever pimp on the cover, I just googled your ass and ended up here – and then realized I had read “I hate your politics” somewhere along the line.

    The Whatever kept me sane the last year I was in the military – I’m not a desk jockey, and if it wasn’t for the internet connection and the Whatever I’d have probably started gnawing on the furniture.

  108. I got linked here from Pharyngula when you were running your “Send John Scalzi to the Creationism Museum” drive, and stuck around for a bit waiting for your review of the museum. It took so long that by the time it was posted, I was hooked; well done, sir!

  109. I’m another former Insta-ling who found his way here from his praise and interview from the OMW release.

  110. Been reading Whatever since “I hate your politics” article back in 2002. It was linked to on a forum I used to visit regularly.

  111. Found TAD on my library’s new release shelf. Loved it. Been a daily lurker ever since. I used to have one or two books on my “to read” stack. Thank’s to Whatever, I now have an entire shelf. Sigh! Happy camper now goes back to lurking.

  112. Hmmm. Sometime around around 2003. I think it was a link from elsewhere to the Being Poor essay. Became an occasional lurker as I looked around and said, “Hmmph, so this is a blog”. OMW came out and I started coming over a bit more frequently. This led to me finding Making Light and then Chad Orzel over at Uncertain Principles. Chad then linked to Bacon Cat and I have needed my daily hit ever since.

    Thanks, I think….

  113. I think I started about three months ago, I’m not sure the exact time.

    I came here because Wil Wheaton kept talking about you on his blog and his Twitter feed so I had to check it out.

    And here I am.

  114. Probably via a link on Making Light, although I’m not quite sure when. Probably on a previous computer (although the rate I go through computers, this could easily be within the past three years).

  115. I vaguely recall seeing people mention you on LJ and checking out Whatever from time to time–I think the very first entry I found linkage to was the Being Poor essay–but it wasn’t until my friend Keffy (kehrli on lj) started talking about you regularly that I added Whatever’s RSS feed, sometime early this year.

  116. I don’t rightly remember. That is, I’m pretty sure that Whatever was bookmarked at my old job (around, oh, ’99-’00) because it has been a daily stop for me for a really long time, but I don’t recall which website, newsgroup, or casual link-trippage led to that.

    I did, however, read Old Man’s War here first.

  118. Regular reader since November 12, 2007, ‘Your Creation Museum Report.’ Found the link through BoingBoing, I think, but it could’ve been another blog, I don’t remember exactly.
    I already knew of the books (I’m a long-time sci-fi reader and I had read a couple of reviews and recommendations on sci-fi/fantasy forums) but I had not read them at the time.

  120. I am a relative newcomer, only been here for 8-9 months. Although I had been reading your books since I read a review of “Old Man’s War” in Publisher’s Weekly, i didn’t make it to Whatever until Galleycat mentioned you as one of their favorite blogs.

  121. About 2 or 3 years ago I stumbled upon the online version of Agent to the Stars. I don’t remember how I found it exactly, but that got me started here.

  122. I found you quite by accident, when I randomly clicked on the AOL logo, and you were writing (and editing, I think) the “secret” area back there. You were one of the two people there who were any good (IIRC, Lileks was the other one), and I followed you to Whatever whenever it was that you disclosed it.

    I got a bit lazy and stopped reading Whatever regularly during the time that you had ByTheWay (almost Too Much Scalzi Goodness for one to handle), but I’d come back and check when there was something interesting politically going on (that I knew you wouldn’t touch in the happy AOL-J community). Obviously, I returned to Whatever completely when ByTheWay reached the end of its useful life.

    But, anyway, yeah, I do go back pretty far.

  123. Few years back, on my birthday, I visited Wikipedia to see who else shared that blessed natal event (besides Sid Vicious).

    Lo and behold, YOU did. And I had vague recollections of reading a review of OMW, and you were writing for the DDN at the time, as was I, and then here I was.

    And then I dragged Tiffani @ #1. Hee.

  124. I found the Whatever back in 1999 or 2000… I was looking for some of your stuff from your days back at AOL as a humor columnist, and stumbled across the site. Been checking back ever since.

  125. Had to have been in 2002, I think. I was in a research internship spot at NASA Glenn, in Cleveland, and I’m pretty sure I linked over from Penny Arcade. Have been reading consistently ever since, leaving comments occasionally.

  127. Penny Arcade linked here, and I visited a couple times. A while later I heard somewhere about OMW being free, so I read it, paid for it with a bit extra to cover AttS, and have stuck around ever since.

    But yeah, Penny Arcade was the catalyst.

  128. I think the first time I was directed here was through a genre site called sffnews.com to an entry about what you should do if you ever wanted to respond to a reader review on Amazon. It was really funny in a very different way than I was used to, so I made a mental note to keep checking this place for more goodness. However, the true love affair didn’t begin ’till after I picked up OMW, tGB and tAD. I wanted more of your fiction, but had to settle for this as my preffered metadon cure.

  130. I got a couple of books of yours from my local library (based upon some random reviews) and then went to a talk/book signing you did in Columbus maybe a year or so ago. Since I enjoyed your books and your talk, I decided to check to see if you had a website. You did/do, it was/is interesting and that’s pretty much it. I’ve a bit of the compulsive in me so your frequent updates are a plus. Since I’ve regained a position among the working I’m looking forward to heading out to buy your newest and picking up the back catalog. Cheers!

  131. I saw a recommendation on Making Light some time after the last Glasgow Worldcon. I’ve been a satisfied consumer and occasional commenter since.

  132. Subterranean Press and Trader to the Stars – I’ve been buying their books for long enough to know from Bill Schafer’s descriptions how much I’m likely to enjoy a new author’s work. That’s the same way he got me hooked on Joe Hill’s work, with the Voluntary Committal chapbook.

  137. I don’t remember the details well but back when LJ and Blogger were still gleams in their makers imaginations (or there’bouts), Diaryland ruled the vasty interwebs and I believe you were nominated for some “Diarist of the Year” type of award, which you found to be flattering but not-quite accurate as what you were writing wasn’t so much of a diary as, well, Whatever…

  138. The good folks at EatOurBrains clued me in by mentioning you enough that I picked up OMW and TAD when I saw them. After a time, I moseyed over to this site to see what was going on, and I’ve been mostly lurking ever since. My first visit was probably back in June of this year. Thanks, I’ve enjoyed it.

  139. Read Old Mans War and wanted to know more about the author. I found the Whatever and discovered Krissy was taking heat for putting some guy up against a wall; I just had to chime in on that one. A hot hard ass mom putting twerps in their place, a husband who can string words together in a manner both pleasing and amusing. Whats not to like. The level of discourse in the comment threads sealed the deal. In a pop cultured America that seems to celebrate the stupid I found an oasis of sanity.

  140. Wil Wheaton, sometime around when OMW was published. Come to think of it a decent percentage of my bookmarks came from Mr. Wheaton.

  142. I think it was a link from Boing Boing or something about your visit to the Creationist Museum that first brought me here. I’d already read some of your stuff, so I stuck around and perused older posts. Two weeks later, I woke up outside Akron, clutching a copy of OMW and smelling of bacon. Haven’t left since.

  143. I am pretty sure I was reading you before the Infamous Salsa Dance of fall 2000, but I honestly don’t remember how I got there. It may have been as part of the other JC attendees. Or was it before that?

    It’s been a long-ass time.

  144. So hard to know anymore. I’m pretty sure it was through some search I did on google, but no idea now what it was. Chronologically, it was after you’d published OMW but pre-Ghost Brigades. I bookmarked it after visiting three or four times, then checked back regularly and then added it to google reader last year.

  145. I got introduced sometime in the middle of last year (I think…or was it the year before?) via Schadenfreude Pie and cat bacon. Anyone who can invent Schadenfreude Pie has to be worth reading, I thought, and I’ve been stopping by off and on ever since.

    (Haven’t tried the pie, yet, though – I’m reasonably sure it would give me a migrane, but it would certainly be the way to go!)

  146. I came here originally because Wil Wheaton insisted that I must help bribe you to go to the Creation Museum, and that sounded like a lot of fun. Then I read Agent here, and was forced to buy all your books.

    Ergo, Wil Wheaton increases my pleasure, but empties my wallet.

  147. I discovered you a couple of years ago via a friend’s AOL journal. And man, the dude writes SF! So, of course, I had to find one of your books.

    Congrats on ten years!

  149. Like several others, I came here from a link via Glenn Reynolds, in the Old Man’s War timeframe. It was probably 6 months after that or maybe more before I added the whatever to my RSS feed list.

  151. Hmmm… Definitely remember I got here following a link from one of the regulars from rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (What can I say, was a good group back in the day…) – but not sure when that was. Best guess probably sometime in 2000 or 2001? Think I’ve had Whatever bookmarked in some way ever since – long may it continue!

  152. I read “I Hate Your Politics” in an addition of Willamette Week here in Portland, OR. and enjoyed how you wrote it immensely. You are good at putting your views down succinctly so I visited your website and found that I agreed with much of what you write here. I have to admit that I’m not much of a SF buff, but I do enjoy it from time to time. I mostly read non-fiction, so I’ve limited my Whatever reading pretty much to your political thoughts. But I’ve been checking your site off and on for probably 7 years now. Since before this current war to end all wars.

  153. I stopped by in late 2007/early 2008 and have been lurking since. I came here after reading OMW (which I think I read because Bill @ Subterranean had nice things to say about it).

  154. Well, I think that OMW was just out when I first came here, but I didn’t know you were a novelist when I came here… you were probably linked by Bill Harris or something… and I didn’t actually read OMW until a good while later – I bought a copy after you posted the first chapter (which was touching).

  156. Believe it or not, John, I started reading the Whatever all the way back in 1998. I was a year away from high school, and was a computer geek who loved this newfangled thing known as the world wide web. My first ISP was Mediaone, and I loved your music column on Mediaone mentioned in your first ever article here on Whatever. Clicked through to the Whatever, which was also the first blog I ever read, and haven’t left since.

    Heck, I’m enough of an old-timer here that I was one of the people who helped edit OMW before you released it as shareware. Ah, memories…

  157. Military SF is one of my indulgences, so after reading OMW–and loving it–I naturally went to the author website.

    I was expecting the usual vanity site with a bio and a list of other books, and maybe a link to PETA or the NRA or whatever cause was closest to the writer’s heart.

    Also, to be honest, the author photo had me a bit flummoxed. The face in it seemed, if not harsh, somewhat defiant. It certainly wasn’t one of those airbrushed studio shot monstrosities. I was curious about the juxtasposition of that face with the humor and sarcasm that abounded in the novel.

    The answer was more than I bargained for! I first went to The Whatever a couple of weeks after Old Man’s War was released in paperback. I’ve been coming back ever since.

  158. Walked past the stand in the library where they had the new fiction face out. I noticed a book call Old MEN’s War and decided a book about a war being run (not fought) by old men would be annoying, so I left it there to try to find something in the fiction section that wasn’t horrible. A week or two later, I finally noticed that it was Old MAN’S War – but there were three old people on the cover. Wondering what that was about, I added it my pile and took it home. It was sooo nice to find a book that was a pure pleasure, even for someone as burned out on the genre as me. I was already reading Neil Gaiman’s blog, so it made sense to see if you had one – and the rest is all Whatever.

  159. My first time here was to see the Creation Museum visit report, which I think I found due to it being linked on Making Light. Came back a few times when I found posts linked from any of a numer of places, but only irregularly. Then, about a month ago, I was testing a new RSS reader and started thinking “what sites should I add?”, and Whatever came up fairly early on the list. Possibly because I saw your name on tor.com, which I’d already subscribed to at that point. Been a regular visitor ever since.

  160. I think Laura @ 46 has a better memory of those first few years after the online big bang than I do. I do remember something about a guy publishing a whole novel online that he gave away for free. That was so weird.

    Begging your pardon for being off-topic, I remember that you officiated Shelleyness’ wedding. If you still talk to her, tell her the internet misses her.

    Ten years is a long, long time. Congratulations.

  161. I first found this blog through Andrew Wheeler’s “GBS Hornswoggler” blog when he linked to the Creation Museum entry. I forwarded that link to everyone I knew, once I had recovered from laughing so hard, and I have been reading Whatever every day ever since.

    I even found a link to your entire archives – going back to 1998 – and, being the academic nerd that I am, I read them all. In order. It was a LOT of fun.

  162. I think I either followed a link from Wil Wheaton or I picked you up during the whole SFWA brouhaha.

  163. I started reading in mid 2001.

    I had just started my own blog and started reading when I was doing research to get that started. I kept seeing this link “whatever” in other people’s blog rolls. I checked it out, and this is weird but I remember the first post I read having something to do with the Yankees. This is not a topic that interests me in the slightest, yet I liked your writing style, so kept coming back.

    I’ve been blogging since then. (Except I’ve had three separate blogs. Which is a very inefficient way to grow an audience.) But even though my blog is a lot different in style, I think I’ve learned a lot from you about blogging. Mainly, how to blog about things that you will always feel basically okay about, and avoid blogging about things that will make you cringe at the idea of Google Cache just a year later. Also, I think you are one of the best comment moderators out there. You’re ability to stand your ground while still allowing for dissent–but also dialing people back when they need it is unmatched. And yeah, the whole buzz saw thing is alway hilarious when it happens.

    Happy Birthday, Whatever!

  165. Sometime in either 2007 or 2008, via a link from somewhere in the Making Light archives. Since then I follow the blog in Google Reader and generally flick over to a post itself if I think it might generate some interesting comments.

  166. I don’t remember how, exactly, I first got linked here, but I think it was part of a forum discussion and was somewhere between 2 and 3 years ago. I came, read the relevant post, found the site interesting, and read a bunch more. Then I bookmarked it and promptly forgot about it for somewhere between a few months and a year.

    About a year and a half ago I think I found it nestled in among my (far too) many bookmarks, came back, was again interested, and started reading regularly.

  167. I don’t remember the linkage, but I first came here during the Pluto demotion dust-up, when you posted a movie of Athena taking on the Pluto Haters. Wow, I don’t even remember how long ago that was, except that it was before Bacon Cat and Creation Museum.

    Oh, and this site is absolutely a plus for you, professionally: I became a buyer and reader of Scalzi books on the strength of how much I enjoyed the Scalzi Whatever. I probably would not have gotten your books otherwise, since I wouldn’t have heard of you otherwise (I don’t go to cons much anymore).

  168. As a teenager interested in writing, I do a lot of searching for sites that can help me with techniques, ideas, and development. On one Google search about teen writers, I came across an article of yours that had samples of your writing from when you were a teen, and I found the post very insightful and funny, so I got hooked.

  169. It’s been about a month, month and a half since I first saw WilW writing about procrastinating on your foreword. Which led me to look into you which led me to grab books out of the library which has led me to be reading you since.

  170. I visited your site a couple times over the years due to various link salads on other blogs.

    Buuuuut I really only added you to my daily RSS feed about six months ago because I got tired of constantly following links to your site. I decided it was far better to just read it every day.

    What can I say…late bloomer.

  171. Summer of 2006, when OLD MAN’S WAR was up for a Hugo. Read the book, loved it, and then went online and tracked you down.

    I don’t think I’ve stopped bugging you ever since. =)

  172. My friend Ray told me about Whateveresque so I joined and after being there a few weeks I figured I’d also listen to his advice and read Whatever. I was hooked and compulsively checked in many times a day.

  174. i started reading old man’s war because i read an article in the NY times when android’s dream when it came out an i thought it sounded like something i’d like – from there i went on to read the other books you’ve written. about 8 months ago i was reading an article somewhere that mentioned you – i cant remember what it was now though, and it mentioned your blog so i gave it a try. 8 months later i’m still here. thanks for the good reading!

  175. Joe Mallozzi put a link to “Whatever” up when he announced you were doing a guest blog Q&A for “The Android’s Dream.” I think it was in late May??? Anyways, I checked it out and was immediately hooked!!!

  176. Can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been here since day one. It seems likely that I would’ve been one of those old friends that got the email invite.

    For readers who don’t know me, John and I have been friends since we were about 11 or 12 years old. Sure, he’s cool now, but…oh, the stories I could tell.

  178. I think I did a web search on “John Scalzi” sometime around the year 2000 and found your blog (if that’s even what they were called back then). Of course, I knew you in college, which was why it randomly occurred to me to search on your name.

  179. My book club read Old Man’s War and someone mentioned enjoying your website, so I decided to check it out.

  181. Mike Masnick of Techdirt had a difference of opinion with you about something, and pointed here. I read the article and said to myself, “Hey, I just finished his book, I wonder what his blog is like?”

    And all was lost.

  182. Somewhere back in 2002 you wrote an essay (I can’t find it now) that said you supported a war to depose Saddam Hussein, but only if a Democrat were in charge: The Democrats would be ready to deal with the post-war, while the Republicans would royally screw it up.

    At the time I thought you were being snarky.

    Anyhow, somebody linked to it and that was the first time I saw Whatever; I wasn’t a regular reader, though, until the Bacon-on-a-Cat event.

  183. Last year.

    Truth is, I should have found you on my own, way earlier than than I did. Your writing first came my way when someone pointed out your Flickr tour of the Creation Museum. I thought it was some of the funniest commentary I had seen in a long while, and emailed you to ask your permission to use some of your photos in an article I wrote for Newsvine.

    Still, that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until weeks (months?) after that that a friend pointed out that you’re a fellow Ohioan, and that you write science fiction, and I thought, “I guess I should check out whether he has a website…”

    Et voila!

    And I’ve been being entertained by your writing ever since.

  184. First came to Whatever about a month ago. It goes something like this…

    Star Trek TNG fan; Wesley Crusher fan; WWdN; Wil said Old Man’s War was awesome a while back; Old Man’s War enters my TBR pile and hangs out there for a while because my TBR pile is quite large; I find out I will be in Denver during WorldCon; look at Hugo nominations and see your name; decide it’s time to read Old Man’s War; LOVED it!!!!; found Whatever next day and first post I see is about an evil and awesome velvet portrait of Wesley Crusher.

    Sometimes I get freaked out by how circular life can be.

  185. I read off and on after getting sent here during discussions for the Organization of Transformative Works (a subject on which we disagree but yet I kept coming back to read the dissent! I’m so weird.). I returned and RSS’ed it for good after Tor gave me a free copy of Old Man’s War and I developed a huge lit crush that resulted in really embarrassing fan mail! Awesome.

  187. Probably around a year ago, through some now-forgotten linky. But it happened to coincide with my reading “Old Man’s War”, which I’d just discovered serendipitously in the R-S corridor between Reynolds and Stross.

  188. I don’t remember precisely, but it was probably around the time of the Star Wars fanfic incident, maybe via a link from Making Light. I read “Agent to the Stars” online* and sent the link to a lot of friends, then started reading through the archives.

    A couple days later, I realized, “Crap, this is going to take longer than I thought…” and gave up, but resolved to check your blog daily ever since so as not to fall behind. :)

    * And of course, later picked up the Old Man’s War books, enjoying them despite not being much of a sci-fi reader previously. They’ve become sort of a gateway drug of books, and now I’m working my way through Lois McMaster Bujold’s back catalog and loving it.

  189. I can’t believe it took FORTY comments for someone to name bacon cat as the reason they’re here. I too was hooked by the bacon cat. I believe it was linked in Boing Boing, the only other blog I read every day.

  190. You made several comments I found interesting in a thread or two over at Making Light back in 2004 or 2005. I think I followed links from there.

  191. Been here a long time. Pretty sure it was before 2000, because that was when I moved out to California for a while, and I seem to recall reading Whatever before then. So, sometime in 98 or 99.

    If I could browse your pages from back then I might try to pinpoint it better. I’ve yet to see anything from the archives that seems wholly unfamiliar.

    Been a good ten years. Hope the next ten are even better.

  192. I was aware of and occasionally dropped in on Whatever for its first few years, but I don’t remember how I first heard about it. I was one of the weirder eggs among the old-time journallers (er, bloggers) so I wasn’t very well connected to “the community” of the time. (I’m still not, frankly.)

    The first ‘big’ memory I have is of meeting you at Journalcon in San Francisco in 2002, when a bunch of us went out to dinner in the Tenderloin at that little grungy Indian restaurant. Afterwards everyone else decided to hail cabs back to the hotel rather than walk back in the dark (or maybe they were just full), but you and I ended up walking back together instead (and probably felt considerably less full when we got back). I don’t recall exactly what we talked about, but I recall it was a fun time.

    I read Whatever sporadically after that, and started reading it regularly once I moved over to reading blogs via RSS feeds (which makes it all so much easier), which I think happened when the Safari web browser added RSS feed support.

    I only comment here once in a while, but I’m still lurking around every day. So be warned!!! :-D

  194. I started reading this week because my friend linked to your post about liberals losing their shit. I thought you were funny, so I added you to my Google Reader.

  195. Dave Langord sent me – I was following various links about the SFWA snafu. I’d already reaad Old Man’s War.

  196. I believe I started reading when you posted the Creation Museum Visit report. I came via the link on BoingBoing and I was hooked. Those photos from the visit helped me waste like two+ hours at work.

  197. I heard about your comments regarding the most recent SFWA election and went to look. I liked your writing style and stayed. I knew you as an author – my open-the-bookstore order included “Old Man’s War” and “Android’s Dream” – I just didn’t know you as a blogger.

    I don’t comment often but that’s because I’m too busy laughing at everyone’s else’s comments (and your comments back).

    Nice blog – reminds me of the long, involved discussions back in college. Sans alcohol. Well, maybe – I don’t know what everybody else is doing while they read your blog.
    Lauretta

  198. Less than a year, that’s for sure, because Whateveresque (the forum) was already rolling. I think…*think*…that the reason I came here was because I read Old Man’s War, saw you had a blog, and was intrigued. But somebody else above mentioned you being linked by Glenn Reynolds, and that might have been it, too. Gah. The fate of an older brain: too much stuff falls in, so other stuff has to fall out.

  199. I was Googling Heinlein for something. I think I was looking for a copy of his “This I believe” transcript. Well I saw a review of OMW that compared you to Heinlein. It mentioned the Whatever. I lurked for a while and enjoyed what I read so I got OMW and enjoyed that. That was about a year ago.

  200. We heard about you through PZ Myers’s site. He had announced a fund raiser to support your visiting a creation science museum in Kentucky and reporting back on what you saw there. That started making us semi-regular Whatever readers. From Whatever, I heard about OMW, bought a copy and enjoyed reading it, then bought and read the remainder of the trilogy.

  201. Well, it was before you made the deal for Old Man’s War, because I remember being excited about that announcement. I think a friend sent me a link to AGENT TO THE STARS online, and I was intrigued by the idea and started reading the Whatever. (Eventually I get read AGENT all the way through, too.) I think this must have been… sometime in 2004?

  202. Came here via instapundit and OMW. I have read everything you’ve written that’s in my local library, finishing ZT now. You write wonderful characters. Pity about you being from the Harlan Ellison school of public relations – but perhaps you’ll grow out of this left wing thing. I stop by and check every so often.

    Charlie Manson was a community organizer.

    Damn, I just googled that and see it’s already in use …

    Fine line, clever vs stupid.

    That’s why I read you and not vise-versa.

  203. After reading your story After the Coup at Tor.com, I started reading your blog via RSS feed on LiveJournal.

  204. I had you recommended to me by a friend about a month ago, and picked up “The Android’s Dream” the next day. I loved it so much that I tore through it and the OMW trioligy in five days. I then went online to try and find anything else you had written, and here I am.

  205. I can remember it exactly. In the week right after 9/11 I found a list of various bloggers and there reactions to the attacks.

    Your entry was about how peaceful you found it to see a sky with no airplanes in it at all (due to them all being grounded that week). I was struck by you finding a slim silver lining to a horrific event and have been reading ever since.

    I’ve read all your books except Zoe’s Tale, which I just picked up in hardcover at the local B&N.

  206. Whatever was one of only a few links in a friend’s blogroll. I followed it here, and liked what I read. The first post that I remember as being notable was “What My Jesus Would Do“. So I’m going to assume that I started somewhere in the month before that one (which would have been April of 2005).

  207. Started out on Whatever a couple of years ago, after Baconcat IIRC. I don’t recall the specific post, but I got here through the efforts of one Wil Wheaton while in Exile, and have since purchased most of your catalog.

    Thank you!

  208. It was probably two years back when I read Old Man’s War. I can’t remember what led me to OMW, but I’m pretty sure that was it.

    Unless it was Bacon Cat.

  209. I got pulled in by a rant on the confederate flag, as I recall. Let’s see… that would have been sometime early in 2004, I believe. I was a fan of your bloggy writing first, but when OMW came out I thought “hm, haven’t read any SF in a while…” So there was that too.

    Congrats on 10 years, John. It’s been fun!

  210. I started reading this blog after having read and enjoyed OMW sometime in early 2005 and came here after getting the URL from the cover flap blurb.

  212. I googled the word “whatever” in a fit of boredom at work one day. Started reading you then (probably 2-3 years ago) and haven’t stopped.

  213. I stated reading around November 2007, right after you went to the Creationism Museum and posted the pics up on Flickr. Wil Wheaton kept talking about that trip and OMW so I clicked over. After spending a few hours chuckling at the Flickr feed I came over to the blog post about it. I started reading everyday after that.

  215. Someone referred me to your site a couple of years ago during one of the big SFWA controversies, and I thought you were exceptionally intelligent about it all (and you wrote damn well, but I already knew that…). I only had time to read it sporadically until I retired (in June 2007), at which point I bookmarked it. I’ve been a regular and appreciative reader ever since; thanks, John!

  217. Way back when – must have been 1998 or 99. I came from other “online journals”. Perhaps ceej or pammie or Diane Patterson? I seem to remember that you were a part of the online journals community before it was called blogs. I enjoyed all those early ones, but you’re the only one of the long-standing online journals that I still read regularly.

  218. The Google had turned up some blog entries from time to time, including the Whatever, but I didn’t start really reading blogs until the 2004 Clarion class, when one of our number was blogging during the six weeks of the summer workshop. By April 2005 I decided to get a LiveJournal handle and started my own blog. I lurked on the Whatever long before posting. And by January 2006 there was the metaphysical incident of blogging about John Scalzi at ConFusion while John Scalzi is standing behind me.

    Funny thing about all this computing and networking stuff — it sometimes feels like you’ve done things the same way all the time forever. Yet as soon as you start delving into the records, you realize t’ain’t actually so.

    So it’s been an evolutionary process for me to join the Whatever community and being a blogger myself. Intelligently designed or not.

    Dr. Phil

  219. I first found out about you from Penny Arcade when you were posting the OMW online, and then I read the AttS, and then I finally popped over here and starting reading Whatever.

  221. I discovered “Whatever” about 4 or 5 years ago, when I googled “writing advice”. I’m now a daily reader, and have bought both your “coffee shop” & “hate mail” books (the latter to be delivered shortly!). I read not only for the writing advice/writing life info, but also for the entries about your home life (I have a ten year old son), your political commentary and the vitriole it inspires, and pictures of the menagerie (and chang’s subsequent commentary). I discovered lolcats and other blogs/websites via this blog, for which I’m grateful. In short, regardless of why I discovered Whatever there are many, many reasons to return.

  222. A long time ago over at Pharyngula I laughed myself silly at the Creation Museum report of someone I’d never heard about.

    Then, a few months ago I wondered over at Phil Plait’s whether he had any sci-fi writers he’d like to recommend, and some commenter (senior acolyte?) there said Phil had liked some fellow named John Scalzi; the name seemed vaguely familiar. Thus, I wandered over to see what kind of a person he was.

    Haven’t been able to leave yet.

    (Oh, and am going through the books like a hot knife through butter — er, maybe that’s not the choice of words I want.)

  223. You want to know, how I stumbled at your site?
    I get notice about your poem “Being poor” in the aftermath of Katrina in the summer of 2005, and find your site, realized btw, that you’re a writer of science fiction. I adore Heinlein, Asimov, Lem of course, and many others, Alastair Reynolds for example.

    But the starter was “Being poor”, because I’m poor!

  226. Started reading a couple of years ago. I think Wil Wheaton linked to the page and mentioned OMW and I am always looking for new (to me) authors. Very glad I clicked the clicky.

    But now that you’ve got me thinking, I have no idea when and why I started reading Wil’s site…

  227. Around ’99 or 2000, I was looking to try and get into a writerly type occupation and was searching for advice, example resumes, etc. As best I can recall, I found your bio or a CV page you used to have that isn’t there anymore, saw a link for something called a “blog,” and thought I’d see what that was all about.

    Yes, John, you were my first blog. They say you never forget your first…

  228. I’ve been reading Whatever only for a few months now. I was aware of you and aware you had Whatever, but I didn’t start reading until I finally read /Old Man’s War/, recommended by Mr. Wil Wheaton. I’ve been hooked on both Whatever and your other books ever since.

  229. I’m a hard core SF reader, especially of hard science and military SF. I found my way here to Whatever when boingboing announced that your first SF novel, OMW had been released and provided a blurb and a link. Scoped out the tone of the place (teh awesum snark!) then immediately flipped over to Amazon.com and “1-click” purchased the book. I’ve been a daily reader/minion and on rare occasions, contributor, ever since.
    Have added you, Our Most Beneficent Overlord to my “Pre-order on Announcement” authors list -a short list, currently with one author. Please consider it a small but sincere honor that I’ve willingly and unhesitatingly donated to your family’s welfare by buying all your SF and by liberally sprinkling references to your writing into everyday conversation in order to nurture the curiosity of the mundanes (non-fen).
    Thanks for the most excellent books and short fiction.
    Here’s to hoping you have a long bibliography.
    Congratulations of the 10 years.

  231. I picked up Whatever less than a year ago. I was pointed here by another blogger – Chad from Uncertain Principles (generally writing about physics, but I like so much of his other stuff, I figured I might like some of the stuff he linked to as well.)

  232. I followed links over from SFSignal from time to time, whenever they looked interesting, and that’s why I recognized your name when I saw you on the program at Denvention. I really enjoyed your panel, so I decided to check out your blog deliberately, hoping for more of the same. (I’m the guy who suggested that we ask Mary Robinette Kowal questions about your home.)

  233. Came here from Making Light many moons ago, probably sometime in 2005-6. Have enjoyed myself immensely since that time. I started reading your books when Old Man’s War hit paperback. I am a dedicated lurker, but I love coming here and feel like I’ve found a like-minded crowd of readers. Thanks for all the effort involved (both the books and the blog).

  234. I came here in the middle of 2000 when Tycho linked you from Penny Arcade. I believe the phrase was “John Scalzi. Now that man knows how to turn a phrase.”

    .. Oh, wait, Google just proved I’m a liar. It was 2002, and this post right here. *sniff*. I guess I’m not quite an oldschool a Scalzi fan as I thought.

  235. It was probably somewhere in the first year after Old Man’s War came out. People kept mentioning the Whatever as an example of an active and interesting blog. After about 10 mentions, I decided I’d better check it out.

  237. October of 2002, when I googled “Confederacy evil” to find what sorts of arguments people might use to that effect. After exchanging a number of emails with Mr. Scalzi, I sort of got hooked since
    1) his were the first well-thought out and consistent (not to mention well-written) arguments I had come across positing that the Confederacy was evil (even if I disagreed with them), and
    2) I was mildly flattered that he actually made mention of me (or rather, our conversation) in his 10/20/02 piece ‘The Confederacy is Evil’.
    Been a daily (or near about) reader since!

  239. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but:

    When Tor announced their first, brief attempt with Webscriptions, I searched around for more info and found this blog written by some Tor author I’d never heard of.

    Later, when it blew up, I went looking for more info again, and decided to hit the same blog. And then I started reading it on a regular basis.

  240. I’m a major bookworm, and I love sci-fi and fantasy, so I spend a lot of time browsing Amazon.com, reading reviews of books, using the “people who bought this book also enjoyed…” feature, etc. Sometime last year, during one of my amazon forays, I ended up looking at OMW, and there was a transcript of an interview in which you mentioned Whatever…

    I now visit Whatever at least once a day :)

  241. For a while I was doing pretty well as an Amazon Associate. With one of my gift certificates I picked up a few books for fun. One was Old Man’s War. It was paperback – so this was sometime between now and when OMW came out in paperback.

    I read it, was curious about the author, did some googling and landed here. Been reading regularly, commenting sporadically since.

    It’s funny because I was scouring the site, saw the link to Agent To The Stars and immediately recognized the cover as the work of Gabe from PA. A regular read for me.

    Then a while after I started reading here regularly – saw you mentioned on another blog I have read regularly for years- Wil Wheaton’s site. It was just too much convergence for my brain to take. Did make me wonder why it took me so long to find whatever, but much less surprised that I’ve stuck around.

    And I always chuckle because I imagine there is some imagined profile for people who read Whatever, Penny Arcade and WilWheaton.net – and I am sure I don’t fit it. I’m a middle aged dad, relatively conservative in my politics and an evangelical Christian. OK – now that I write it out it doesn’t seem so ‘crazy’ but I’m going to keep imagining I’m a real rebel.

  242. Shortly before bacon cat, which is the only reason I can pinpoint when with any certainty.

    Not sure how I got here the first time, but it’s likely to have been from Making Light, or Uncertain Principles.

  243. It was one or two months ago. I found a link from Penny arcade while reading there old 2000 rants. Why was I reading Penny Arcade’s 8 years old rants? Wouldn’t you like to know! (probably not).

  244. It was either Joe Mallozzi (Stargate: Atlantis writer/producer) or David Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis actor) who recommended Old Man’s War last year on their blog. Maybe even both of them. The rest is history ;-)

  245. About a month ago for me. I saw your thingy for TAD at Joseph Mallozzi’s blog (he posted a link after your book discussion).

  246. Started reading Whatever off and on a few months ago. Was introduced to here by some folks from a Baen’s Bar chatroom, either via the chatroom itself or linked from one of their livejournals.
    As I like your writing, its also a cheap fix, too.
    If I may, you’ve got good, intelligent comments. Even if I don’t agree with you, or vigorously disagree with some aspect of something, you phrase your arguments and comments well, making it easier for me to actually think about it rather than being dismissive.

  247. May of ought 6. A professor mentioned the revolting description of George Lucas, and like a fool, I had to see for myself.

  249. I came in during the Lori Jareo Star Wars fanfic being sold on Amazon thing. I can’t remember where the link came from – might’ve been Making Light, might’ve been a friend in one of the writing communities I’m in. Since then I’ve stopped reading Making Light because I like Whatever better. (But am still in the writing community. ;) )

  252. After reading old mans war, i was wondering if there was going to be a sequel. found your site looking for the info.

    Found old mans war through amazon recommendations

  253. August 28, 2006 … the day I got home from the Los Angeles (Anaheim) Worldcon.

    You autographed my copy of Ghost Brigades with “So glad you were not frightened by my horrible facial rash.”

    Ha!

  255. John,

    I was doing some research on Ted Nugent based on a character in The Android’s Dream, and well, here I am a year or so latter.

    I live in Waco and Ted is in Crawford and writes a pretty uniformly bad op-ed piece every Sunday in the Waco paper. Did a search on Teh Google, and lo and behold, up jumps your commentary on his Christmas program.

  256. I started reading you when the Dayton Daily reported that you had won the Campbell award (tiara and all) I’m always looking for new SF writers and have enjoyed the past few years and your books tremendously…Hope to see you at Millicon next year.

  257. I got my first Scalzi book (Old Man’s War) when someone left one in their cube when they moved. I didn’t read it until my wife said “this is pretty good stuff” after reading it. I read it. It reminded me a lot of Starship Troopers, but a bit better. We immediately got the rest of the books and have gotten Zoe’s Tale, Ghost Brigades, and The Sagan Diaries in hardback when they came out. A few month ago, a friend that we had turned on to this stuff said, “you know he has a blog, right?” Once again I waited, but when I came here it became part of my daily reading … so, the answer to the original question is “about two months”.

  259. Like someone else, I started reading 4-5 years ago, after Googling, “writing advice”, which I thought was brilliant.

    Been procrastinating ever since. Maybe I’ll get a start on it in another 4-5 years.

  260. I arrived at Whatever a few months ABCI (After Bacon Cat Incident) via either Wil Wheaton’s or Neil Gaiman’s blog. And either you or Mr. G led me to Making Light.

    I then became Happy on the Intarwebs and have checked all four sites daily (or as close to daily as possible, taking onto account Internet accessibility while traveling).

    Also have bought several of your books and plan to fill in the blank spots soon.

    Thank you, by the way.

  261. Jeeze, 251 comments. I know it’ll get buried, but since I spent Saturday with a raging headache (from lack of sleep) wondering just how I wandered into your orbit, well, here it is.

    (We talked about this a few years before, so excuse me for bringing it up again, see above.)

    In order:

    A) While working as a copy editor at the Rock Hill Herald (S.C.) about 1992, the newspaper was taken over by the McClatchy newspaper chain, then a small west coast operation with papers in Sacramento, Fresno, Washington State and Alaska.

    B) We get, as a result, access to the McClatchy News Service. Amid the stories about California politics (big call for that in S.C., natch), nuclear plant issues in eastern Washington, and advancing glaciers in Alaska (pre-global warming, kids!), were a couple of movie reviewers: Joe Baltake and this kid who I called Junior Baltake.

    Joe Baltake reviewed EVERYTHING, and he could discuss movies with a detail and intelligence that would have made Pauline Kael hang it up and Roger Ebert cut off his thumbs.

    Junior Baltake was pretty good at the movie reviewing game as well. He may have been unable to tell Truffaut from truffles and Jean-Luc Godard from Jean-Luc Picard, but he had a lighter touch, a more entertaining style, and a name with a Z in it so it was easier to remember.

    C) Cut to a calendar, the pages tearing off, faster and faster. A few years later, we get internet access at the newspaper. I come across Glenn Reynold’s Instapundit column. It had a neat feature, a list of other web sites to visit (this was back before we called it a “blogroll”. Can’t remember what we called it. Maybe a Kaiser roll.)

    D) Zoom in on the name, highlighted in red. And there you have it.

    E) As to when, I’m still a bit fuzzy on it. We exchanged e-mails back in 2002, but since my filing system makes as much sense as Linear B, it may have been even earlier. I do know that, by 2003, I was helping with the editing for “Book of the Dumb,” but that’s as far back as my memory goes.

    At least I’ve recovered a few brain cells as a result of this little exercise. Criminy, John, has it really been at least six years?

  263. On a day of sludgerous work at AOL, sometime around 2003, my very dear friend E IM’d me a link to one of your entries that she found particularly entertining. I’ve been stopping by to take part in the mayhem on a regular basis ever since.

  264. Wow, are you really reading all these comments? I actually learned of you through Wil Wheaton. I don’t remember what post it was, but it drew me here and convinced me to buy Old Man’s War. I’ve been here ever since.

  266. Well, I expect you can guess: at some point on By The Way you mentioned something here; it may have been the BaconCat thing, but I suspect I checked this place out a few times before that. Maybe it was when you reposted “Being Poor” over there. Also something on the BTW sidebar led to something that led to something else that led here. All roads lead to Whatever!

  268. Good question. I know I nominated OMW for the Hugo, and I wouldn’t have done that without having interacted with you here. (I know that because it’s in my fanzine from 2006.) That means I must have been around since 2005, at least. Summer of 2005, perhaps? That seems to make sense. I saw you at Interaction and didn’t dare to talk to you, because I had only read Whatever for a few months. I think this blog was one of my procrastination enablers June and July 2005, when I was supposed to make clothing for a LARP.

  269. I also dunno. ;-) I think I found a link here on someone or another’s LJ. Probably some controversy or another–they all get started here don’t they????

  271. I think it had to have been around 2002-ish. I followed a link from one of the political blogs (could have been Atrios, but I really don’t remember). I’m guessing ’02 because I remember a post you did about reading, and asked for donations to RIF. I hadn’t thought of RIF since I was a kid, so I did. My grandmother, who never learned how to use a computer, also asked that I submit a donation on her behalf when I told her about your post (what was that one John? It was really great as I recall). I’m not a sci-fi fan (sorry, haven’t picked up any of your books!), but I love your general posts, and I feel like a member of the family watching (clearly from afar) Athena grow up, your career explode (in a good way) and your readership increase exponentially. Keep up the great work. I make a point to swing by almost every day. Thanks!

  272. Sarah Monette, whose blog I had recently started reading, linked to your Creation Museum report. At the time, I just read the report and didn’t look any further on the site, although I remembered it and planned to investigate further when I had a bit more time. Then in December 2007, either Sarah or Elizabeth Bear linked to your Month of Writers, and I’ve been checking in regularly ever since.

  274. Hi John – Pretty sure I’ve been reading since 1999, at least.

    In fact, I pre-ordered your latest from Subterranean to get the Athena essays. I went looking for her birth story shortly before the birth of my own little guy this year and figured you’d taken it offline to include elsewhere.

  275. I first visited your site a few months ago after reading Old Man’s War and your other novels as well. I keep coming back because of the amusing, whimsical, and perceptive reflections on such a variety of subjects, as well as for recommendations on new authors.

  276. I know it was one of your annual writing income posts that brought me here and a general boredom with other forums that I had been lurking around on that kept me here.

    A Fun little community you have here… I’ve only been told to ‘die’ twice.

  277. Every once in a while, I drop a word in the ol’ search engine and see where it takes me. (welcome to the club MartyK @ 109)

    Late ’03/early ’04, a George Carlin special I had just finished watching left ‘whatever” bouncing on top of the ‘pop’ stack and the rest was a given. As a long time SF reader, the intelligent and frequently funny posts (and comments for that matter) told me that I had found an untapped, til now, source of New!Good!Books! to read. Read OMW, agreed with myself and got the rest. :)

    Yes, I’m a lot less lurkerlike recently. :)

  278. I started reading in September 2001 (I think); I had read a newspaper re-print of “Holden Turns 50,” and wanted to see if I could find the text again. At the time, it was available on your site, and I was hooked.

  279. I’d seen referrals to you from several places, including Instapundit, but it was my husband (Evil) that finally got me reading the site. And yes, he’d made several comments about “this guy on the internet who taped bacon to his cat.”

    He’s an absurdist. He appreciates things like that.

  280. You pissed someone off over at Holly Lisle’s Forward Motion site. I came here to find out what the deal was and never left. Also, I’ve not been back there in any substantial way.

    I think I’ve learned more about writing here.

  283. I read various random posts of yours over the years, but it never made it into my rotation. Your exploration of the history of dinosaurs won you a spot in my RSS feed.

  284. I’m a fairly new comer to whatever. John Cole over at balloon-juice.com linked to some rant or another. I read it and then read the other posts you’d made around it and decided to stick around.

    I think it was a Thursday so I schlept over to your AMC column too. Good stuff all around.

  285. I’ve known about it for a couple years, and would read occasionally when people pointed links, but it wasn’t one of the blogs I insisted on putting in my tabs for reading every time I was at my browser. That method was unruly after about fifteen blogs.

    Then came the magic of Google Reader, which means I started reading regularly sometime late last fall, most likely.

    And I’ve been here since.

    -kat

  286. I just started. I must have found it one day when reading another blog. I just had some time today and it showed up in my favs.

  287. I’m another who came to your site via a link from Making Light. In my case, it was a link to your “Being Poor” essay. After reading it, I decided that anyone who could write like that, and draw the level of thoughtful commentary you did, was someone whose blog was going on my “read every day” list. I’ve now read most of your fiction–in fact, by sharing my copy of “Old Man’s War” with my family and friends, I’ve turned them all into fans who, not bothering to wait until I was willing to share the rest of the series, went out and bought them all for themselves.

    So, ironically, your essay on poverty has helped to make you slightly richer. Make of that what you will.

  288. Via the Nielsen Haydens (just?) before you got your first sf novel published, reading off and on, but it was the being poor entry that made me a semi regular reader.

  290. Got my Kindle in Feb 2008, one of my first purchases for it was OMW. While reading it I googled you and found your site.

  291. Blame Penny Arcade; linkage related to the cover Gabe did for Agent to the Stars, if I recall correctly.

  292. First bookmarked 2006-09-01. I believe it was a combination of seeing your name in two different blogs (antipope, chaobell?) and a coworker’s question (hello, pdobbin!) whether I had read OMW, *all three within a single 24 hour period*, which drove me to hunt you down and find out what the fuss was about.

    Cannot recall what was on that particular day (and can’t search the old archives, alas) but it grabbed me sufficiently to tour the archives. About six dozen articles later (!)¹ I realized I really ought to mail the link to myself and continue this at home, before too many colleagues got to wondering what the hell I was laughing about.

    What a long strange trip it’s been. Vielen Dank!
    ____
    ¹ I read pretty fast when motivated.

  293. I followed a link from somewhere else (probably Pharyngula I think) after your trip to the Creation Museum. Thought it was hilarious and have been reading ever since :)

  294. It’s been some number of months. It wasn’t really any specific event in particular; mostly, I followed a link here and kept reading after I gave up on ignoring Wil Wheaton’s constant mooning over you.

    I have to admit that I haven’t even read one of your novels yet, despite clearly being up my alley. I’ll do it eventually, I swear!

  295. I started reading in 1999, when Jerry Falwell outed Tinky Winky. My friend Helene e-mailed me a link to the Whatever column in which you responded by outing all the OTHER live-action children’s cartoon characters, from the Hamburgler to the New Zoo Review (these days you’d have to add the Doodlebops to your list). I poked around and discovered that the guy who wrote this essay was the same one who polled his coworkers about whether they’d ever wanted to hunt giraffe, whether they’d rather hunt Newt Gingrich, what they thought giraffe/Newt would taste like, etc.

    You’ve been at the top of my bookmarks list ever since.

  296. I’m a little ashamed to say it was Bacon Cat that brought me here, and I have no idea where I encountered that link. As an on-again off-again sf fan, I was happy to hear about Old Man’s War and have now read all of your books. The Whatever is one of the very few blogs I read regularly where the comments are almost as interesting as the posts.

  298. I followed a link to your “I hate your politics” post back in 2002 from somewhere (I think Metafilter), and I’ve been reading the site almost daily ever since.

  300. I’ve been wracking my brain about this, and finally dredged up the memory. I found the site in May of 2005 when I was thinking about the nature of piracy and digital publications.

    At the time, we were developing an online zine devoted to space opera stories with the idea of distributing our issues as discrete .PDF issues so we could have cool covers and a table of contents and all that. As we wrestled with whether to include some kind of security on our issues to prevent ‘piracy,’ I read a post on this topic by Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing referring to a Whatever post entitled The Stupidity of Worrying About Piracy.

    In concert with Cory Doctorow’s thinking on the subject, the argument John constructed fundamentally altered my thinking. As a result, we made a deliberate decision to trust the readers, those we hoped to woo as fans. Therefore, when we started our rag in January, 2006, we provided our issues unencumbered by DRM, depending on positive word-of-mouth and fans sharing the issues with each other to grow awareness of our favorite genre.

    That first post in 2005 was enough to convince me to return, and I’ve been enjoying Whatever ever since.

  301. I came after being told by my father JJS (reply #2, he’s addicted), that this blog is more entertaining than some peoples entire books, and I was missing out.
    So we more or less referred each other here.
    I work at the airport, and refer the Scalziverse to passengers frequently. (can I get a kickback for that?)

  302. Back in November 2006, I was on a panel at Philcon about extreme physics of parallel universes with Gregory Frost emceeing, a cool [and hot-looking] astrophysicist Diane Turnshek, and — at the far end of the table from me — another writer, who so intrigued Greg and me that we hied down to Larry Smith, Bookseller’s table in the Dealers’ Room and bought a bunch of this fellow’s books, including Old Man’s War.

    JJB

  303. I actually found Whatever via Pamie.com, where Pamela Ribon linked to your post about her last fall. I have been reading every day since.

  306. I finally added you to my RSS aggregator about a year ago after the umpteenth time Wil Wheaton mentioned you, and only then realized that I’d run across Whatever in the infamous Bacon Cat incident before I really “followed” any websites. I’ve stuck around because both you and your commenters seem to have interesting things to say rather more often than not.

    –SMQ

  307. (delurking)

    I came here after I read Old Man’s War. When I finished that book, I thought “OMG! I must read everything that man has ever written!”

    I’ve been steadily working towards that goal. My wife, as usual, outdoes me in that she actually visits and reads all the comments, whereas I get the RSS feed.

    We were also excited to hear you mention a good friend of ours: Diana Rowland. We’re involved in the community theatre here in Slidell, and she helped out with costumes.

  308. I was searching for information on the soon-to-be built creation museum and Google sent me your way. I thought your name looked familiar, and turns out I was right — I had just read OMW(on Glenn Reynold’s recommendation). I’m a sucker for deadpan, sarcastic humor, and I’ve been a regular customer ever since.

  309. it must have been three years or so ago. pure chance led me here, as i was a beginner blogger myself, and i was checking lots of links on the blogs i was reading. and one of them led me here. since then, i’m an addict.

  310. I’ve been reading Wil Wheaton’s blog for a few years now, and I’m fairly certain that it was his various mentions of you/your blog that finally piqued my interest enough to drop by, probably about a year ago or so. Haven’t left since! And I’ve enjoyed your writing so much on this blog, that I’ve picked up Old Man’s War and am loving it so far. Can’t wait to read the rest of the series! :)

  311. Since 1999, I think.

    And I haven’t the foggiest what got me here. (That was almost a decade ago, and then as now, could barely remember my own phone number.)

  312. I’ve been reading for a few months now. I forget exactly how I got here, but it may well have been through a link in Wil Wheaton’s blog. How I ended up *there* is anyone’s guess.

    Now I have Wil Wheaton, Neil Gaiman, and your good self on my LJ feed. And William Gibson but he doesn’t really count because he never writes anything.

    I shall definitely pick up one of your books soon, as it feels slightly weird to read an author’s blog when you’ve never read his books (although I did read your ‘superhero agency’ short story and verily I did lol), so you can ultimately thank Wil Wheaton for that addition to your UK book sales.

  313. I’m a high school librarian. My sons and I loved Scott Westerfeld’s young adult books and thus I found his blog. That was shortly before the wonderful Pluto exchange between you and Scott on your blogs, and that’s when I found your blog as well.

  314. “Back in the old days we had to hand roll our HTML! In the snow! Uphill! Both ways! And we were THANKFUL.” You forgot the part about being barefoot and having to milk the cows at 2 a.m. ;-)

  315. I followed a link from Teresa Nielsen Hayden at Making Light, though I now forget exactly which entries shared the link…

  316. I saw the URL in alt.support.childfree, back when I read Usenet, and liked your weblogging style in the resulting flamewar.

  317. Oops. I forgot to mention that I just started dropping by the blog a month or so ago when I found the address in the copy of Old Man’s War.. one of my shiny new birthday gifts.

  318. Found you when Teresa Nielsen Hayden linked to one of your entries about writing, maybe 5-6 years ago. Have read basically everyday since.

  319. Geez, talk about an epically long thread. Finding you was a sort of double coincidence thing. I first heard about Old Man’s War in OPM, where it was being pimped (and where I read your column,) and somewhat later I happened to pick it up about the same time Wil Wheaton linked to Whatever for some reason I entirely forgot. Having been double-scalzied, it was required that I at least give a look. Which I did. Tada! And I’m still here, lurking. Lurkily.

  320. I stumbled here through a link to BaconCat from an Israeli SF&F forum I frequent.I actually got hooked a couple of months later, as I was relatively busy at the time.

  321. Hmmm, like half or more of the above commentors, I came because Wil Wheaton refers to you so often that it seems like an obsession. He should be getting some pretty hefty “referral rewards” by now! I haven’t been reading for too long, but I like what I’ve seen!

    A>

  322. I first came here about 6 months ago after reading TAD. I really enjoyed the book and decided to dig deeper. And here I am.

  324. It is all Phil Plait’s fault! He made me do it! His story about meeting up with you armed with bacon flavored candy somehow forced me to look up your blog.

    Blame the BA

  325. I started reading your webpage 6 weeks ago. Publisher’s Weekly daily e-mail had an intriguing blurb about Tor’s website. Tor had a free story that you wrote. I enjoyed it immensely and had to find out more about you (anwering: How had a good writer fallen off my radar and when? What else had I missed? Do other people seem to like your work?). Googled your name. Read the Wikipedia article. Then read the Being Poor article. Wow. I had forgotten what it was like to be poor, and I remembered. The week before I had asked my husband why we made so much more money than we used to but still live month to month and how people can live on less. Your article reminded me how we used to live on pennies. I remember having to eat with the Hare Krishnas because they had free dinners once a week in Santa Monica. Anyway, writers that leave me with ‘oh wow’ epiphanies and other ways of looking at the world that make sense (but not obviously didactic) and fun word play (‘loving mallet of correction’) and give some chuckles are my favorite. I like the photos of whatever your current passion or even whimsey is. I’m hooked right now. And I am inspired to figure out how to make my own webpage and blog (though it would be more glazed eye boring and more pursuit to see if I can do it). More than ‘nuf said.

  327. September 27, 2003.

    I can give you an exact date because someone posted a link to your post about grading hate mail on the forum of my website. The original link no longer works but the post is still there so I was able to track it down precisely.

  328. Best guess is 1 1/2 years ago. Picked up Old Man’s War at the library. Read it and saw the site listed on the Jacket.

    Probably a good thing that the job back then was so cake spent most of my time surfing. So surfed some website on a book cover (yeah, lots of time to surf. New things to find was good when job was so cake)

    Today, doubt if I would of done it at work (new job, more work) and at home usually spend time on a few favs and the reading / gaming. So new sites not visited as much.

    So you can blame my old job as to why I am here. Sucks to be you

  330. I’m surprised that so far only one other person has admitted being an AOL dork and finding you via By The Way (hi Karen!).

    This blog lead me to Agent to the Stars, which lead me to the OMW series at the library. Now I buy your hardcovers. (I never buy hardcovers!) And your books are the only science fiction in my collection.

    And I wonder if I’m the only person here who has met Krissy and Athena but not John…

  331. Other sites started linking to your articles. Probably something on Making Light was the first I saw. Since I enjoyed every link I simply added Whatever to my list.

  333. “Being Poor.*”

    The value and quality of posts like that – regrettably fewer in number these days, in my likely-skewed perception – has always far outweighed the bacon (cute, sure, but meh).

    *[How did I get there? Not sure, but I’d bet on being another Making Light directionee.]

  334. I started reading about 6 months ago, via RSS feed, but actively participating about a month ago.

  335. I started reading after reading the free ebook of old man’s war from the TOR newsletter (I’ve subsequently bought Old Man’s War and all of your other books, btw)

  336. Amazon recommended OMW after I marked off the Heinlein’s I’d read. Then, after enjoying that I came here. I’ve been reading ever since.

    Thanks.

  337. I don’t remember exactly, but am fairly sure I followed a link to “I Hate Your Politics.”

    Came for the snark, stayed for the Science Fiction and overall excellence of your writing.

    Thank you very, very much for all of the wonderful posts over the years! I appreciate what you do here and always look forward to reading Whatever!

  338. I want to say it was around 9/11 – give or take a couple of days – maybe the posting of the kid on his dad’s shoulders wearing a fake bomb belt

  339. I’ve only been reading Whatever for a few months. Wil Wheaton kept telling everyone how awesome Whatever was on his blog. I figured, “What the hell.” I came over and read some stuff, then bought OMW. Then I bought TGB and Android’s Dream on my next book binge. I will be buying TLC the next time I get to splurge on books. Have to wait a bit for Zoe since (a) I’ve always been big on the paperback versions and (b) I’ve always been short on the cash.

    I stick around because I’m always interested to see what comes next. I love the writing and the snark and the comments. I like reading people who actually think. It’s refreshing.

  340. Sometime in 2002, I believe.

    I discovered you through your DVD and music reviews (and occasional columns) in Official Playstation Magazine.

  341. Being on Subterranean Press’s newsletter list, you typically get two to three emails from them a week. When every other one for months gushed about the same author (you), I eventually took notice and checked out your site, then started reading your books, then started kicking myself for not buying a first printing of You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop before they sold out.

  342. You were highly recommended by Wil Wheaton on his blog. I checked out Whatever and now read it a couple of times a day. Also read OMW and enjoyed it greatly. I grew up on Heinlein and Haldeman and really enjoy your dialogue. Thank you for the time and work you put in on Whatever. It is appreciated!

  343. I came here when Regan linked me to a thoughtful post about Athena and Santa Claus and religion and parenting and so on.

  345. I saw a link to the blog from another web site when you asked people money to go to the creation museum :)

    Funny thing, just after I read the blog I realized I have read one of your books, maybe it’s because I used to see your name in hebrow and not in english

  346. The moment I finished Old Man’s War and noticed Whatever mentioned on your bio on the back flap of the book. Checked out the blog, went into your archives, and found the “Football With Jesus” post. That got me hooked and I’ve been reading ever since.

  347. While searching for YA information, trying to locate books I’d loved as a kid, but couldn’t remember the titles, I ran across your May 2, 2008 entry “Why YA,” about marketing some s/f as YA.

    As intriguing as that entry was, I did not return until the great Malkin/Ray keffiyeh kerfuffle of 5/28, linked by the eminent Dr. Plait.

    That day, I spent an entertaining hour sneaking around Whatever’s shady past, liked what I read, and bookmarked it. I’ve been reading it regularly, much to the chagrin of my kids, (“Quiet! I’m reading Scalzi! Here’s a stale cracker and you can drink out of the hose!”) and have also been reading/recommending Scalzi novels ever since.

  348. I actually started reading slightly before 9-11, 2001. I stumbled across it trolling around the interwebs looking for stuff to avoid doing homework, much like I’m doing now. First thing I ever read by you was Agent to the Stars, when it was free on the site.

  349. I’ve been reading since 2003 or 2004. I remember seeing you comment on “Making Light” and following a link back to here. And being amazed by all the wonderful snark.

    I try to visit every day, although I’ve missed a few weeks here and there. Of course, that just gives me that much more to enjoy when I play catch-up.

  350. Yet another fan of Neil Gaiman’s journal who wandered over here from there. This was about, oh, a year ago or so. I think you should send him a sushi-themed thank you note. Or maybe I will…

  352. I first found your blog after someone linked me to the the Tor website, I read the ebook of OMW they had up, and decided to see what else this John Scalzi fellow had done ;)

    That was probably about a month or two ago, since then I’ve bought TGB, LC an Zoe’s Tale.

  353. Embarrassingly enough I hadn’t heard of you before OMW…I hadn’t read a lot of new science fiction for quite a while. I was in the middle of the book (and blown away by it), and Wil mentioned you either in a Fark thread or on his blog.

  354. For my part, I was put onto Old Man’s War about 18 months ago by some Science Fiction Top 10 list or other. Saw mention of the blog in that, checked it out, and had it on a feed ever since!

  355. It was within the last 2 years – I found you through Wil Wheaton’s site and stayed and enjoyed it -mostly (some of the political stuff is a little strange or more importantly I am a little removed from it being as I am an Australian – some of it is just your wierd American Politics…) and from that I went off to read your books (well two at this stage but the third is coming I believe…) and your other online colums and such but I love Whatever for it’s constantly interesting topics…
    Thanks John for the last few years of joy… and politics (I now know more then I ever wanted! – is that good thing?)

  356. I read Nicholas Whyte’s review of OMW and tagged it as a book I might be interested in, then the he linked back to the discussion you had with him, I thought the whole thing was interesting and followed the links.

    Too swamped to read everything you post or comment as often as I used to, but still here reading the feed and grabbing the UK prints when they come out (or random imports if I’m lucky, TAD was great fun).

  357. To the best of my knowledge, I started reading Whatever somewhere around 2005. I’m unable to recollect which post I first read but it might have been “The Stupidity of Worrying About Piracy”. If that was indeed the first post I read, then I got here via Writers Weekly.

    I didn’t immediately become a Scalzi-fan but once I was hooked by your writing, I’ve been a regular reader of Whatever.

  358. My friend American Chum told me that you wrote a really amusing blog. I looked you up, and found that other one that you wrote for Yahoo or whoever it was. I read that for a while, then it ended, and I came over here.

    So I’ve specifically been reading “Whatever” since your other blog ended, but I’ve been reading your blogs in general for probably about a year now? (I’m terrible at estimating internet time. It could have been 6 months, it could have been 2 years.)

  359. I don’t know exactly, but it was obviously several years ago. I remember being linked to Being Poor and one or two other posts on your blog, and after a while I realized that I kept running across the same blog. I liked the stuff you wrote and realized (duh) that I could start reading the blog itself instead of waiting for people to link to posts, so there we go.

    (It took a while, but I eventually also realized that since I like your blog writing and I like science fiction, I should check out your books, too.)

  360. Reading for several months.
    My wife found Agent To the Stars online for me while searching for reading material, and pointed out you have your own website. The rest is, as they say, hickory.

  362. You met a friend of mine in Berkley and posted a picture of her (and a few other fans) on here. I checked it out then. But it wasn’t until I met you at InConJunction that I started following you religiously.

    Well, agnostically, perhaps.

  363. I’ve been here for a few years. If I remember right, Wil Wheaton had mentioned your books and your blog, so I came and checked it out and stayed.

  364. I don’t remember. I just remember it was before October 2007. I had just started writing again a few months before that.

    Perhaps it was a link from Warren Ellis, or a chain of links that started from Warren Ellis. That, I suspect, is the reason; you weren’t mentioned at all in the circles I inhabited at the time. I don’t know why, since they’re SF/F writers mostly, although I did find out that at least one of them doesn’t like you all that much.

    Maybe a better question is why I stuck around. I stuck around, I think, because you’re just cool. Because you make sense. Because you blog really well and that was something I’m interested in. Because you aren’t afraid of being called shallow or stupid for your opinions, and you express those opinions well (and you know you’re neither shallow nor stupid). Because you’re assertive as heck, and still cool about it.

    Because you promote other writers—I remember your month of showcasing writers, which impressed me all to heck. Still does, actually, and it’s why I started researching writers/editors/anybody when they’re candidates for awards or when I review them or some such.

  367. I haven’t the foggiest. I could say it’s because I don’t think such sentimental crap is important, but that would be lying. When I run across an interesting fact I remember it, but when and where I found it flies right out of my head. It means something, but who I learned that from I have quite forgotten.

    My first visit here I left a comment, that I do recall. But if you learn when that was, telling me wouldn’t do a dang bit of good.

    I keep returning because I like reading your posts and joining in on the conversations they engender. Watching Athena grow is fun too. You make it worth my time to come here, and that I appreciate.

  368. I started reading Whatever after following a link from one of my son’s friend’s Livejournal. After reading awhile, I had to get “Old Man’s War”, etc. I guess I can blame you for continuing to encourage my book addiction. Thanks!

  369. I’m a fairly recent reader. I was procrastinating editing a novel this spring by visiting literary agent websites. Colleen Lindsay mentioned on her blog the traffic she was receiving from you as though everyone should know about Whatever.

    I didn’t want to be left out, so I headed right over, and I’ve been a regular reader ever since. :)

  370. First-time commenter, here. I found this site when it was linked to by Brad Delong (I think on the subject of Jonah Goldberg). It’s funny because I have absolutely no interest in sci-fi, but I find myself coming here every day and reading all the posts and most of the comments.

  371. Wil Wheaton’s blog directed me here in late 2005 when Old Man’s War came out in paperback. I’ve been a faithful lurker ever since.

  372. Oh, gosh, looking through the comments I feel like an old-timer even though I still mostly lurk. I was certainly here pre-OMW; I remember getting a few online chapters in, then going to my in-laws’ for the holidays (with dialup), and by the time I got back the whole thing had been taken down. I’ll admit I cursed your name, making me wait another few months until I could find out what happened. I’m not sure when Agent of the Stars went up, but it was definitely after that.

    Considering that I started reading a lot of blogs in the ’01-’02 school year, and that I’m pretty sure I started reading during that time, (and the only one I’ve kept reading), probably early ’02. Not sure how I found it, though.

  373. I saw a mention of Old Man’s War in the Dayton Daily News and couldn’t believe that a writer, let alone a writer of Science Fiction, lived a few miles from me. I googled you and alas, now I visit most days.

    This probably happened in 2005.

  374. The first post I ever read here was the visit to the Creationist museum.

    I didn’t subscribe to the blog and read it regularly until Tor sent out the free copy of Old Man’s War. Once I had read that book and loved it I decided to start following whatever.

  375. lessee…

    I started blogging in 2003, so it was probably that year, or early 2004. It was before the Being Poor essay for sure because I remember the influx of traffic from that.

    As near as I can reconstruct, Zhaneel69 recommended the blog to my hubby, and he recommended it to me.

    It made it extra fun to meet you because your thoughts have been part of my data feed for five years.

  377. I arrived just around the time you were announcing giving OMW to troops. Not sure where the linking post was, or if I googled you or what. (Not a troop, but a big Heinlein fan)

  378. I think it was during the Todd James Pierce mess at Making Light, which managed to produce Patrick’s immortal “This is stupid. I now have stupid all over me.” Someone linked to your comments at Whatever during the mess but before you gave TJP the education on libel at ML and I was entertained. Later they linked to the “Coffee Shop” post and I enjoyed it enough to pick up a copy of the book at a con. Then around the SFWA election I reread your old exchange at Electrolite with “Vox Day” and figured that I’d best put your site in my daily lineup.

  379. A friend recommended I read Old Man’s War. After that I went searching for more of your writing, came across this site, read a few posts, and it’s been part of my RSS feed for awhile now.

  380. My brother…dr_phil_physics…had forwarded me links to amusing posts from time to time. Around the first of the year I finally started reading regulary and sometime in the spring I started posting responses.

    Really enjoy the community you wrangle for us. Love the photos and banners, and have several I’ve converted into wallpaper and screen savers.

    I’m somewhat of a novice at this blogging thing, and discovered in the course of what many consider daily business practices it can be quite a distraction.

    Please, continue to distract away, John. Congratulations on your first 10 years.

  381. since [this last] Worlcon!
    Only became aware of you from the fuss over Old Man’s War.
    Liked it, though; you’re now on mt Brand Names list.

  382. It was the review on the Creation Museum. I found a link to it (maybe from Boing Boing?). It was awesome, I sent the link to everyone I knew.

    A few days later it dawned on me why your name sounded familiar, I had just read Old Man’s War for the first time.

    I am now a most faithful reader… it is always the first blog I check every day.

  383. I began reading this blog after reading your first book. I always look for new authors who might be interesting and picked Old Man’s War as I recall based on an Amazon recommendation based on my typical buying history. In the author bio notes therein your blog was mentioned as one of the oldest in existence. Since I have a great interest in science fiction and have for a very long time, it seemed as if this might also be an interesting site – as it has proved to be. Now working my way through your books – with the annoying problem that I grabbed the wrong sequel to OMW to take on vacation so I will have to go get the correct one.

  385. Today (Sept. 14).

    I found your blog through the LosCon website link. The link was just laying there, and since it’s Sunday morning and I don’t have anything else to do (yeah, right; my vacuum cleaner is sitting over in the corner staring at me, I’ve finally got new bookshelves to fill with the books that have been stacked on the floor for way too long, and if I don’t go to the grocery store today, there won’t be any meals next week), I thought I’d take a look.

    Verdict: I’ll definitely be back.

    Oh, and we miss you in Fresno.

  387. My wife (Firebyrd) told me about the site in early 2003, sometime between when Old Man’s War was sold and the Iraq invasion. I read back through the archives as far as they went, really enjoyed the best-of-millennium essays you wrote for the Uncle John books, and have stayed for the rest.

  388. I conducted a google seach for your name after having thoroughly enjoyed reading your book “Old Man’s war back in early 2006. Found this site through google.

  389. A recommendation from a friend who said: “You’ll really like John Scalzi — he’s even more sarcastic than you, and a lot smarter.”

    And, damn it, she was right. She also suggested I get over my dislike of military SF and give Old Man’s War a try. She was right about that too. Don’t you really, really hate it when your friends are right about everything? :)

  390. I’d followed links here a few times in the past, but Bacon Cat (and the several previous posts I read that same day, including the Respect Krissy saga) impressed me enough to remember your name in a bookstore. I read OMW several moths later, and became a fan of your books, but I didn’t remember to add Whatever to my daily blog consumption until early this year. So, yes, score another point for Ghlaghghee.

  395. I have no memory whatsoever of how I came across Whatever, but it was at least a few months before you announced that Tor had accepted OMW.

  396. Someone on Slashdot linked to “Being Poor”, and I’ve been following this blog since. I came for the politics and stayed for the the sci-fi.

  397. After I heard about OMW on Instapundit and couldn’t immediately find a copy, I think I stumbled on over here.

  398. I wanted to say “Being Poor” but my sense is that I was around during the ’04 presidential campaign, so I must have been an irregular reader prior.

    But “Being Poor” put you on my flist on Live Journal.

  399. I started reading in October 2005. This was just after starting on LiveJournal, and before figuring out things like RSS readers.

    My LJ entry says:

    So, I’m a late adopter:

    After continually finding links to John Scalzi’s blog, following said links, and spending WAY too much time reading, I finally decided to see if he had a lj feed. Woohoo! He does: scalzifeed

    I like his writing enough to make it easy for me to read his blog every day. Perhaps I should follow this thought to its natural conclusion and actually pick up one of his books =)

  400. I can’t recall which blog sent me here, but it was not long ago – when you posted your pictorial review of the Disco ‘Tute. Good times. Haven’t looked back since.

  401. From the “Old Man’s War” cover notes.

    Incidentally, I found OMW because ‘Scalzi’ is near ‘Stross’ on the bookshelves, and they didn’t have any new books from Charlie. My local bookstore has a large enough SF/F section that proximity makes a difference for finding new authors (at least when there are only one or two copies of one or two books). In the same way, I found Charlie’s ‘The Atrocity Archives’ by proximity to Sean Stewart and Bruce Stirling.

    -thomas

  402. First time commenter, regular reader. I started reading the Whatever about a year and a half ago, after a recommendation on the blog of Joe Mallozzi, producer and writer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. He raved about Old Man’s War, and suggested the Whatever as well. He has a book club on his blog, and routinely suggests OMW to anyone who wants an introduction to science fiction writing, and anyone who is a fan of sf in general.

  403. Reading since at least 2004, maybe 2003.

    I’ve got a feeling that I followed a link from Wil Wheaton dot Net.

  404. Now and then, what, 5 or 6 years ago? while checking blogs of 20 or 30 science fiction authors. More after reading “Old Man’s War”. More after meeting you and your wife in southern california and realizing that you, like me, have a smarter spouse, who is pulling our strings. So we are mere pawns in the game of Queens, and I’m not at all sure what that game even is. When did you first read our “Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide” now in its 12th year on the web?

  405. I first heard of Whatever in the University of Chicago Alumni magazine, when they did a story about you. (I haven’t thoroughly scanned the almost 400 entries that you have by now, but I don’t see anyone else who found you this way. I hope you’re still reading these.)

    I actually grew up in Hyde Park: my father taught Philosophy at UofC, but was probably retired by the time you were there. I went away for college, but came back for grad school in Physics so I’m an alum and I still have a fondness for the place. When the article came out, I had heard of Old Man’s War, but hadn’t read it yet, and this blog thing sounded like something to check out. I wasn’t really into blogs yet (I’m still not, in a general sense), mostly using them as an occasional procrastination device. Whatever strongly appealed to me. I spent some time at the beginning hopping around the archives to catch up (this must have been after Bacon Cat, since I seem to have encountered it entire, rather than in real time), and I’ve been reading it continuously ever since. I mostly lurk, enjoying the community that has formed around you without contributing myself (I’m a natural kibbitzer), and have also mostly built my personal blogosphere around the links that I find here (like Elizabeth Bear and Megan McArdle).

    So, anyway, thanks for this window (door, whatever) and keep up the good work.

  406. I was lucky enough to share a lunch with you, Krissy and Sharry & Bob Wilson at the Heinlein Centennial ; which brought me to your non-fiction ; then You’re Not Fooling Anyone got me curious about your ways on the net, and I guess I got hooked…

  407. Four (or five?) years ago I followed a link to your article (or was it articles?) about the then-just-finished Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, and how the Lord of the Rings made for better movies than it did for books.

    I’ve been following the Whatever, off and on, ever since.

  408. I started my blog in May 2005 and it must have been some two or three months later I found yours by clicking a link on some other blog I read.

    Sorry, I don’t remember any more detials, only that I browsed your blog for half an hour or so and then added it to my favourites. :)

  409. I’ve been reading Whatever for just a couple of months; IIRC, I saw a reference to your blog on… Will Wheaton’s blog, I think? – and immediately added your blog to my rss feed, sight unseen. I’ve not been disappointed, despite having dramatic differences in opinion with you on various issues. You’re an entertaining, witty, and talented writer, and even when I disagree with you, I’m at least coming out ahead of things in that I’m better informed than I was when I started.

  410. john cole at balloon juice turned me on to whatever. i’d read old man’s war, and liked it, so i recognized the name, but it was the shout out on balloon juice that got me over here.

  412. I’ve been coming here somewhat less than a year and it was from a link on Wil Wheaton’s page. I hadn’t read any of your books, but I came for the writing insight and stayed for the other material… and just bought OMW a few weeks ago to try it out. (Umm… and then school started again, so no, I haven’t read it yet… sigh.)

  414. it was either through wil wheaton’s blog or boing boing. i came for the hilarious (and scary!) creationist museum posts and stayed for the excellent writing.

  415. I found your blog via an other authors blog, I think it was Tobias Buckell’s site… The reason I stayed is simple; I love your writing. You don’t write a word to much, and also very important you are funny, and smart :) I don’t think there isn’t any other blog that made me lauch as often as yours.

    I recently read the free Tor version of OMW (thanks to the link you posted) and I loved it. It was the first SF novel I ever read. I have ordered TGB and TLC from Amazon and in a few hours I will start with TGB. Just took a sneak peak to the first sentence and I love it; “No one noticed the rock”.

  416. I followed a link (I’m not sure from which blog) regarding the creation museum visit. My DH and I laughed so hard, I bookmarked your site and have visited every day I’ve had internet access.

  417. I’d read “Old Man’s War” and really enjoyed it. A friend told me you were going to attend Oasis in Orlando this year, so I planned to attend and started looking in on ‘Whatever’ to prepare myself. Enjoyed what I read, though our politics differ and that annoyed me; I wanted you to be “perfect.” Ah, but everyone’s flawed in one way or another.

    Anyway, I enjoyed seeing you in Orlando. It was interesting and informative to give a “voice” to the author. You were very kind and cordial to your many fans, me included.

    Actually, I think that the first time I came here was by following a link on Instapundit. I know I purchased your books on Glenn Reynolds recommendation….

  419. Hmmm … I think it was SF Signal that directed me here, but I keep coming back because of the entertaining and Hugo award winning blogging. You write a great blog, John.

  420. I first came here sometime in the last year, via a link in Making Light. I lurked for a while before ever posting.

    And I’m very glad I followed that link, because not only is your blog enetertaining and informative, but I’d not read any of your books previously and now you are on my list of ‘must buy’ authors.

    Congrats on the 10 years and may we all enjoy many more.

  421. BoingBoing sent me here, with a pimp from Cory on Old Man’s War

    ‘Hey,’ I thought, ‘this guy writes interesting stuff on his blog!’

    And here I am.

  422. Still curious, 400 replies later? I started reading in July 2007, after I read Old Man’s War. I don’t remember how I learned about OMW, but after I read it, I went looking on teh intarwebs for more about its author. And I found this place. And I stayed. Thanks!

  423. I suspect it was in 2002 or 2003…I followed a link from Wil Wheaton’s blog and have been hooked ever since. Reading your blog resulted in my ownership of all your books and becoming a big fan of your fiction. I recommend your work often to others.

  426. In 2002 you sponsored a week of Penny Arcade, back before they got their business model honed to lethal efficiency. Tycho linked to Whatever and mentioned that you were shareware-ing Agent To The Stars. I liked the web-log and dove so far into the archives I retroactively convinced myself that I’d been reading Whatever longer than I actually had.

    Still haven’t read Agent to the Stars, though. Personal reasons.

  429. Hi John,

    I read about your site on Penny Arcade when Tycho (I think) praised you for your ‘How to write hate mail’.

    Been hooked ever since.

    So keep it up and thanks for writing,

    Thomas

  430. I started reading Whatever sometime last winter, or maybe late autumn. A friend pointed me to Teresa Nielsen Haydens “stupid plot tricks” and evil overlords’ lists, which led to Viable Paradise, which led to your homepage.

  432. I found the Whatever a few days after I got my first broadband internet connection, which was way back in 2001. (I was living in a very small town at the time and only 3/4 of the houses had telephones let alone cable TV). Before then it was 56k all the way and I didn’t do much surfing. After that I was hooked…

  433. I just finished Ghost Brigades. A fantastic heir to Old Man’s War, it left me with the same feeling of trepidation as I approached the end and wanting more after I was done with it. I flipped to the “about the author” part and saw the web address and thought I would take a look.

  434. I was a late bloomer! I found OMW in the sci fi section of my local book shop when on a random hunt for something new, loved it and looked on google for more books by this author called Scalzi. Found you on http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/john-scalzi/ which referenced Whatever and now take breakfast with you every morning whilst you’re still in bed (I’m in the UK!).

  435. I’m another of the creationist museum visit-reading people. I think I got there from the JREF newsletter, either directly or from a page it linked to (and I’m not sure whether I saw your write-up or your Flickr set first). I spent a couple days reading a lot of the archives and sending links to friends, and I’ve been visiting regularly since.

  436. Followed the link to the “election brain dump” post from Brad Delong. Found that hilarious, but kept coming back mostly for pics of your cats and Kodi :)

  437. I’ve been reading since May this year when I posted a birthday wishlist in which your books featured prominently and you commented on it. I’ve been an avid reader (if not so avid a commenter) ever since :-)

  438. I started reading in late 2006/early 2007 – can’t really remember more exactly than that, without doing some digging, which, well, I’m just too lazy to do. I do know that it was after the BaconCat incident, but not substantially so – if you put a gun to my head, I’d say it was October 2006, but my confidence level in that is low.

    As to the how: I got here via Wil Wheaton’s blog, which I’d been reading (in regular and exile incarnations) for close to five years at that point. Again, I don’t remember his post, or the post that he linked to, that got me over here. But I’m glad I clicked.

  439. I followed you here from Making Light, a long while back. I can’t remember what it was, exactly, but one of your comments there compelled me to stalk you.

    I see that #437 came here via WWdN. How cool. I followed Wil home from Whatever.

  440. I’d checked out the occasional link from time to time (links from Neil Gaiman, Wil Wheaton, and Pamie, usually), and thought, “hey, he’s articulate and funny.” I didn’t become a regular visitor/rss feed junkie until BoingBoing (I think) linked to Schadenfreude Pie in the past year or so, at which point the penny dropped and I realized I needed to keep tabs on the site.

  441. I started reading after I bought OMW. I bought it soon after it’s release (sorry, I don’t remember what month that was). I read without commenting for quite awhile… not sure when I started commenting with my current moniker… I just started realizing that there were lots of comments from “John” so I figured I would distinguish myself as “Just Another John” which is true but also unique from the rest of the Johns. So anyway, I’ve been reading it since sometime in 2005.

  442. I first came here in June, so I am a real newbie…

    I follow another guy’s blog every morning, and he linked up to your post entitled, “Fox News Would Like To Take a Moment To Remind You That the Obamas Are As Black As Satan’s Festering, Baby-Eating Soul”

    What a title! What a writer! And now I follow it everyday, a couple times a day… I usually only enjoy your political writing, as I am not a SF fan… so I usually skip the SF stuff, but really enjoy your writing about nearly anything!

    Drew L.

  444. My wife gave me OMW for Christmas 2005, and I think I Googled you after I went back to work from the holidays, January 2006. Been dropping by ever since.

  445. About two years ago, Honu-Girl pointed me to a couple of your posts. I’ve been wasting a few of the tax-payers dollars most days reading your posts since.

  446. I doubt anyone’s reading this far down the thread, except maybe John if he REALLY likes this topic.

    I started reading Whatever long ago, long enough that the details are fuzzy. Probably around 1999 or 2000, and probably from a Google search on a political topic. Or maybe a Yahoo search, if I was still using Yahoo back then.

  447. Started reading about 6 months ago, semi-regular basis. I think I saw the reference to the website in your author bio for Old Man’s War.

  449. I don’t remember when it was, but the occasion was some horrendous blogspat/flamewar extravaganza carried out on another blog between you and another writer. I think it got linked on BoingBoing. I was so struck by this arrogant jerk who still managed to have the Nielsen Haydens, both seemingly reasonable people, weighing in his support, that I embarked on a case study in psychopathology, which is still ongoing. (the case study, that is. The psychopathology you will always have with you.)

  450. It’s been a little over a year since I found Whatever through a friend’s LJ (probably Jay Lake’s). Followed the link and liked what I saw, so added the feed to my LJ. Besides getting the feed, I stop in and comment now and then.

  453. I’m a newbie. May(?) 2008 a friend forwarded your definition of nerdgassing while at work. I went home in the pm, looked at the ArmadilloCon flyer tacked to my fridge and saw your name, again. Fate. The next day I sent in my membership to the Con and I’ve visited Whatever (almost) everyday since. BTW, you were an excellent GOH.

  455. February 18th, 2008 is the day I first found Whatever. I believe it was a Boing Boing link that I followed to your delightful rant about Andrew Burt. I’ve come back here most weekdays since then and I’ve read some of the more famous past posts as well. Because of my visits I was able to snag the free electronic version of Old Man’s War when Tor gave it away and that prompted me to buy The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony.

  456. Just about a year ago. I’d read OMW and loved it (which I hope you don’t get tired of hearing) some time previously, progressed to TGB, and a buddy of mine said “he has a blog, and he’s not a nutter like Wright”.

    (It’s surprising how these things start, really.)

    So, I’ve been reading (and laughing, and commiserating) — mostly by RSS — since then.

    So, here’s to another five. And another behind that. Afterward, you may require a full rotation and fluid change.

    -j

  457. I think I’ve been following along for a year now. Give or take, because I can never remember stuff like that. Also, I have a hard time remembering how I first came across your blog. I’m nearly certain it was a link from someone else’s blog. But, um, remembering exactly which blog… nope. Sorry. Venture a guess? Um. Dang, nope. Not even a guess.

  459. I;ve been stopping by for about a year. My Spousal Equivalent saw a reference to the site on matafilter or someplace and followed the links, thought Whatever might be somehting I’d like to follow, being a wannabe writer and all.

    She was right. Again. (Don’t tell her the “again” part.)

  460. I was googling my old friend John Scalvi but poor spelling brought me here. Turns out it’s like the Hotel California – you can check out anytime you like. . . . . .

  462. 1st came to whatever from Panda’s Thumb right around the time of the Kitzmiller trial (december 2005/ jan 2006 there was a link to John’s snarky comments on creationism) I liked what I saw – then I started ordered OMW from SFBC and have been hooked since

  463. A few months.

    James Nicoll kept linking to interesting stuff here.

    I’ve enjoyed it enough to put your books in my reading Q.

  464. I’ve been a re-occuring mostly lurker since you originally advertised Agent to the Stars on Penny Arcade and Tycho gave you some pimpage in one of his posts. Oh, and the ad worked for me- I paid $5 for your shareware novel to avoid being productive at work.

  465. I think I started reading when Instapundit linked to a post by “John Scalzi” defending cartoonist Ted Rall (sp?). I said to myself “I went to college with Scalzi,” clicked, and have been checking in several times a week ever since. Happy anniversary.

  466. I started reading regularly about the time you sent the Velvet Crusher to Wil Wheaton. I’d clicked through from Wil’s blog a few times, and read The Android’s Dream because it was recommended on his site, but had never put Whatever on my favorites. Now it’s in a folder called “Check Everyday.”

  467. I’ve been reading the Whatever for a couple of years now…maybe a little more. I picked up a copy of Old Man’s War (trade paperback) and before I was a third of the way through it I went looking to see if you had anything on the Web. Been stopping by here more or less daily ever since.

  468. I came around a couple years ago for the first time — I can’t remember why for sure but I think it had something to do with you selling a SF book after posting it on your blog. After reading your blog for a few months, I picked up OMW, read it, told my dad he’d love it (he did), and have been buying your stuff ever since.

  469. Around the time of your “what is poverty” posting. So a couple of years. Long after I started reading your books.

  470. a few months ago a friend recomended “old man’s war” for me to read, I liked it a lot, did a google search to find out more about the author and what other titles I could get. I have visited nearly everyday since.

  471. Followed a link from Wil Wheaton’s blog… probably about the creation museum, about 10 months ago.

  472. wil wheaton made me do it.

    actually, he linked to you one day, and i clicked over, and it was the day you were going to be in philly, and i was like squee, and so we went to see you, and you talked about bacon cat, and we were smitten, so now we read you almost daily.

  473. I too followed a link from Wil Wheaton’s blog – I believe it was the one about the creation museum that got me here too.

  474. I was bored at work one day and ended up Googling “whatever” just to see what would come up. I’ve been hooked ever since, and it actually convinced me to buy your books as well.

  475. Apparently it was just over two years ago, as I started reading here after my dad sent a link to BaconCat. Some of your political posts caught my interest and I stuck around.

  476. Wil Weaton mentioned you were cool. Then I heard someone else say it too. Then I remembered that I read a few of your books, and here I am.

  477. Was forwarded a link right after you went to the Creation Museum and poked around a bit. A few months later, another friend mentioned OMW and I thought, “Hey! I know that guy!” Devoured the books and now read here almost every day.

  478. If you are still reading these (which, by now, I doubt) then you can blame Tycho. http://www.penny-arcade.com/2002/03/13/kshhhhhhhhhdzzt/

    03/13/2002 was when I was first directed this way but certainly not the last time that penny-arcade and you teamed up to make my day that much better. Gabe’s cover to Agent to the Stars brought together two things about the internets that I loved; your first book which I devoured online after being sent this way from penny-arcade and Gabe’s art.

    It’s still in it’s original packing waiting for me to get the chance to have you sign it… at which point I will then HAVE to get to PAX and have Gabe sign it. I have the non special limited run cover for when I want to read the book, as well as a digital copy from the initial download period (best $1 I ever spent, well maybe the $1 for OMW ties it).

    Sadly I only get to check your site about once or twice a week now so you’ll probably never read this considering I am commentor #478 (maybe even later by the time I hit submit [if your site doesn’t eat my comments and send them to a black hole… again… thank you notepad!]).

  479. After 477 answers, you couldn’t possibly still want to know, but:

    I got here the same way it seems a bunch of people did, through the Making Light/Neil Gaiman connection, bolstered by a bunch of LJ links. I only looked intermittently at first, like when the Being Poor entry and the BaconCat phenom were making the rounds of the entire Internets.

    I didn’t start reading regularly until after I’d read Agent to the Stars, which was, I think, about a year ago. Now it’s one of my daily visits.

  481. New From Sub-Press –

    a Whatever Compilation: 478 People Found Scalzi

    The $242 limited edition hardcover with new and improved bindings and a black velvet wesley crusher insert.

  482. So, I grew up in Fresno, and I was in late high school/early college when you were writing your reviews for the Bee. My dad and I loved your reviews for their combination of thoughtfulness and snark. Then one day, you disappeared, and in those pre-web days, it was like, oh well. But years later (about 8 years ago, I’m guessing), I was reading Roger Ebert’s movie reviews online, and I thought, hey, what ever happened to that Scalzi guy, maybe he’s writing movie reviews for another paper and I can find them online. So, I searched, and there was the whatever, pre-comments. I’ve barely missed an entry since.

    btw, your review of Reservoir Dogs introduced me to Tarantino. Seeing that movie was a real eye-opener for me in terms of what a movie could be. So, thanks for that. As I recall, you “got” Tarantino before many people really understood what he was doing.

  483. I found a link to you on another blog, about two years ago (I think). I found a link to your ‘being poor’ post, and read a few funny ones as well. I have been a regular visitor since then.

  484. Some time in late 2006, I think. Wil Wheaton (whose blog I am a regular reader of) linked to a piece of writing advice you did a while back. I thought it was funny, so I added whatever to RSS.

    And shortly after, ordered my copy of OMW.

  485. Well, it was a couple of years ago, and my friend Johnny alerted me to your blog. We were both fans from your DVD reviewin’ days at OPM.

  486. I started reading Whatever only a few months ago. A friend of mine linked to one of your articles which I read (no idea which one it was) and I’ve been Whatever since.

    BTW, my copy of Old man’s War arrived from Amazon a few days ago and is next on my reading list. =)

  487. I hate your politics.
    One of my friends passed it on to me, knowing I would love the Heinlein/Rand comment. He was right. I did and still do. I’d periodically swing by after that, and about 2 or 3 years ago actually started commenting.

    I used to be a moderator, I like to lurk and appreciate lurkers. After all, they usually do support me in email.

  488. Joe Hill wanted us to donate money to you so you would go to the Creation Museum.

    I pop on every now and then, looking for your cats.

  489. I too originally found the link through Penny Arcade. Got the ebook of AttS with the PA cover, heard about OMW and picked it up, and been a fan ever since. Seriously, the fiction works, but a daily dose of Scalzi works even better.

  490. I’ve been here about 6 months, and I’m pretty sure I got here following a link from Neil Gaiman. (Or just possibly Charlie Stross) One of those other writer/blogger guys, anyway.

    I’ve been coming here every day since – mostly during wotking hours, so if my billing is down this year I shall know exactly who to blame(!)

  491. I came to your site by a convoluted path starting from Boing Boing which I have been reading on and off for several years. Being a sci-fi fan I read their entry about Zoë’s Tale and as it sounded interesting I checked out the earlier books in the series. One of the statements made that “Old Man’s War” was like a combination of “Starship Troopers” and the “Forever War” intrigued me, as these are 2 of my favourite novels of all time. (I have read over 2000 novels and still have a collection of at least 500.)
    I therefore bought “Old Man’s War” and found what I can only describe as a ”Gem”.
    This was my best read in years. Whilst being similar to Heinlein & Haldeman it was truly original especially the concept of age being useful to a combatant when combined with a new and improved body. I related to “Starship Troopers” as I had just joined the army when I 1st read it in about 1960. Haldeman’s concept intrigued me as I grew older and reading your book enchanted me as I am now in the twilight of my life and can see the attraction to “John Perry” to enlist.
    I have sent away for the other books in the series and am eagerly awaiting them. Whilst I am waiting I searched the web for information about you and came across this site. I am enjoying reading it and will continue to do so especially your comments on the election that I as a “Brit” find fascinating. Fred Royle

  492. About two weeks.

    I’d thought writing for Dragon/WotC was a bad idea after reading their submission criteria for fiction last November, but wasn’t sure just how bad. I stumbled upon your blog accidentally while researching their submission criteria, and all my initial feelings, impulses, and fears were validated with gusto. I learned something.

    Then I discovered how much other great stuff was here, and have been checking in regularly. Now I want to read your books. :-)

  493. It was your “Being Poor” essay, via either Wil Wheaton or Making Light, that brought me here. Aside from that, one early factor in guaranteeing my return trips was your Schaedenfreude Pie recipe.

  494. I think I received a link to “Being Poor” many years ago. Got another link to your visit to the Creation Museum–which was a great read–and then finally I think I came across a post from Cory Doctrow where he mentioned Tor.com launching and your free e-book. You were writing about the SFWA presidency kerfluffle and, even though I do not write SF and do not really care in the least about who’s president, the third exposure to your blog proved entertaining enough that I came back and stayed.

    Which, from a marketing standpoint, is pretty good, since you got me on 3 touch points and the general standard is 7.

    Also, motivated me to buy three of your books (OMW after reading the entire e-book for free, TAD, and most recently TGB. I haven’t the budget to buy many books at a time, and there are so many good authors…). I imagine that kind of behavior is a motivating factor for you writing this blog, I imagine, so well done. :D

  495. Wil Wheaton. I’ve read his postings about you, and periodically clicked on the links, but it wasn’t until I read “The Android’s Dream”, followed quickly by “Agent to the Stars,” that I become a regular.

    In the course of 8 days, I read OMW, TGB, and TLC. I am greedily awaiting the sequel to Android’s, and will be picking up “Zoe’s Tale” just as soon as my wife lets me spend my money…

    On a side note, Wil Wheaton is mentioned roughly 50 times the reason people have come to read your blog. I think it would be only fitting to reward his ongoing support of you by sending him a life-size velvet Wesley…

  496. You can blame John Rogers’ blog Kung Fu Monkey for directing me to your blog. He had a link to your blog, I wanted to check out a blog I hadn’t seen before, and now I occasionally check in.

    Incidentally, thanks for the posts about “Cycler” (which definitely intrigued me) and advice to LGBT couples getting married. A co-worker who got a copy of the latter post enjoyed it until he got to the bit about forgetting the husband-to-be’s name. Eventually, he forgave me for passing it along.

  497. Wow – there are already a lot of comments here but I’m behind in reading my daily blogs. Life tends to do that – get in the way of stuff. I hope you’re not bored with all these comments and are still reading them. :)

    Anyway, I stumbled upon Whatever…oh…a few weeks or so ago. I haven’t been reading too long. Maybe two months tops. The very FIRST time I got here, though, was through a link someone had sent me to a post you had about writing and how to be successful at it. The post was so humorous and so real I thought I should come back and read some more of your stuff.

    Well, that didn’t happen until recently. I have this problem with keeping up with links except to my friend’s blogs. Until… lo and behold I stumbled upon Google Reader, which has changed my blog-reading-life.

    I now have you and several others plugged into my Google Reader so I can now keep up on a daily basis (or almost daily depending on how the day job goes…).

    I’m a writer, too, so reading about other writers makes me feel less lonely and less like a failure. Although I’ve had some successes, I feel like they’re rather minor and someday I know if I just keep at it, I’ll get where I want to be.

    So, thank YOU for keeping me inspired to write every day even though I really don’t want to sometimes. Thank YOU for making your posts funny and fun to read and for making me laugh. :)

  498. Okay, I’m going to break my own ironclad rule here and comment without reading the entire thread for once, as a post on how I personally became a reader should not greatly depend on the content of previous comments. I still feel guilty, though.

    I first saw this blog via a link from I Blame the Patriarchy, the writer of which blog found the giraffe-ridden discussion on your post about being lectured about First Amendment rights hilarious. That’s it. I had never heard of you before, although I have been reading sf/fantasy for most of my (mid-30s) life. But then, I tend to read (and reread) only a few authors rather than sampling new ones, so unless someone had pointed me specifically to one of your books I wouldn’t know you exist.

    (I purchased OMW a few weeks ago, but haven’t had time to read it yet. So Denise Jones, Super Booker is still the only fiction of yours I’ve read.)

    I should perhaps mention that I read blogs the same way… not very many of them, but all of the stuff on them. So each time I’ve begun reading a new blog, I (eventually) go back to the oldest archived post and read all of the entries, and all of the comments, in order. Aside from the first entry’s recent reprint, I haven’t begun that process here yet. It may take a while; I can hardly keep up with the daily entries and threads. O_O

    Oh, by the way, I think it was the political threads that kept me reading. It’s been interesting reading discussions with so many viewpoints represented and so little vitriol and content-free obnoxiousness tolerated, two reasons that make these threads readable and enjoyable as well as informative. My respect for requiring and maintaining a generally intelligent, well-spoken/written environment, while keeping it absurdly funny as appropriate. I greatly look forward to reading the archives, although it will probably take weeks.

  499. Wil Wheaton, just recently. I had never heard of you before Wil started to review your books. Now I am putting your books on my list (behind all of the books in The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I’m in book 6, and he’s not getting boring. 3000-4000 PAGES, and he’s not getting boring. Guy’s a stud).

    Wil caught a hole galaxy of crap for his Wesley Crusher role, but I always liked him. So when I caught his blog years ago, I kept up. And I liked it. And he turned me on to all kinds of things – Oingo Boingo 25 years too late, etc.

    So when HE says your books are good, that’s enough for me.

    So you best be good – Wil’s rep is riding on it.

  500. I found your site via the webcomic Penny Arcade. It must have been 2004 or 2005. I believe they linked to your piece on how to properly submit email complaints. Hilarious.

  502. Sometime in late 2003 or early 2004 – believe it was (80% certainty) a link from Instapundit. It could possibly have been from a fanzine, likely Emerald City.

  503. I started reading Whatever 3 or 4 months ago. I found Whatever after entering your name into google. I carried out the search because I enjoyed reading one of you books.

    As for how I picked up your book in the first place that’s another story!!

  504. Within the last 2 years. Don’t know how I found it but I imagine it coincided with reading Old Man’s War. Enjoyed that book immensely and was shocked that your politics were so different from my own and what I expected it to be. Nowadays I am an Obama-ite so we’re probably converging on the politics point. (Like my wife, I reserve the right to change my mind; I was politically right and now I’m left leaning, or maybe just common sense leaning). Thanks for all the *free* entertainment Whatever provides!

  505. You posted an interesting comment to a sci-fi-related Metafilter thread. I clicked through to read your profile, or Googled your name (I forget which), and found that you were a published author with an active blog.

    I can’t be arsed to dig out the comment, but this was right about the time Old Man’s War was published in paperback. I ordered it from Powell’s and subscribed to your RSS.

    I think this means that you can count mefi as a work-related activity. Sorry ’bout that.

  506. I read “Old Man’s War” a few weeks ago. I loved it so much I badgered my wife into reading it, and she’s no fan of military sci-fi. I’m reading “Ghost Brigades” now.

    I saw your blog listed on Balloon Juice and rushed right over. Today’s my first visit.

  507. I read Android’s Dream on the recommendation of a friend at least five or so months ago, and I believe it mentioned your site on the book jacket and the same friend pointed it out to me. Been coming back ever since.

  508. I headed over here by way of Anne Murphy. I liked your blog so I started reading your books. Now I’m hooked on both. :)

  509. I came via Wil Wheaton about a month ago. I read some, skip others, some I get, some not so much. So far I haven’t unsubscribed though. So that’s good, right?

  510. It’s all Wil Wheaton’s fault. He thinks you’re awesome. Now I come to find that Elizabeth Bear also thinks you’re awesome, and well, I think THEY’re both awesome, hence the Transference(?) property of awesomeness… and I have found for myself that you are, indeed, pretty awesome.

    heh.

  511. I started reading after Charlie Stross linked to your site back in May for you guess…the BaconCat(TM) post

    Been reading from that entry onwards through the archive and I’m finally only 6 weeks behind real live posts.

    Thanks for the entertainment and I have got quite a few new books to read from the Big Idea posts.

  512. I was writing a mighty tome of an answer, and somehow caused it to disappear. That was very discouraging.
    I retired last May and went online, so some time between then and now I first visited your site.
    My sister forced me to read Red Shirts. She forced me to read Red Shirts by putting it in my hands and claiming it was Star Trek from the point of view of Dead Extras. I don’t recall if I then came here from an address in Red Shirts or if she mailed me a link (probably to Bacon Cat).
    I looked around, then started reading your archives, and this is as far as I’ve gotten. I try not to read the comments, because that is what takes so long, but sometimes they are highly entertaining. After I had read a while, I sidestepped and read your free Agent To The Stars. And somewhere in there I bought Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigade, The Lost Colony, and The Android’s Dream, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. Before I stumbled into the internet, I would have had more time to read all those books, but I wouldn’t have known I wanted to.

    I wish I knew how to italicize or bold here, for the titles.
    I wish you had buttons for next and previous page at the top and bottom of each page rather than only after your entry.

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Athena Scalzi, editor – AMS
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