Reader Participation Post: How Long Have You Been Reading Whatever?

Posted on December 22, 2011    Posted by      842 Comments

I’ve asked this question before, but for the life of me I can’t find the post at the moment, and also, I’d like to get the information in a slightly more systematized fashion, for my own personal long-range planning purposes. So: If you wouldn’t mind taking a quick poll and then answering a single question in the comment thread, I’d be obliged.

First, the poll:

If you can’t remember precisely, your best guess is fine.

Second, the question:

Can you remember how, specifically, you came to visit the site? Some examples might be: Recommendation from a friend, came to read a specific entry (if you remember which, let me know), read one of my books and was curious about me, a search engine link, etc. Basically I’m curious how people come here their first time.

Thanks, folks.

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842 Comments on “Reader Participation Post: How Long Have You Been Reading Whatever?”

  1. I”be been reading it for about two year. Came on a link from another author’s site (might have been Brandon Sanderson?) referencing the post you wrote regarding financial advice for writers.

  3. I think I started sporadically reading in 2009 and then more regularly in 2010. Found the website through the blog of someone else. Can’t remember who though as that blog has shutdown.

  4. I came over from io9.com’s #observationdeck in 2010 after someone linked your article about Amazon’s poor handling of Macmillan books during their renegotiation of ebook prices.

  5. I can’t quite remember exactly what led me to your site the first time, since you were a “name” in what was then (2001? Might have been 2000.) the “online journal” world and I read a lot of them. It might have been Pamie whose recommendation finally brought me here.

  6. Followed a link from another blog … probably either Wheaton or Orzel (don’t remember for sure.)

  7. I had stumbled upon Old Man’s War in a San Diego bookstore and bought it based on the cover and blurb. I was not previously aware of this Scalzi guy.. How I found Whatever is a bit fuzzy, but probably by Googling for more Scalzi Sci-Fi.

  8. It was around the time Fuzzy Nation came out. After i read that, I looked at your available books for my nook, and got Your Hatemail Will Be Graded. After enjoying the hell out of that I came here and have since gotten hooked.

  10. I came over hear after you did an author Q & A on Joe Mallozzi’s site for The Adroid’s Dream.

  11. I came across a reference to your blog somewhere on the net earlier this year. So I typed in “whatever” and got to it. I liked the postings and intelligent comments sections, and now check in a couple of times a day. My favorite is your visit to the creationism museum. Scaldingly snarky and just terrific.

  12. I got here from a link on Justine Larbalestier’s blog (don’t remember which post) and just sort of never left.

  13. If memory serves, Penny Arcade linked to “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” a day or so after publication. I spent the next several hours skimming through posts and pointedly *not* working.

  14. I’m fairly sure it happened in 2005, but I don’t recall the entry exactly, even after taking a quick look at the archives — 2005 was the year I discovered and was delighted by the Child’s Play charity, so it was probably something surrounding that, but it might just as easily have been something on piracy, because that had my attention (and still does, but to a lesser extent) too. I did what I usually do; I came by a few times, maybe stopped to comment once, and then faded back into lurkerdom. Rinse, repeat, etc.

  15. Trying to remember back that far is stretching the real of the doable…But for some reason the question caused Rebecca Blood to pop into my head. Which very well could be where I first stumbled upon you site…about 2003 or 2004.

  17. Reason for getting here: Someone pointed me to your argument on Leviticans and Christians. I then scored your book on the blog cheaply and have been here ever since.

    While I do read sci-fi, truth is, I haven’t read a single science fiction book you’ve published. Its on my to-eventually-get-to list. Which is really, really long. I promise, one day though.

  18. I came here from James Nicoll’s LiveJournal. I had stopped in once or twice before, but I did not make the commitment to become a regular reader until last week. (So I suppose I might stop being a regular reader, too: I’m still in the trial phase. But I do like the Big Ideas, and some of the other posts.)

  20. I think I came here through some kind of political blog link in the early days of blogs. I don’t remember whether it was before or after the whole landscape changed in September 2001. It could have been any time from 2000 to 2002. I wasn’t much aware that you were a professional writer.

  22. I can’t remember at all how I wound up here the first time. It could have been a link from another blog (if so, then probably Wil Wheaton), or it might have come from looking you up after reading OMW. I also indicated 2006 as my first year, but it could have been 2007.

  23. Wil Wheaton name dropped you on his blog, and I wandered by and bought Old Man’s War at about the same time, 2003-4 ish.

  24. I’m pretty sure somebody linked to you, probably in ’99 (you were bookmarked on my work computer), but beyond that would require archaeology.

  25. Used to be that in the sidebar at Making Light there was a long list of links to various writerly blogs and websites. That’s how I got here in 2004 or 2005.

  26. My friend Devin Ganger kept sending me links to posts he liked. And then Wil started talking about “my friend, John Scalzi.” After awhile, it was easier just to keep up on my own.

  27. I voted for “before 2001”, but thinking about it it might have been a little later than that. Early noughties, at any rate. As to how, ’twas a link from Chad Orzel’s blog; which in turn I discovered via rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan. Ah, those were the good old days… :-)

  28. I found this because I followed a link to an excellent article on how to manage your finances as a writer and just never went away… I think it was earlier this year I found it but it could be last year…

  29. I’m pretty sure I followed a few links from Making Light over to here prior to then, but I didn’t start reading the site regularly until I read OMW in 2006.

  30. 2007. Think I just finished reading Old Man’s War and I googled your name to see if there was going to be a sequel and came across this site.

  33. I suspect that I came here from a link in another blog, most likely Wil Wheaton’s, although Neil Gaiman is a possibility as well.

  34. Came to the site in 2011. It was a link from another blog – although I don’t remember whose blog. I mostly follow economics and investing blogs (my day job – investment adviser) so somehow it came from tht part of the blogosphere. I have stayed as a reader even though I am not a science fiction reader.

  36. I was surprised as anyone to see I’ve been a reader and participant since 2006. Where does the time go?

  38. I’m not entirely sure of the year, but someone sent me a link to the recipe for schadenfreude pie, I got to browsing, and I promptly added it into my RSS feed and then checked all of your books out of the local library (and I’m slowly adding those to my own library).

  39. Since 2006, I think. I suspect my dad (who had read your books; I hadn’t at the time) sent me a link to Baconcat. Obviously I found the site otherwise interesting, since I’ve stuck around.

  40. I started reading when you taped bacon to your cat. That link went all over the web. I have since gone through all the Whatever archives and own almost all of your books.

  41. Liked Old Man’s War and enjoyed your participation at one of the WorldCon events so decided to look you up on a search engine.

  42. I read your collection of columns from Whatever – can’t recall the exact title and the book is upstairs and I’m lazy, “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” or something like that – and loved it, so I started reading it on-line, as I continue to do daily unless I’m away from my computer.

  43. Since time for me is best understood in the “one, two or many-many” framework, all I can tell you is that I’ve been reading the blog in the many-many category.

    I’m sure I found it initially as a link from a political blog, perhaps concerning your “Being Poor” essay.

  47. I knew you via reputation (I follow Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Chuck Wendig, and other literary illuminaries). I caught on that you were a heavy blogger, and I was especially bored at work, looking for something to read, so I hopped over (not saying I have to be bored to come here now, just that boredom was the impetus that initially led me here).

  49. I actually ran across Whatever for the first time somewhere early in the decade, probably due to a mention of some free novel called “Agent to the Stars”. I vaguely remember glancing through the book and skimming through the site a couple times. It dropped off the radar until sometime after the release of “Old Man’s War”, which I think may have come to my attention courtesy of Instapundit Glenn Reynolds. Been subscribed ever since.

  50. The Salt Lake County has a “readers choice” group of books every so often. My son saw a book in that group one day with a picture of an old gray-haired man and the title “Old Man’s War.” He thought it sounded like it just might be good, so he checked it out. A couple of days later he was on the phone to me going on and on about this wonderful book I just had to get and read. I got it. He was right. It was great. Like Heinlein before he turned to writing 800-page manifestos disguised as dialog.,One of us actually read the back flap information and discovered your blog. I have been here every day since then, at least once. It is still the only blog I read regularly.

  51. I believe I was sent the link to a specific story by a friend, either late 2001 or in 2002. It’s even possible that I could find that story if I played in those very old archives, but I don’t have any idea what it was off the top of my head.

  52. The entry on being poor. I loved your writing style and insight, and since have gone on to purchase and read most of your novels.

  57. Been a regular visitor since late 2006. I know I got here from Wil Wheaton’s blog, but I don’t remember which entry finally enticed me to click through. I do know I started reading your fiction based on your blog – before that, I’d never heard of this John Scalzi fellow.

  58. 2005-ish, recommendation from a friend. I read sporadically for the first year or two, later added an RSS feed bookmark to my browser; now I read most days, most posts. That level of reading is probably 2008-present.

  59. I most likely came here from Instapundit as well (a site that use to be a 3-4 times a day read for me. Have not read it in at least two years).

  60. I was looking at your page on scifan.com, which is where I go to figure out what to read next. There was a link on your scifan page to this page, and I’ve been reading since.

  61. A good friend and I talk science fiction quite a bit and he kept referencing the blog. I enjoy cyber stalking as a hobby so here I am.

    message written from bushes outside the Scalzi estate

  63. I’ve been a dedicated lurker at Making Light for probably close to seven years, and had read the linked items as they appeared over that time. I finally added you to my reader sometime this year, although I am not sure when.

  64. I googled your name sometime after reading the third book in the OMW series and came to your blog from the Wiki page link.

  65. My then 29 year old firstborn son passed on to me Old Man’s War and your Hate Mail book. The Hate Mail book was such an interesting read that I naturally began to include the Whatever site in my daily routine of checking email. I figured Whatever was just a fine blog and email/comment site.

  66. I first found you through your AOL blog, By the Way I think. I found your ruminations interesting and your pictures of cats cute.

  67. I put 2009, but it might have been earlier. I think it was likely via Making Light, or maybe a friend’s LJ? Or one of my friends at Absolute Write. It’s hard to remember — it seems that once you count a couple of critics and authors amongst your personal friends, things just all jam together. OH. Or it may be because of the Cliché issue of Subterranean that you edited. One of the writers is a friend, and I think I was interested in finding out more about you after reading that.

  68. I read a blog entry of yours from Fark.com- “Why screenplays can’t be as detailed as novels.” and found the link.
    In an unrelated question, how does Wheaton rate a Fark category & you don’t get one? You both rate sky high on the awesomeness factor.

  70. I found your blog in 2009, through links in the Racefail discussions on Live Journal. I decided I needed to bookmark it after reading “A Boy’s Own Genre, or Not”.

  71. I learned about the existence of John Scalzi during the Great MacMillan-Amazon tussle of late January 2010. I don’t remember how I got the link, but I’ve kept reading pretty much daily since then.

  73. I’m pretty sure I came via John Rogers’ blog, when he (or maybe a commenter) linked to the Big Idea series in a post about book recommendations.

  74. My journey through Scalziland began when I read OMW when Tor was giving away the ebook at their new website launch. Promptly consumed all other material i could lay my hands on with your name in the author slot, including this website.

    Also, I have wanted to say for a while:

    Thank you for your words and the particular order in which you present them. They enrich my life.

  75. Recommendation from several friends at Penguicon, and I’ve read your blog via RSS ever since.

  76. I came this year. I don’t remember when — before June for sure. Twice in one week, I’d read something about Whatever — and that it was one of the longest running (or something) blogs around. I checked it out and enjoyed the wide variety of posts and pictures. I REALLY like the big idea posts and the book-y posts. My “to-read” has grown significantly this year.

    Thanks for your ongoing efforts. I am most grateful for all of your hard work.

  77. The same friend that originally loaned me a copy of Old Man’s War mentioned you had a blog that was also a good read. This was a couple of years ago, and not being much of a blog follower, I never followed up on his recommendation. Then, this September, Google+ rolled out to world+dog and you showed up as a suggestion for my circles. I started following (kindof creepy, should be called “stalking”, really) you there and then added Whatever to my daily RSS feeds. I’ve been hooked ever since.

  78. Wil W. pointed me your way. Checked out your books and loved them. Started reading Whatever. I think it was around the time you sent him the Velvet Wesley…

  80. I was looking for something with a ‘Starship Troopers’ like setting and picked up ‘Old Man’s War’ and I liked it a lot. When I web searched for more of your work I discovered you Blog.

  82. I think BoingBoing linked to your Schadenfreude Pie recipe, which I thought was awesome. Then I started poking around the site, liked what I saw, and decided to check in regularly. I think that would have been 2007, or VERY late 2006.

  83. I saw a review of “Your hate mail will be graded” and thought the author had to be awesome to write such a thing.

  85. Weirdly enough, I’ve been reading random posts of yours since 2005, usually from being posted on TNH/PNH’s Making Light site. But I didn’t consider myself a real reader until I saw on of your posts referred to on Twitter, and I had so much fun with the read I started lurking regularly.

  87. I’m not QUITE sure, but looking back at the archives, it MIGHT have been the Dunkin Donuts/Rachel Ray/Muslim scarf post.

    At least that’s what I remember about 2008. Did anything else happen that year, after Rachel Ray led the Jihad that overthrew Washington, fueled by delicious corn-syrup-laced iced coffee?

  89. You entered my radar around 2008 or so(2009?) through Penny Arcade or Wil Wheaton but I didn’t start reading you regularly till this year. Incidentally, I had read Old Mans’ War and liked it (2006) completely oblivious to your online presence.

  90. I stumbled over one of your money-and-writing posts through a google search about surviving as freelancer and stuck around for the snark.

  91. I came across The Ghost Brigades while wandering around Borders one day shortly after it’d been released. Picked up both it and Old Man’s War. Let Google do the rest of the work when I got home, and found the site there.

  92. Amazon recommended OMW after I got another SciFi war novel. I got it and the cover blurb talked about Whatever.

  94. I read Old Man’s War, loved it – was actually quite blown away by it, and decided to check out more about you! I stumbled onto the blog and have been addicted ever since!

  95. First piece I read was your visit to the creation museum. Started reading regularly after getting OMW as a free ebook durring the tor.com launch.

  96. A friend of mine posted a link to one of your posts. Clicked through, read it, laughed, added you to my feed reader. I can’t remember which post it was, but it was right around the time (or shortly after) Old Man’s War was released.

    I’m a little freaked out by how long ago that was.

  97. I’ve been aware of the site for some time (thanks to Penny Arcade), but only started following along this year shortly after finishing Stephen Gould’s 6th Sigma. I remember I was looking for commentary on the book and stumbled across the corresponding Big Idea here which answered whatever question I was looking for. From there, I read several other Big Idea posts and then started reading other posts and now I’m reading every day.

  98. I read (and loved) “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” and as soon as I was done I added you to my RSS feed. (I blogged about this roughly a year and a half ago, you read it and commented.)

  99. I remember running across Bacon Cat back when it was posted, but didn’t take an immediate interest in the blog as a whole. Some years later — looks like sometime in early ’08 from the archives — I was linked here from something Wil Wheaton wrote, and have lurked consistently ever since.

  100. Read a piece about you in Boing Boing in 98 (I think). Liked what I saw and now visit everyday. You have also pointed me to lots of other sites and your comments column has taught me a lot about US politics among other things. I’m a Brit.

  101. Before Old Man’s War was released, Patrick Nielsen Hayden wrote about how he discovered the book. While I can’t find the post now, I know it included a link to your site. Been a regular reader ever since.

  102. Not sure but I know it was a very, very long time ago. I’m estimating 2002/2003. I know I found you via Pamie. It was likely around the time she published Why Girls Are Weird. I think you wrote a review? Clicked over to your site and never left.

  103. After I read Old Man’s War, I looked for you online to see if you had other books out. I found Whatever, and can’t remember what post it was, but it had me laughing enough to come back for more. Sheesh, that was at least five years ago!!!

  104. I came across “Your Hate Mail will be Graded” at the bookstore, and liked the writing in there. That led me to this site, which led me to Old Man’s War.

  105. I came through a link from another site on the issue of how women bloggers are treated. Seanan McGuire? This was not the first time I landed, but the first time I stayed. First landing must have been a year or so ago, but I listed this year because this time I became a regular.

  107. I’m not sure what sent me here, I think it may have been a post on BoingBoing or Charlie Stross’ blog, but I can’t say for sure. I may have just Googled you to find out what was in the pipeline, and stayed for the commentary.

  110. After reading one of your books (can’t remember which one!) back in 2007 or 2008, it had Whatever listed in your author’s blurb. Been coming by ever since.

  111. Stumbled across OMW via browsing old Hugo nominee lists for good books I had missed, got hooked, found the blog when looking up what else you had written.

  112. I saw you at Phoenix Comicon 2011 and was intrigued. Also, people in the comment threads of other sites I frequent keep leaving links to Schadenfreude Pie.

  113. I’m fairly certain I came over from a link on Making Light. I have no doubt it had something to do with fan fiction, since that was (and largely still is) my area of interest. But It’s entirely possible It was from the 2007 discussion of site traffic. At any rate, I got here via a referral and it’s one of the few sites I check nearly every day…sometimes twice or three times.

    *makes self small, sits in the corner and pets the cats*

  114. Checked OMW out of my local library in 2008 – they have a great sci-fi-fantasy section & I was just trolling. A subsequent google search led me here, and from here I moved on to your other books, etc.

    The Whatever – a gift that keeps giving, all the year through…

    Thanks for that!

  115. I can’t quite remember. Some time while I was at university (so between 2004-2007), and I think I might have come here after someone mentioned your books on a discussion forum and said they also enjoyed reading your blog.

  116. If I recall correctly, I came here after reading Old Man’s War back in the Spring of 2006. I loved the book looked you up to find more books. Liked your writing on the blog and tucked you into my RSS feed.

    Now, how I got Old Man’s War? I don’t recall that – I know I ordered it through my library, but I don’t recall what prompted it – most likely something in my RSS feed prompted me. If I had seen the cover of the book somewhere, I would have been intrigued and clicked through to find out more about it.

  117. I’ve been here since Penny Arcade pointed here when they did the cover to “Agent to the Stars” back in 2005. I was immediately hooked by the mix of wit and snark and have never left.

  118. Read Old Man’s War when it hit paperback and went looking online to see if you’d written any more books.

  120. I was searching for some photographs (I don’t remember what I was searching for) and came across your creationist museum tour – I was hooked on the humor :)

  121. James Nicoll’s LJ linked and namechecked you enough to make me aware that you regularly amused me. It’s some sort of Axis of Snark.

  125. The first time I came to your site was February 1, 2010, to read “All The Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend”.

    I heard about Amazon pulling the Macmillan titles, and went to the SFWA page, figuring there’d be info there. There was a link there to Ashley Grayson’s blog, and one of his posts on the subject led to yours.

    http://graysonagency.com/blog/publishing/amazon-concedes/

    “UPDATE: A biting and appropriate summary by John Scalzi on his blog.”

    And I’ve been coming by regularly ever since.

  126. Hello, Mr. Scalzi,

    Methinks I started reading ‘Whatever’ after hearing you speak to the Philadelphia SF Society, a year or three ago. But memory fades…

    Anyway, would like to wish you and yours a happy Christmas … and Hannukah and Kwannza and Solistice and New Years – and whatever else you feel like celebrating !

    Now, might I make a request for some information ?

    A few years back, I read a short story. I _think_ it was by
    Spider Robinson, but I Could Be Wrong.

    Protagonist was man who’d inherited fortune, wanted to help the
    poor, started an _absolutely honest_ auto repair shop and used car
    lot. Antagonist, angry at the death of his brother in a hunger
    strike protesting Vietnam, was out to kill him.

    OK, who amongst you knows:
    the story’s author and title ?
    where to find it, originally printed in ?
    if it’s still in print or somewhere on the Web ?
    if we draw a blank, other good places to post these queries ?

    Thanks, very much, for any help you can give me with this.

  128. I started in 2003. I forget how, but I followed a link to this post:
    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2003/05/29/tax-cuts-feh/

    For the record, I was the person referenced in this post a few days later:
    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2003/05/31/blogchild/

    Your post made me nice and angry (not at you, but at the unfairness of the world), and I went on a blogging spree for a little while. Alas, like most of my online pursuits, it faded over time. Thanks for the bump, eight years ago.

    K

  133. I found Whatever through Making Light too, about the time of OMW. I find most of my favorite Internet places, of which this is one, through Making Light.

  134. I think it was BoingBoing who mentioned something about one of your books, and I bought OMW and read it, then bought all the others and read them, and then I saw a link to your blog and went, “That’s the dude who writes those books I like!”

    It was within the last couple years, though I can’t pin it down any more than that.

  136. 2008. A friend recommended I check out “Old Man’s War”. Since I liked the book, either I found the site on my own or he also then recommended the site (can’t remember which).

  137. Found Whatever when people started talking about you as a good SFWA president candidate. Have popped by a couple of times each month ever since.

    //JJ

  138. Taking a class on Science Fiction and the Mind at the University of Chicago, and one of the other students pointed out to the professor that OMW probably ought to be on the curriculum, what with the rest of the syllabus being entirely pre-1990 and you being an alum. To which half the room went, “We have a successful science fiction writer alum? Dude!”

  139. I don’t remember the precise details, but it was a link from a livejournal blog where someone was doing a “George W and the entire Republican party are the spawn of Ba’al with the collective IQ of a particularly dim-witted mushroom”, and you were linked to as an erudite source on the matter. I’ve kinda stuck around ever since, not just for the sound political reasoning, but also for the jokes, sunsets, and pictures of stuff taped to cats.

  140. I answered “2008” in the poll, but I just got up to look at my copy of OMW. I bought that in 2007, so I probably started reading Whatever in 2007. Sorry my mistake will skew the results of your poll.

    I probably came here to because I liked OMW. I haven’t looked back since– I like this blog.

  141. Me, too, I searched for you after reading OMW the first time, (may be around 2004?). But I didn’t start following the blog regularly right then. I would check in every once in a while, read about 5-6 posts, then forget about it for months. The last 3 years I started reading it more regularly and finally I added it to me rss last year. I still click through every post to see the comments, though.

  142. I found your site (as well as Old Man’s War) from a recommendation from Joseph Mallozzi’s Blog. I really enjoy your site – Thanx so much.

  143. I believe it was a Recommended Item on Google Reader earlier this year. Thank you Google and you, too, Mr. Scalzi.

  144. I was reading Wil Wheaton’s twitter feed. He suggested “Old Man’s War” as a great Scifi book. I liked the book so I started following you on twitter, which led to your blog (which emails me whenever you update). And now the circle of internet life is complete.

  145. My memory is unreliable, but I think my first exposure to Whatever was following a link to the “Being Poor” post, which blew me away.

  146. Traveling professionally, found a paperback OMW in an airport bookstore in mid’ish 2007, Dallas or DC National. LOVED the book, googled you, found Whatever. Every day reader since, hooked on your writing and ideas as well as all the great reader comments. Civil, intelligent commentary on the web, imagine that! Many thanks sir……..and to all who comment.

  147. 2009: Read Old Man’s War a few years earlier & wanted to check out Whatever, but work Firewall wouldn’t allow it & I don’t surf all that often while I’m @ home.

    Whatever restrictions were in place that blocked blogs was lifted in 2009 sometime & I was able to get to the site & have been checking it out almost daily ever since.

  148. Via Joseph Mallozi’s blog. I think I was looking for Stargate-related stuff. I get your posts via mail subscription, so don’t actually spend that much time on your site/blog itself.

  149. I googled the word “schadenfreude” and your schadenfreude pie post was on the first page of links.

  150. I believe I first linked here from Wil Wheaton’s blog. It was on the most wonderful and celebrated appearance of the Velvet Wesley, as I recall. I sort of just kept reading from there.

  151. I don’t remember specific details, but I’m pretty sure I saw Old Man’s War recommended on a blog or forum. (Probably a forum. I wasn’t reading many blogs then.) I was reliving the appreciation for space opera of my misspent youth around that time, and OMW sounded close enough to what I was reading to want to know more. I googled your name and found Whatever. The first post I read was “Why New Novelists Are Kinda Old, or, Hey, Publishing is Slow” (24 June 2009).

  152. I first came in 2008. I was a regular reader at Wil Wheaton’s and the whole Velvet Wesley painting incident pointed me this wat. After reading the posts that led to the aforementioned incident made me take a liking to the site ant it’s author. Needless to say I knew nothing about you before that and I subsequently bought your books.

    I came for the Evil, stayed for the snark.

    G!

  154. Count me among those who followed Wil Wheaton’s recommendations. I believe it was specifically a mention of “Old Man’s War,” but I started reading Whatever before I actually picked up any of your books.

  155. I know exactly when I came the first time… Schadenfreude Pie! via a link from Making Light.
    They liked you, your writing style was v engaging, and I liked your book.

  157. Someone told me the blog was written by a chicken, and I was curious. It turned out not to be by a chicken, but it was entertaining enough to hang around.

  160. The first reference I remember was discussion about your Agent to the Stars novel in 1999, but I didn’t become a Whatever reader until 2004 when I closed down my bookstore (The Stars Our Destination in Chicago) and had time for more than bare survival.

  163. I followed a link from Penny Arcade when they announced that Mike Krahulik had done the art work for Agent to the Stars. Then I read the online version of Agent to the Stars, liked it, and started reading Whatever.

  164. The Volokh Conspiracy linked your Penn State post. Had already read all of the Old Man’s War books and kept coming back.

  165. I think your site was linked to me from a friend who had also recommended “Old Man’s War” around the same time.

  168. I read Old Man’s War and looked you up. Then read the rest of your books, and have given copies to family & friends who appreciate the funny and the science fiction.

  169. I followed a link from Panda’s Thumb (delicious snark re: Creation Museum?) anyway – that got me here and I decided to purchase old man’s war from SFBC same day — regular ever since

  170. I came over from Official Playstation Magazine. Your movie reviews were the bomb. There are only two people I take seriously for movie reviews – Roger Ebert, and John Scalzi.

  172. I think 2007, but I don’t really know when. I’m pretty sure it was through Chad Orzel’s blog, though I’d read OMW before that.

  173. I followed a link to a particular post (sorry, I can’t remember from where but I think the post was about either agnosticism or transhumanism and it was a pretty old one), realized I was reading insights by one of my favorite authors and, after additional perusal, added you to my blogroll.

  174. I remember my first visit was following a post on Neil Gaiman’s site pointing here. It was when you wrote a post about how you pack for a book tour and it was fun enough to hook me into stopping by pretty much daily ever since.

  176. I went to the R.T Convention last year and I attended a panel about blogging and you mentioned yours a few times. The reason I didn’t start reading it until this year was because I had linked Whatever on my blog but had forgotten to add it to my feed until a few weeks ago and if I don’t see posts in my dashboard or links in my twitter timeline it doesn’t occur to me to check for updates.

  179. I somehow found Whatever through Brandon Sanderson. I think that he mentioned the Scalzi Award on his blog, or something like that. Or maybe he linked to it? Either way, Brandon was involved.

  180. I came here on a link to “Being Poor” though I don’t know where from. I’m also not sure when though it was before Old Man’s War was released.

  182. I had probably read some Whatevers before, but I remember bookmarking the site (and recommending to friends) after reading one of your southern heritage smackdowns — maybe The Confederacy is Evil, or perhaps the now-unfindable “Southern Heritage is a Crock”. (And it’s well worth recommending Ta-Nehisi Coates for more on the subject.) Don’t know how I came across the stories, but it might have been from Making Light.

  183. I think it was a bit over three years ago — which means, the way Time has taken to working with me, probably a bit over four years. An old-time Fanzine Fan on one of the Yahoo!Groups Lists disparaged your blog as the shilling of a mercenary Pro, so I checked out the site.

    It seemed to me that you were writing/”publishing” it mostly for the same reasons we did Fanzines starting back in the early ’60s — Interested in a lot of stuff, wanted to talk about it both to and with like-minded people, wanted to get feedback containing some new ideas.

  184. I don’t remember exactly, but it was either a search for Stargate or perhaps finding your name on Mallozzi’s site and searching for it. Probably close to the time Stargate: Universe came out.

  185. Bought Old Man’s War from SFBC. Liked it, looked you up on Wikipedia to see what other books you had written, there was a link to Whatever. Hooked!

  187. February 2008 — actually, March. I was pointed here for this post:
    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/02/11/unasked-for-advice-to-writers-about-money/

    I fell madly in love with the post, especially since it applies to anyone wanting to make a living from creative work, not just writing. I still dig up the link and send it to friends whenever I think it might help, or re-read it myself. Came for the money talk, stayed for the snark — especially when I revisited and started reading the political posts. It was 2008, after all.

  189. Hmm, early 2010 during the first season hiatus for SGU. I believe Joe Mallozzi mentioned you and your capacity as consultant on his blog and I popped over to check it out and liked what I saw. :o)

  190. I mostly lurk. This might even be my first comment?

    It was your “Being poor” post that I first read, and I think it was a link from Making Light. I didn’t read regularly after that, but I kept seeing links to your posts on LJ/DW or from Making Light, and eventually I started reading you through RSS.

  193. I came here via a mention of “Agent to the Stars” and self publishing on Boing Boing. I don’t remember what year that was.

  195. I’m sure I’m not the only one who did this but I googled “whatever” one bored morning back in 2004 and followed a link here. I bookmarked it almost immediately and have been coming back for regular second-helpings ever since. Keep up the good work! (And the good books – I have them all except the limited chaps now)

  196. Found you from a link at Wil Wheaton’s site. I’ve followed his blog since 2004. Now you are a daily read.

  197. Hi,

    yeah, I am confident it was 2008. Read OMW and liked it, searched for you, and voila, there you are! I must admit I check the site most days, then again you write well, what can I say?

  198. Feb 15, 2007… I checked, and that’s the day Wil Wheaton linked to “The Existential Plight of Chester Chipmate” on some blog I’d never heard of…. I laughed my ass off, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

  199. I was reading it back in 1998 and 1999, but then stopped when I lost my job at the ISP and stopped having unfettered access to the internet, then began again about 2006 when I started using Google Reader full-time.

  201. The Online Journal Community used to be a much smaller place. I think usually I read your entries around the turn of the century when Mo Pie linked to them…

  202. I had to Google to figure this out, but I’ve been reading Whatever since at least Nov. 4, 2008. I think I got here through Bacon-cat, and stayed for the various essays about writing, life, and politics.

    Will you be baking another Schadenfreude Pie for election night 2012?

  204. I found Writing Excuses via the NaNoWriMo forums and thought it would be a really good idea to marathon the whole podcast over the course of about two weeks. I heard you on the podcast several times in relatively short succession, since I was listening to the episodes so close together. Your presentation impressed me each time. You consistently sounded like someone who actively considers the world around them. I get precious little contact with people like that in my day-to-day life, so I decided to follow your blog in hopes that I could hear more of it. I have not been disappointed.

  205. I started after you won the Campbell Award. The Dayton Daily ran an article on that which got me started reading your blog.

  207. After being chided by my sister for a while about not reading here I picked up ‘Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded’. I read the first third of the book and then checked out the site. I’ve been a daily reader ever since.

  208. I put down 2010 because that’s when I started reading it on a regular basis. I had checked it out a few years before that when I first read OMW and wanted to know more about the author (and more importantly what other books you wrote). I would occasionally check it to see if any other books were forthcoming. Didn’t start reading the blog until beginning of 2010.

    Interestingly I found out about you through Amazon’s “if you like this author you might like these other ones”.

  210. I am here due to Bacon Cat. I remember the day vividly. After nearly dying over those two posts, I started reading archives and added you to my bloglines (rip).

  211. I discovered you as an author through Tor.com’s Watch The Skies promotion giving away free ebooks of Old Man’s War. Loved the book, and now own paper versions of all your novels. I don’t remember precisely how I first got to your blog, but it was either through a link from Tor.com, or from the biography blurb in one of your books.

  212. I followed a link to your Penn State post. I don’t recall where it appeared. It may have been the Volokh Conspiracy mentioned by someone else. I stayed for the humor. I also directed my daughter here to look at the gift recommendations earlier this month.

  213. Well, several years ago, my boss mentioned that his kids & wife were big fans & enjoying your blog immensely. I started visiting occasionally & last year started reading regularly. (His wife & I used to be close friends, & members of the local SF&F discussion club. We’re looking forward to having the time to be closer again, what with my upcoming retirement & their kids growing up. They still introduce me to folks with “This is Mary. Our marriage is all her fault.”)

  214. I believe it was when my wife was reading one of your posts and laughing her ass off. Either that, or a link from Charlie Stross. Memory is not quite reliable here.

  215. I can’t pinpoint what brought me in, it may have been something about Zoe’s Tale, or writing, or cats, since those are all topics I follow in other places. Truly, it may have been something about bacon, which I don’t follow, but which the internet seems to be full of.

  217. Someone linked to the Creation Museum post from another site (Slashdot) and I ended up here. Never left, subscribed via RSS right away and abandoned Slashdot because of the better class of geeks I found in the comments here (or at least better moderation). Within days Amazon magically suggested OMW to me and since I’d read the creation museum post I bought it and loved it.

    That ultimately led to this post on my blog: http://www.camturner.com/2008/08/the-androids-dream-by-john-scalzi/ which opens with “Dear Mr. Scalzi, Please don’t take all of my money. Thanks in advance — Cam”

  218. I read your novel OMW and was going to teach it in a freshman writing class on science fiction. I mentioned that fact to a colleague, who it turned out had read the book and also your blog. So I checked it out, enjoyed it, and it has been on my RSS feed ever since.

  219. Had been reading your books (& loving them) and was impatient for another to come out. I Googled you to find scalzi.com. I was patient with that but didn’t get to the blog from there for some reason – instead, it dawned on me one day that you might be on FB. Found you there and from that found the blog. At least that’s what I *think* happened. I’ve slept since then.

  220. I know exactly what brought me here: a link elsewhere (possibly at Making Light) to a video of Athena protesting the demotion of Pluto by having her dinosaur eat Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I’ve been a Faithful Reader ever since.

    I had to check Google to see how long ago that was, and just about fell over: 2006? 2006! Tempus does surely fugit.

  222. I a fairly certain that how it happened was I started following you on twitter after seeing your interactions with Wil and Paul & Storm and the like and soon realized that I wanted to read more of you.

  224. Like a lot people commenting, I am 99.99% sure I came here from Wil Wheaton’s blog, from a link to a free download of OMW, which I read and loved, and have since bought all of your books in one form or another.

  225. I ended up stumbling upon “Your hate mail will be graded” on a business trip. Since I needed to kill some time at the airport, I purchased the book and then proceeded to annoy my wife to no end sending her little clips out of it. Since it was part of your daily writings, I added your website into my RSS list, and read all the new posts.

    For what it is worth, your ramblings since the book “your hate mail will be graded” have stood up to my expectations, and I have enjoyed them.

    also, I’ve purchased several of your books since then, and have enjoyed them immensely.

  227. I think I first came here after either Instapundit or Volokh recommended OMW. (Funny I no longer read either of them).
    I became a regular reader after someone else (sorry can’t remember) sent me a link to the being poor post. I remember reading a chunk of your archive and then adding you to me must check out every week (now day) list.

  230. Er… one minor point of clarification: I became a Faithful Reader because I liked Athena’s creativity and moxie, and John’s writing, NOT because I am in favor of dinosaurs eating Mr. Tyson. I adore Mr. Tyson.

  232. I *believe* I found Whatever around this time in 2010. It may have been early 2011, but I’m almost positive I remember reading here over the holidays. I clicked 2010 on the poll. I’m also not entirely sure what led me here. I *think* it was a link to your post on Being Poor, but cannot remember now what blog I was reading that linked it, or even if it was one I read (or used to read) regularly. Followed the link, read the post, checked out the main page of the blog, and here I am, a year later…

  233. I work at a public radio station in Cincinnati. You stopped by for an interview. Can’t remember which book you were promoting – probably Old Man’s War. You mentioned Whatever, and I dove in.

  234. My survey answer is more WAG (wild-assed guess) than a best guess. I certainly visited Whatever several times, most likely dozens or scores of times, before 2008. It’s just been the last couple of years that I’ve had the site bookmarked and been a regular reader visiting several times a week and sometimes several times a day.

    I probably first heard about Whatever doing exacty what I’m doing right now — sitting at the kichen table at Deb Geisler & Mike Benveniste’s home, surfing the net. Deb mentions something funny, something insightful, or her response to something she’s just read. My mind remembers her mentioning “John Scalzi’s blog” and “Scalzi’s blog” frequently enough that I found myself thinking, “sounds like I’d enjoy reading that.” True enough, I do.

  236. Came for “Being Poor,” stayed for the Big Idea posts, and purchased (and even read!) You’re Not Fooling Anyone… on the Kindle. Have to confess, the only reason I’d never picked up your writing before was cover art aesthetic mismatch.

  237. Not positive, but I *think* it was Wil Wheaton that got me reading Whatever. I’m pretty sure, because someone recommended his blog to me right before I started reading yours and I think he mentioned you.

  239. Read old mans war to vote on Hugo at la con 2006.
    Met you and you impressed me greatly.
    Been a faithful reader ever since.

  240. I want to say around 2003-2004. I remember following a link from Chad Orzel over to Making Light who were responding to some fracas or discussion and they linked to something you had posted about it. I remember being impressed with the clarity of your thoughts and spent a day or two reading back posts. Was (and am, mostly) a lurker and then picked up OMW. Haven’t looked back since…I read everything you put out there; I don’t always agree but hey that’s what makes it interesting, right? Typically, when the internet blows up and silly people I know show their ass I point them to you and say “Read This”.

  241. Books. I bought a 50 cent book at the library book sale. Android’s Dream, loved it. Since than, my daughter and have I have read most of your books and even bought a few. We need to keep you employed so we can have more books to read. I go to your web site for updates and other interesting books to read.

  242. Old Man’s War was a book of the month club selection on Joseph Mallozzi’s blog. I got the book, found your blog and have been a fan ever since.

  244. A link from somewhere, about five years ago. Probably Making Light, maybe Gaiman, maybe someone else entirely.

  247. Someone mentioned your “Being Poor” essay. I dropped by and read it, then started coming back. Became a religious reader after seeing you look so good in that tiara with the Campbell win.

  248. I’m pretty sure I came here from a link on Wil Wheaton’s site. After reading for awhile, I bought Old Man’s War and just kept going from there.

  250. I started reading in 2009 or so. I came here via multiple links by Instapundit. I’m a dedicated reader, but this is my first comment.

    I actually ended up buying your books because I liked your blog, rather than the other way around. It worked out well, though, since I really enjoyed your novels, particularly Old Man’s War.

  254. My sister pointed out a copy of “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” in a bookstore. I paged through it then bought it. When I was done, I came to the site. Since then, I’ve read most of your other books.

  255. I think I found Whatever through Wil Wheaton’s blog. I found his blog several years ago after my first son was born and I was up nights with him! My son’s 10 now, and I still follow you both religiously.

  256. Pretty sure I came through a link. Probably Instapundit. I had already read at least one of your books.

  257. I had just had my writing abused by a fellow teen writer and was feeling down in the dumps and decided to see if there were any good tips for teen writers. I’m sure you know where that lead me.

    I thought the post was brilliant. It made me feel better about my suckage. Most importantly though, I thought your style was a scream and went off and started browsing through your posts and enjoyed them so I suscribed. Its been over a year and here I am!

  258. Googled WRITERS OF THE FUTURE and found this. Had known of you already, due to OMW, but didn’t pay any attention to Whatever until I saw this post. In some ways, I wish I’d never found Whatever. I’ve spent too many an hour arguing into the wind on this site. Lost word count, never to be reclaimed! Which is why I’ve been keeping my participation to a minimum lately. BRT’s rules for writers: if you’re spending more words bickering on someone else’s blog, than you are on your fiction, you’re doing it wrong…. (and I am an expert on doing it wrong…)

  259. Wil sent me. I can’t remember the first time he mentioned you, but I’m not sure you’d met in person, yet.

  262. Crossover from Wil Wheaton. Velvet Wesley, etc, although I don’t think I subscribed until he posted the video of the Scalzorc/Pegasus Kitten contest announcement. It wasn’t until later that I realized you were the author of Being Poor, an essay I read in 1998/1999. More importantly, that you were the author of Agent to the Stars, which my husband had tried to get me to read for many years by telling me the basic plot but leaving out the fact that it was funny. (Yes, really.)

    For the poll, I put 2009, since that’s when I subscribed, although before that I read bits and pieces of yours where the content stuck, but the name didn’t.

  263. A friend of mine a long time ago told me about you, back in 2005 or so. I didn’t start reading regularly until after the Unicorn Pegasus Kitten. Because after that masterpiece, how could I not?

  264. I had read Old Man’s War and was interested in learning more about you. I did a Google search and found Whatever. And the rest, as they say, is history.

    Thanks for the website.

  266. Got linked to your Rules for Teenage Writers post from an angry teenage writer in the NaNoWriMo forums in 2008, and stuck around.

  267. I’m guessing at sometime last year (2010) … while my sense of which-came-first is a little fuzzy, I’d been recommended and bought your “Hate Mail” from Amazon, and that naturally enough led me here. It was only afterwards that I got a number of your novels, which I enjoyed greatly, and I’m glad to see your recent announcement of proposed dates for release of paperback versions of your two latest ones. (Whew, was that *really* one sentence??)

  271. I found Whatever in the run-up to your appearance at LosCon in 2008, when I found out that you were going to be the GoH there. I hadn’t read any of your books but your name sounded familiar, and so I started looking around on the internet to find out why. Well, the Fresno Bee was why, it turned out…I’d read your film reviews while you were working there. So, I actually started reading Whatever slightly before I read any of your books.

  272. I came here after you were GoH at ConQuesT in 2009. I had met you, we became friends, so I figured the blog would be a fun read. And it was! Is! Will be!

  273. I’m not entirely sure (how I first came here.) I had already read all of your books; that I do know. I seem to remember your blog got a mention on Neil Gaiman’s blog, which made me curious enough to have a look.

  274. 2011. In November, you posted a picture of your daughter in front of an owl sculpture I made and you posted a link to my website. I usually get around 10 hits a day. But, that day, it was over 600 hits. Sadly, no one contacted me, but it was an exciting couple of days. Since then I’ve been a fan on the fringe.

  275. I started reading semi-regularly in 2004 or early 2005. I can pin it down, because when I saw Old Man’s War in the the SF books area of the library my first thought was “Oh yeah. . . the guy from that blog I read.” A few months later I actually added the feed and started checking in daily.

  276. I think I first came here on a link from Jay Lake, in 2007 or so. I lurk a lot, but Jay can vouch for me.

  277. My friend Helene e-mailed me a link to your “Tinky-Winky: OF COURSE HE’S GAY. THEY’RE ALL GAY” post. It was hilarious, and I looked around your archives and realized you were also the author of the “Would you rather hunt giraffes, or Newt Gingrich? I surveyed my coworkers” newspaper column, which my father at that point still had taped up to his office door. (He’s a fan of giraffes.)

    Jerry Falwell had his snit over Tinky Winky in 1999, so that’s when it was. I bookmarked the Whatever and have been visiting pretty much daily ever since.

  278. I first came here in November of 2007, via another blog, to behold the glory that is the “Creation Museum Report.” The blend of hilarity, irreverence, and insight had me hooked immediately, and I’ve been a regular reader ever since.

  279. I read about the site in one of your books and thought I would check it out. Then you used your brainwave addiction machine to get me hooked. Damn that machine!!!

  280. Someone on rec.arts.sf.written linked to a post on Making Light that commented upon and linked to a Whatever post that you had made.

  281. I follow Pat Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson online and I remember some mentions of your work while following them. I was at a Barnes & Noble when your name came to mind and I bought Old Man’s War. I read it in a couple days and I have had a pretty hard man-crush since. Love your blog! I usually skip your entries about politics just because I come here to laugh and escape. Politics grounds me and makes me cranky. Thanks for everything!

  283. In 2008, I was searching the internet for recommendations for good SF novels. If I remember correctly, I saw a post on a SF/F blog that Whatever was a good blog to follow. And I got stuck.

  284. One of my brothers was forever telling me about something he had read on your blog – always political. He called it ‘Scalzi’s blog’ which I generally misheard as “scalding blog.” I had very little interest in yet another political blog. Then he sent me an actual link, I made the connection “Ah! Scalzi! The Author!” and spent about an hour perusing the site. I was hooked.

  285. It had to be through your books, specifically “Old Man’s War.” I saw that title when I was working at Borders after retiring from being a teacher/librarian for 36 years, and I thought the concept was unique and a good idea. Not sure how I found Whatever – maybe something in one of your later books that had mention of it, or I Googled your name. Be that as it may, I found Whatever entertaining enough that it’s my home page so it’s the first thing I look at when I power up my browser.

  286. I think it was early 2006 when I was researching potential Campbell nominees after seeing Old Man’s War on the Locus Recommended Reading list.

  287. I was complaining to friends that I was not able to find the kind of SF I liked to read and someone recommended Old Man’s War. Before buying, I looked you up, and have been coming back ever since. (And buying too, lol)

  288. I’d gone to Wikipedia looking for more books in the Old Man’s War universe. I can’t quite recall if it was by direct link from Wikipedia or search engine, that led me here.

  290. My daughter kept dropping links to interesting articles on here that I would read, so I eventually just subscribed.

  291. I read “Old Man’s War” when SFWA nominated it for the Hugo. Enjoyed the book, enjoyed the writing style and became curious about the author, because I’ve read science fiction all my life and never heard of you. So, I looked up your blog, came here, kept coming back.

  292. Got two *different* recommendations from friends back about 2007, and figured where there was smoke there was fire… I did *not* expect the extremely high quality of comments. S’funny. Whenever most any other site posts something the least bit controversial, it’s like, no, not reading the comments, want to keep my lunch. When *you* post something controversial, John, it’s like, “ooh, I betcha there are some juicy comments on that!” *clickety*

    Oh, and one of the recs was from a UChicago alum, who doesn’t remember you specifically but may well have read your contrarian editorials in the _Maroon_…

  293. I’m pretty sure I came to the site through a link to one of your posts, at some point. Good God, man, I have to look at my watch to remember *what day of the week it is*.

  294. I found your blog a a result of your posting re: the hateful comments to Shauna at Gluten-Free Girl. Since then I have read your blog daily and five of your books which I enjoyed very much.

  295. Another happy mutant who strolled in off a BoingBoing link, but unlike some of the others, I know exactly which link it was. I started reading in February of 2008. This is possibly THE silver lining of the Andrew Burt for SFWA President affair. Long story short, [Burt] managed to piss Cory Doctorow off with a misdirected DMCA takedown. This left a giant chip on Cory’s shoulder, so when Burt ran for SFWA president in 2008 and our beloved proprietor posted a most excellent smear piece, Cory posted it on BoingBoing. I clicked through. This was followed by some serious ROFL time, and I just kept coming back.

  296. I found your site after grabbing the wrong book in the bookstore. :D Well, not the wrong, but I was in the ‘S’ section because of Sanderson and then I saw the Android’s Dream and made a mental connection between that and something I’d heard once about electric sheep (now I know it was Philip K. Dick), read the back copy, was sold, and then read the bio after being delighted by the book, which lead me here. And I haven’t left since.

  298. If memory serves, first came here through a Wil Wheaton link to your commentary on Laurell K. Hamilton going ape on some of her fans. Liked the post, started following the blog, and read OMW. Quickly hooked, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

  299. Being older than dirt, I started reading thanks to alt.society.generation-x back in 1998, soon after Athena was born (I was Francaises on there). We’ve also got a few mutual friends.

    If you’ll excuse me, it’s time to chase imaginary kids off my non-existent lawn.

  300. I read something by Steve Gould that pointed to your site. I don’t remember what it was, but I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere and the company, so I keep coming back. Thanks!

  302. I came in through a link too; several minutes of thinking about it have failed to produce any additional data. My best guess is that it was probably something politics-related, for whatever that’s worth. I’d not been familiar with you before that, but the blog led me to your books and then I stuck around for more of both.

  303. Bacon cat! My husband told me to Google “Scalzi bacon cat,” and I was amused. :) The thing that kept me at the site at the time, though, was the Big Idea. I think the first one I read (and subsequently convinced my local library to buy) was Bitter Angels by C.L.Anderson. Fantastic book… Then I started reading the regular bloggage, and stuck around as a regular lurker. :)

  304. Oops. Should have said, “when the World Science Fiction Society nominated it…” I’m an “old man” myself. Memory plays tricks Loki never knew.

  305. Through a quick IM log search, the first time I linked one of your pieces to a friend was in 2009, so I suspect that was the year I started reading. I don’t recall exactly how I got here, though I think it is likely it was through a link on Wil Wheaton’s blog (because I have Whatever categorized right next to WWdN in my GReader).

  307. I have a two-part answer. I know the first post I read was from a link in Wil Wheaton’s blog (probably about the velvet Wesley Crusher) but I did not become a regular reader until this year, when I *think* I followed a link from my friend Chia. (Incidentally, I voted “this year” since I don’t think a one-off counts.)

  308. I think that it was a tip from Teresa Nielsen-Hayden around the time that Old Man’s War was being picked up. What little I know of blog etiquette that I know, I learned from her.

  309. I’ve been reading about 3 years (yes, I answered in the poll). I read OMW on the recommendation of a friend, and loved it, and promptly decided that both OMW and Ghost Brigades belonged on the ever-rotating required reading lists for the college literature courses I teach. So then I wanted to read more about/by you, and I turned up here.

  310. My husband recommended your site. The first article I read was your unceremonious ripping of Atlas Shrugged (“Sociopathic idealized nerds collapse society because they don’t get enough hugs”), I wept for joy and have been hooked on to your site since.

  314. The first post of yours I read was about Amazon’s temper tantrum over Macmillan back in 2010. I was a hit-and-miss reader for awhile, but then I’ve been reading regularly this year.

  315. Memory like a sieve here… I selected “2006” but it may have been 2005. And I *think* one of my friends pointed me toward Whatever, possibly in some comment several levels deep on an LJ post. But I could be wrong. :)

  317. When the original hardcover of OMW came out I googled John’s website and have been here ever since.

  319. Read Old Man’s War and while searching for your other works found Whatever. So, found not only a great writer and some books to read, but a great blog to read, which introduced me to other stuff to read and led me to all kinds of other cool stuff.

  320. I came because I read Joseph Mallozi’s blog and when Stargate Universe started he mentioned that you were a creative consultant. So I clicked on over to your blog to read your posts about SGU and liked it so much I stuck around! Since then I’ve shared your blog with other people — some who are fans of SGU and some who are just fans of writing.

  321. I picked up “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” because my brother kept talking about how great your books were. I read it on a long flight and later decided to put Whatever in my rss reader.

  323. I’ve been following the blog since 2009, when a knitting friend recommended it to me (you have fans among the knitters of Salem, OR). I read a few posts and enjoyed them so much that I added it to my Google Reader and have been reading every day since.

    Then I saw you speak at Powell’s the last time you came through and figured I should probably read your books. No surprise, they’re excellent too.

  324. As far as I can remember I read a review (don’t remember where) of, the then just-recently-released, Old Man’s War. And since I haven’t read anything of your before, and noticed you had a blog, I decided to come look around as a part of the “let’s try to figure out if he can write before spending money on his books” routine. (I do like authors who either blog or publish large excerpts of their books. Less feeling of a risk when buying, and less actual risk.)

    Turns out I decided you can.

  325. At Making Light they’d periodically mention you for one reason or another. I’d read a couple of the articles they’d linked to but not many; eventually I just got hooked and started reading Whatever regularly. :) (Then I read your books from the library. Then I bought several, for myself and for gifts. :)

  326. I arrived here after Making Light linked to one of John’s “No, you don’t have First Amendment Rights to comment here” postings.

  327. Linked from twitter – I started following @wlw first, then started following you…from there came to the blog.

  329. I saw the site in “Your Hate Mail Will be Graded” in September of this year. I loved the book and had to come check it out.

  332. I do some pet rescue and used to a read a pet blog by Gina Spadafori. She mentioned you being an excellent sci fi writer in a post and linked to your blog. I enjoy good sci fi so I checked out and have been reading ever since.

  333. I’m a regular reader of Instapundit (which puts me in the political minority around here, but whatever) and I read Old Man’s War on his recommendation. A short time later he linked to your post about visiting the Creation museum. I’ve been hooked ever since.

  336. Started reading Whatever when I got a link on Facebook to the piece on the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. (I first read “Old Man’s War” and the rest of the series two or three years ago after seeing you at some Worldcon or another, been passing out copies ever since then.)

  338. As far as I can remember, it was sometime in 2006, most likely from a link on Making Light (my gateway blog). The blog then led me to acquire the Old Man’s War series as soon as each one came out in paperback.

    As a long-time lurker, please let me say “thank you” for so many years of thought-provoking and entertaining reading! And I look forward to seeing you in person at Boskone in Feb. 2012.

  340. Googled your name after reading Old Man’s War about 2 years ago and came across your site. Haven’t stopped reading it since that day. :-)

  342. I started reading Whatever after reading Cory Doctrow’s pitch for Old Man’s War on BoingBoing. I bought the book from amazon on a whim then came here.

  344. I saw Whatever mentioned in your author bio in my copy of Old Man’s War, and I’ve been sufficiently entertained/engaged to keep coming back for the last 5 years.

  345. link from another geeky blog :) can’t remember which… still feeling guilty that your books haven’t reached the top of the to read pile despite having read your blog since probably about 2007?

  346. Wil Wheaton mentioned you a couple of times,and I followed his links. I subsequently saw you at W00tstock in Minneapolis and really jumped on the bandwagon after that.

  347. You told me about your site. So I checked it out and I still pop in 4-5 times a week (or more if I have time).

  348. I read Old Man’s War and then probably googled your name…unless, perhaps the blog was listed in “about the author”…

  350. A friend pointed me toward the “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” post when I mentioned getting a lot of hate mail. That was 2005 and I’ve been reading regularly and commenting infrequently ever since.

  351. The first post I can remember reading is Whatever Stats 2010: The Nerdination. That puts the timeframe about right; I remember being home for Christmas break and asking my mom to take the SUV out in the snow because I needed to pick one of the OMW books up from the library RIGHT AWAY.

    So, I probably came to the site because I liked your books and was curious. I don’t actually remember. What I do know is that your site was so interesting that I started reading the blogs of my other favorite authors, too (I hadn’t done that before). So, you started the trend, but I have no clue what had me start you.

  352. Best guess is possibly/probably a Slacktivist link in 2008 or thereabouts. I think it was around the time you had finished The Android’s Dream. I’ve essentially been a lurker ever since.

    I enjoy everything about this blog. Thank you for writing it–makes for an entertaining experience.

  354. I check out blogs of authors I like; if they post frequently and are (at least) fairly interesting, I start following them. I believe I started following the blog after I read “Old Man’s War”.

  355. When, I don’t recall, though someone so inclined could probably figure it out, but I came here from Vox Popoli, so if anyone remembers when Vox was posting something about Scalzi . . .

  356. It all started back in 2006. I wish I could remember what brought me here. I imagine someone linked to one of your posts. I would love to thank them. Your Being Poor post was one of the first I remember reading. In that time I’ve managed to read most of your fiction, keep up the great work!

  357. I started reading in 2002, to the best of my memory. I know it was after Agent to the Stars was posted up, but before that brief window where Old Man’s War was available as shareware; I think I sent you $10 for that. I’m pretty sure I found the site by following a link from Penny Arcade.

  358. I found your blog through a friend’s recommendation. I’d already read Old Man’s War (and loved it) but hadn’t looked you up online yet. The friend knew I was looking for a good author blog, and voila. : )

  360. I can over from Chad Orzel on Uncertain Principles. He kept linking to your stuff on his blog, and I enjoyed everything he linked, so I picked up your blog.

  361. Follow-up: It’s a little odd to think I’ve been reading your stuff since around the time you were the age I am now.

  362. I stumbled on the blog while reading Old Man’s War. The first post I read was about suffering a smelly pothead at the airport. I can’t find the post now, but it was entertaining enough to hook me.

  364. I came here shortly after meeting you at Readercon in Boston in 2006. Not sure where I got the URL, it may have been on the cover to OMW (which was up for a Hugo at the time), the DJ to Ghost Brigades, or you may have verbally stated it at a Readercon panel.

  365. I think it was 2008, close enough, anyway. I don’t remember exactly how I came to find your blog, but I’m 95% certain it was linked on a sidebar from another blog. I’m thinking one of your stories was linked from Crooksandliars.com’s “Mike’s Blog Round Up”.

    But I do know my first posts were about satsumas.

  366. I had the great fortune to be drawn into your gravity well by the title of Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. Once I’d read the first few entries, I knew I’d become a regular reader.

  368. I was bored at work one day and typed “whatever” into a search engine — came directly to your site and haven’t left. :)

  369. I believe someone posted Bacon Cat on a thread at the office. I might have first very briefly seen Whatever then. However, I think truly discovered Whatever with the Creation Museum Report, which also likely came up in a thread on the office newsgroups/maillists. After that, I became a regular reader.

    As an aside, I never would have discovered Viable Paradise if I hadn’t heard about it on Whatever, so, thanks for that.

  372. In the AOL home screen “secret area” in the 90s, of all the various authors, I found that your pieces were the ones I most looked forward to reading. (And I was totally hooked after the “Mad Turkey” series.) After realizing this, I followed your online writing to Whatever when it began, and have followed it daily since then. (Oddly, however, I’ve not read your books.)

  373. I followed a link to your post at the end of August about women bloggers getting way more crap than men (no, I didn’t remember that, I went and looked it up just now). I liked that post, and I liked the other bits of the blog I read, so I added it to my Google Reader feed.

  374. I think I followed a link from Slashdot regarding Old Man’s War in 2007, probably about it being posted on the site. Wound up staying to read one of the political posts and promptly added the Whatever RSS feed to my reader after snickering my way through some of the other articles here.

    Appropos nothing much I also discovered the 538/TPM family of sites from Whatever that day and they’ve been a feature in my feeds since then too.

  376. Shara sent me a link after Athena was born. My older daughter had been born a few months earlier in the same year, she figured (correctly) that I’d connect to your musings on becoming a parent.

  377. I was reading your info in the back of Old Man’s War, and i thought, “Whatever? who names something “Whatever”? I was intrigued, and discovering this blog has been nothing but pure awesomeness.

  378. I started reading sometime before your daughter was born, but I don’t remember when or why or how I found you. At that time online journals were fascinating to me and I read several so maybe it was a link from one of them. You and SchuylersMonster are the only ones from those days I still read.

  380. First came to the website after purchasing your first book from Subterranean. Bill’s never steered me wrong in recommendations for new authors, and after liking the book I found the Whatever site.

  381. I first encountered Whatever via the “10 things teenage writers should know” post. I was a teenage writer at the time, agreed with pretty much everything, and shared it with my high school writing club (of which I was co-president.) I don’t think most of them received it as well. :P

  382. Started reading your blog after reading Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. I’d read your fiction before that. More Android’s Dream stuff, please. Several friends of mine really liked it as a Christmas gift.

  383. I’ve been a regular reader (albeit a no-commenting/socially anxious lurker) since 2005. A friend linked your “Being Poor” essay and after I’d read that, I poked around your blog and saw you had a book out, which I then read and enjoyed. That’s about it.

  384. Read your book, got website from back page. (so, the price of a paperback bought me years of entertaining reading!)

  385. I became a reader of your blog when I was pointed to a now-defunct video of Athena voicing a Cthulhu puppet digesting an effigy of Scott Westerfeld after he came out in support of Pluto being demoted. (This was BEFORE it was actually demoted, however.) That would have been circa 2006. I stayed because you’re a great writer both on the blogosphere AND in Sci-fi.

  388. How did I get here? Well, I had read all of your fiction already (I bought my first Scalzi book in 2008), so clearly I needed something else to read. oooooooooooooooooo Your hate mail will be graded?! (2010) That sounds hilarious. DUH, clearly I have been missing out on this Whatever thing. Sigh. Why hadnt I been here before. Stupid Internet is too big.

    So now, like the rest of the rabid fans, I sit here waiting for the next novel, next story, next words of wisdom and wit, next absurd picture.

    Happy Holidays!

  389. I think I first learned your name when I read Old Man’s War, but I didn’t know about your blog until something pointed me to the Creationist Museum Report. I’ve been reading this blog pretty regularly since then.

  390. I saw a reference to Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded on the linguistics website Language Log. I forget exactly what the context was.

  391. I first encountered your writing when I read Old Man’s War, but I didn’t know about your blog until something pointed me to your Creationist Museum Report. I’ve been a pretty regular visitor since then.

  392. I’m sure I first looked you up when Instapundit and/or the Volokh Conspiracy recommended Old Man’s War, probably about the time Tor was pushing out the next big run of Old Man’s War, because I recall reading Whatever before actually getting to OMW.

  393. I came right after Hurricane Katrina when a friend of mine linked to Being Poor on his live journal.

  394. I was completely bored and the typed “whatever” into Google, and followed the link.
    I started reading the blog for a bit, then about 2 months later went and ordered all the books from chapters.ca.

    I came from the boredom, and stayed for the cats….books…..pictures….whatever!

  395. I had to just look it up, and I’ve been reading your blog since 2003.

    It was back during the whole Gene Wolfe (one of my favourite writers) Odyssey brouhaha, and I remember reading a well-written level-headed comment that you had posted somewhere. That led me to your journal and eventually to all of your books.

  396. I had been reading Wil Wheaton’s blog off and on for awhile and one post referred to you and yours (it may have been something related to the Velvet Wesley, but I’m not sure). I was sufficiently curious about you and what he mentioned so I checked it out and kept coming back. Thanks for all the good times.

  397. Been here around 2 years. During a fit of boredom at work, I read ALL the back archives. I don’t remember how I found out about Whatever, although a friend recommended OMW (which I didn’t care for. Strangely, we got a similar reaction when I turned said friend on to Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Likes her blog, not her fiction), but it at least put the name Scalzi in my consciousness. Tried the blog after having read your AMC movie column for a while. Not sure how I found that, though.

  398. I was in Barnes and Noble one evening when I came across “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” (which if I remember correctly was a copy somehow left in the science fiction section).

  400. I came to this site via a friend who would (and still does) link to it often. I liked what I read enough to add it to my RSS reader. Eventually I decided to get OMW from the library to find out if I liked your fiction writer voice as much as your blogger voice. I did, and I bought the series soon after.

  401. When Tor.com had a free ebook of old mans war to launch their website loved it and wanting more went hunting for your website. Can’t remember if Tor had a link or I googled you. by the way first book of a trilogy for free was an awesome way of getting me hooked. kinda like on iTunes the first of episode is free so you want to pay for the others to find out what happens next. hell the first half of a book would’ve worked

  402. I had multiple recommendations from friends in the SF community, plus I liked your writing. So I stopped by to visit and now do so nearly every day.

  405. I was looking around at blogs/websites of some other writers that I had recently discovered. One of them was Charlie Stross’s Antipope.com. An article there led me to Whatever.

    I had never heard of you before and went out and bought one of your books since you seemed interesting here on Whatever and I figured your books wouldn’t be that bad either – at worst it would make a handy firestarter.

    I am glad to say I loved Old Man’s War, bought the sequels and have been a regular visitor here ever since. I probably would have stuck around here as a fan/reader even if the books had not been that good – you are just so damned entertaining.

    Thanks for sticking to this John – I truly appreciate it.

    Merry Christmas!!

  406. I started reading the blog this year, I read a few SFF blogs and I found Whatever by following links from another blog – I think it was Patrick Rothfuss but I wouldn’t swear to it – and I’d recently read Old Man’s War at the time so I was curious anyway.

  408. I ended up googling you after reading Old Man’s War in (I think) 2005.

    I admit to holding out for a while based on descriptions – I’m not a Heinlein fan, and of course nearly every review makes that comparison. You’re far better than him, at through the eyes of someone who agrees with me.

  409. I remember reading one of your books and a couple of your short stories then checking out your site a few years ago. Surprisingly enough, I never subscribed to your RSS feed. Instead, I actually visit your website every single day. It’s one of my treats to myself.

  411. A friend of mine who’s been reading Whatever for years kept linking me to well-written and interesting articles and stories; eventually I just gave up and started reading it all for myself.

  412. Someone sent me a link to something you had written. I thought it was interesting, so I bookmarked the site and just kept coming back to it day after day. Then someone invented RSS, which made it a whole bunch easier to keep up.

    I have no idea what link was sent to me. After all, this was years before you posted Old Man’s War on the web. Probably in the last century, sometime. 1999? I can’t actually remember. Long time ago.

  413. Been a reader since 2007 when I linked in from Instapundit (I think). I was looking for a reasonable liberal voice concerning the upcoming presidential election and found it here. It was a pleasant surprise when it turned out you were the guy that wrote OMW. While I don’t always agree with you on your political viewpoint, I can actually read them without feeling you are yelling at me and how I am such a complete idiot for my own political viewpoints.

    So, came here for the reasoned political discussion, stayed because of the science fiction. It also helps that I am about the same age as you (b. 10/1968) and your reminisces are eerily similar to mine.

  414. Found you after attending the Heinlein Centennial in 2007…I was looking for others’ pictures and recollections of the events, found Whatever, and then really regretted not having met you at the event itself. Since then I buy your stuff and read here!

  415. It was one of your posts on Prop 8 in 2008, I don’t remember whether exactly I got the link from since I had been link-hopping, then I started reading the archives and have been reading ever since.

  416. Google search for John Scalzi. I was looking for other books of yours; at the point had only read OMW and Agent.

  417. I came here wondering who the green guy on the cover of Clash of the Geeks was. He had to have a great sense of humor, or peculiar sense of honor, to duel Wil Wheaton in the clown sweater riding a unicorn pegasus kitten.

  420. I was looking for more books that you had authored, saw “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded”, read the reviews, bought the book, and looked up the site.. Haven’t looked back since! Thanks, John!

  421. I first came here when an essay was linked and quoted on a blog; I’d thought it might have been a political essay, but on reflection I think it was the one about the Creation Museum. Around the same time I read Old Man’s War; the two incidents weren’t linked (neither affected my decision to do the other) but when I realized it was the same Scalzi I was motivated to read more of the blog.

  422. Prior to seeing you at a book signing for Fuzzy Nation, looked up Scalzi on Google and followed the tubes…

  425. In 2008, I believe, my fiancee was looking for a book in an airport bookstore and I suggested Android’s Dream based primarily on the cover (whoops, judging a book by the cover ;-) and also that it said you won a Campbell award and from the description on the back. I usually read everything in a book, including acknowledgments and about the author. The about the author section mentioned Whatever and said it is one of the oldest and most widely read blogs, which sounded interesting. I checked it out and it is interesting!

  427. I recall that my first introduction to the site was back in 2001, in my Freshman college year. I’m not sure exactly how I found it, but I think it was a link regarding “Agent to the Stars” while it was still being originally posted.

  428. Someone dropped a link to Whatever in the midst of another fanfiction plagiarism hullabaloo. I read the pertinent post, then backtracked a few more posts. Since then I’ve popped by every day or two to keep up with the Scalzis.

  429. The post about Andrew Burt was my first taste of Whatever. The line ” perchance to explore heretofore unknown, virgin realms of incompetence none have ever seen before.” stuck with me ever since that day.

    You are a calm voice of reason on the Internet Mr. Scalzi, at least most days. Those rare occasions when you unload the snark canon are fantastic and part of me just waits until the next time you get irked.

  431. I read the Old Man’s War series and wanted to learn more about you, as well as what other books you had published, that I could check out. I really enjoy your blog!

  432. December 17 2008, Penny Arcade did a strip called Once More Unto the Breach. Among other things Gabe packs a copy of Zoe’s Tale. Some slight Amazon digging later I discovered Old Man’s War and from there the Scalzi obsession snowballed.

  434. I’ve only been reading regularly this year.

    HOWEVER, my first encounter over here was with Agent To The Stars, which I discovered… somehow? A decade or whatever ago? Way back in the dawn of time. I read the book, loved it, recommended it to a friend with pretensions of literary taste, and when he read a bit and then said many scornful things about it, I was CRUSHED.

    Then I went on with my life. I remembered the book fondly, but not the title or where I’d found it. I thought about it at least once a year as evidence of ‘awesome books sometimes don’t get published’.

    Then I found the book again, and its author, and man, was I smug, for so many reasons. Then, you know, my own awesome book got picked up by a small press. So Agent of the Stars became ‘good books, if one is persistent enough, find an audience!’ And the world was a better place.

  436. I think it was a link from Rudepundit. Ironically, I don’t read Rude much anymore. I was much angrier then, but I’ve mellowed. Rude is still angry, bless his soul :)

  437. Had come across Old Man’s War (as an e-text on Baens or Tor?) I think and that got me hooked. I’ve been following David Brin for years and seemed like it was time to expand my roster of author blogs. ‘Course, I’ve never read any David Brin fiction, just his blog posts and essays. Hmmm…

  438. You came to Conquest 40 in 2009 which was in Kansas City and my friend gave me Old Man’s War and Agent to the Stars to read. You gave a great reading and some fun panels and we forced you to eat the bacon explosion.

  439. I came via Seanan McGuire, when you posted her (or Mira Grant’s) Big Idea about “Feed” in April 2010.

  440. My uncle had a galley copy of OMW that he dangled under my nose – wouldn’t let me read it but advised me to look you up and keep an eye out for the book when it was published. I did and found your site. Been dropping by ever since.

  442. John,

    I started reading your blog earlier this year. A friend of mine, Tony Noland, and I were discussing our writing and he mentioned your blog. Since I had already enjoyed the Hell out of the Old Man’s War series it was an easy sell.

    Since I had been active on slashdot for years, but finally gave up on it after yet another tweak drove the few remaining journalers away, I was looking for someplace else to swing by here and there. Whatever has been perfect for that!

    Thanks and all the best,
    Paul

  443. Read Old Man’s War and others. Did a what’s this on “Your Hate Mail Will Be Gradef” and found the blog. Lurking ever since.

  444. first discovered the site after My lovely friend introduced me to OMW and I had to find out more! I have since discovered loads o my friends follow u too!

  446. I found Your Hate Mail Will be Graded while browsing in Barnes and Noble one day. Bought it, laughed my a** off, and have been visiting here regularly ever since.

  447. I really can’t remember how I first arrived here – it may even have been as a result of seeing your comments on Teresa’s slushpile post some 10 years ago- but it was a long time before bloggers had rows of mysterious icons, presumably representing social media, lined up on the page.

    One of the reasons that I have stayed is that you do not have rows of mysterious icons, presumably representing social media, lined up on the page…

  448. Searching for information about the Virginia Edition (the complete edition of Heinlein’s works, announced by Meisha Merlin Publishing in 2005) led me to your late 2006 post about trying to decide between subscribing to the VE and buying a fancy computer tower of some sort. I presume you decided not to buy the VE, which foundered after six volumes and was later restarted by the Heinlein Prize Trust itself after Meisha Merlin, its (badly) chosen publisher, folded.

  449. After reading your Fuzzy reboot, then rereading OMW & others. Googled, read & subscribed. Read it daily, even if I don’t read my other feeds.

  451. My husband (a sci-fi fan–me, much less so) read you before I did, and would occasionally point out entertaining posts to me. However, it was reading “Being Poor” that made me a regular reader. I’ve since used both that as well as “Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today” in teaching.

  453. Old Man’s War was plugged in Official Playstation Magazine when it first came out (Those were the days…) and I picked up a copy, figuring that since I liked your column in the magazine I’d probably like your books. Loved it, found out about the blog from the author profile in the back. Found the posts highly entertaining, been reading since.

    Based on OMW’s release date I’m going to have to guess this was sometime in ’05.

  454. Came here to read your All Purpose Political Column around August 2003 (sadly my link to it no longer works, although searching for that turns up a 2008 reprint), and checked in now and then until I read Old Man’s War in 2008, then more regularly. After Worldcon 2011 I read it every day, although not every article. But I’m not addicted! I can quit anytime, I just don’t want to.

  455. I don’t know whether you’re familiar w/ tvtropes, but I discovered your blog from their page on Atlas Shrugged (it quoted your blog post about Ayn Rand). I’ve been reading ever since.

  456. Someone had donated a copy of Old Man’s War to our library, and as the resident sci-fi geek, I read it with an eye to determining whether it was worth adding to our collection. It was, I did, and then went online to find out what else this John Scalzi fellow had written. The rest is left as an exercise to the student.

  458. Agent to the Stars brought me here, I’m trying to remember if it was before or after it was promoted on Penny Arcade.

  460. I searched your name in my kindle, found Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, read the free sample, and immediately logged on.

  461. I had started reading blogs of various writers and editors in the SFF community. I was linked here a couple times through those blogs, but did not become a regular reader until bacon cat. That interested me enough that I started exploring your blog and found “Being Poor.” I loved that and started reading your blog on a daily basis.

  462. I’m pretty sure I came here because I followed a link to your “Being Poor” entry. I don’t remember where I saw the link though.

  463. October 2002, I googled “Confederacy evil” (looking for arguments people made in an attempt to “know thine enemy”) and found one of your original anti-Confederate screeds. I was quite flattered when that in turn induced a followup blog entry a few days later (“The Confederacy is Evil”, heh) and was even more flattered to see myself mentioned twice. Been following it ever since to catch any political or social commentary blogs. So going on 10 years, then!

  464. I came here from your album reviews for Official Playstation Magazine (through which I discovered some neat stuff, thanks) around about 2001 or 2002. I remember reading the I Hate Your Politics post when it was brand new. I also interviewed you via e-mail for a college writing assignment sometime in ’03, and you were gracious enough to respond, for which I don’t think I ever said thanks, so thank you for that as well.

    I think it’s fair to say I was influenced by your writing style, having read most or all of your blog posts since then. You, Roger Ebert, Timothy Zahn, and Tycho over at PA had the biggest effect on how I thought about writing growing up. Happy to follow the Whatever for as long as you still enjoy doing it!

  465. I came here because I bought “Agent to the stars” (in rich text format, no less) and stayed.

  466. I read ‘Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded’ and wound up reading your blog and that of Charles Stross on a daily basis. I’m a software engineer, so this blog usually gets read in bits and pieces at times when I’m waiting for my computer to do something that takes a while, but not long enough to embark on anything overly involved. It is nice to have something interesting to hop into at such times and these blogs nicely fit the bill.

  468. Followed a link from another blog. Sorry cannot remember which, but in a possibly irrelevant aside it has lead me to buying one of your books.

  469. It was probably a reference in Old Man’s War or the result of a google search for scalzi that led me to whatever.

  470. Discussion on Dreamwidth about male entitlement in culture with reference to your “he understands it” blog entry directed me here and I’ve stayed on for the meaty discussions; including the bacon.

  472. Your conversations with Maureen Johnson on twitter led me to your blog – and then I stayed!

  473. How could I not be here after learning you grade hate mail? It’s one of the best-written blogs extant.

  475. 2004-2005ish–definitely when OMW came out, maybe a little earlier. I’ll be darned if I can remember where I got the link, though. Maybe from someone on LJ?

  476. Andrew Sullivan’s blog linked to one of your articles. And then I saw the cat pictures and just kept reading.

  477. I linked over from a post by another author whose blog I enjoy…there aren’t a whole lot of you that I read regularly, so I’d say that odds are even that it was Neil Gaiman.

    And my, how glad I’ve been that I did!

  478. I came to this site after I Googled your name. I had just finished reading Old Man’s War and as I usually do with some books I particularly like, look for the author’s online presence (site, blog, Facebook, etc) to see what they’re like, maybe see if they released more books since the one I read.

  479. I followed a link to your »Being poor« piece, I think from kottke.org, in September 2005.

  481. Heard of you from Wil Wheaton’s blog – he had link and I followed it. Glad I found you! I’ve even quoted you in my sermons. :-)

  482. I am somewhat embarrassed to write this out loud, but it was Bacon Cat, back in 2008 or so. (I selected 2009 in the poll above, but I just flipped through your archives a bit and I think it was actually earlier.) I forget where I got the link.

    What got me interested in the blog generally was that Bacon Cat linked back to another post – the Bacon Cat teaser, I suppose you could call it – and I ended up clicking around and then just stayed. F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

    Before Bacon Cat (BCC), not only had I not heard of you, but I hadn’t read much science fiction either. After a few years of reading the Whatever I started to think, “Hey, I like SciFi movies, wonder if I’d like the books, too?”

  485. Through a link on Justine Larbalestier’s blog, back in the days when she still had hands healthy enough to type her blog.

  486. I believe that it was a link from Wil Wheaton’s blog site. Since then it became a daily habit.

  487. I’m here since no longer than February, and I totally can’t remember how I came here. Drunk googling, maybe. Anyway, I liked it, and stayed, and read Old Man’s War, and even came over when you were in Munich a while ago.

  488. Wil Wheaton. I don’t remember what for, since it was back in 2006. Probably something on writing?

  489. …read one of my books and was curious about me… That’s it.
    I had a copy of ‘The Ghost Brigades’ and need to know if that was the first book of a series. I googled you and arrived here. Whatever (your blog) is the reason I, actually, I started using a feed reader.

  490. Joe Mallozzi recommended Old Man’s War on his blog and one thing led to another… I originally answered 2008 but I just did did a quick search of his site and I think it was probably 2007. My bad.

  491. Trifecta:
    (1) Read and enjoyed the ‘Old Man’s War’ books (and have since read all your work).
    (2) Met you at WorldCon (darned if I remember which one)
    (3) Read “Your Hate Mail…” (which is actually how I learned that Whatever existed)

  493. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I found myself here after searching for a list of your written works. I’d already read all of the Old Man’s War novels and a couple others of yours and was looking for more.

  494. I first came here for one of your political posts, linked by Phil Plait.

    Best guess was 2010, but it might have been earlier. So basically, I came for the politics and stayed for the….politics?

    Something like that.

  495. Boingboing linking to your Creationism Museum piece (Nov 2007), thought “this guy is good with words and stuff” so hung around.

  497. I don’t remember when, so I kinda guessed. Pretty sure I followed a link from Making Light; probably it was the Being Poor essay.

    It was before I’d ever read any of your fiction, I know that.

  498. Been reading Whatever since 2007. Arrived here via link to your post about visiting the Creation Museum. Forget which site linked to you.

  499. Online journal blogrolls FTW! Everyone linked to everyone else back then, didn’t we? It’s been ages. 1999, most likely. Most dropped off my reading list, mostly because I got bored of reading about people’s lives (and writing about my own, for that matter). Yours is more wide ranging, thoughtful, and playful, and so I stuck around.

  500. Think it was recommended in a post by another aspiring author — either on a forum or on a followed link to a blog. The gist was, this guy is a pro and has helpful things to say about writing/books.

  501. I first came here when your “I hate your politics” rant was linked to from Metafilter and I’ve been reading ever since. (Wow – it’s been almost 10 years. Time flies.)

  503. Feb 2009, after Emily and Mike got married, and I realized you (as an author I had read a book of) had a blog and it was interesting. I only started RSS’ing it in the last year or so, I think? Maybe two, come to think of it. Before that I read it spottily. I don’t comment much though.

  505. Read “You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop” and then realized I could find more great stuff like that on here for free.

  506. I had read a book, or books, by you and liked your writing. Read a review/blurb of “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” on Webscriptions, saw that you had a blog and the rest is history.

  508. Found “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” at the bookstore, wandered in here after reading it, haven’t left yet.

  509. I followed a link to one of your articles from a blog I read. I can’t recall which article, but I’m pretty sure I followed the link from Phil Plait’s “Bad Astronomy” blog.

  510. I bought my 13 inch MacBook in August, 2007 (still works like a dream!) and developed an addiction to the innernut. I read Old Man’s War and my brother mentioned that you have a blog and I found Reader all around the same time and you were the first RSS feed I subscribed to. I loved feeling as though I were in touch with The Author!

  511. I have read science fiction for the past 41 years, so finding authors’ sites has become automatic, now that the ‘Net exists. Scalzi’s fiction is enjoyable; his snark even more so. He loves and admires his wife AND his minor daughter, and posts their cleverness frequently as well as his own. And, while he is enjoyably arrogant, he does not hesitate to apologize, acknowledge error, or concede unearned privilege whenever and to whomever such may be due. Why would I not want to read it?

    Particularly loved (in a sad way) the University of Omelas post on the Penn State disaster, sir, d00d, sir.

  512. A link somewhere – Someone mentioned your unique name for the fluffy cat. My guess is 2003 but if the name was later then my guess about the year is wrong.

  513. I followed the Penny Arcade reference to your “free online novels – contribute $1 if you like ’em” bit; which was, er…. 2004-ish? Read the OMW installments, then AttS. Hooked from that point on. “Why I Hate Your Politics” merely cemented things for me.

  515. After reading OMW, I’m pretty sure. Wanted to see if you had any more out there for me to read!

  516. …led to it by the “John Scalzi’s blog” link in Wikipedia, sourced from the Amazon bio page. Scan RSS headers mostly, only occasionally going directly to Whatever.
    .
    .

  517. I found the site using the googlemachine after reading old man’s war a few years ago and have been an almost daily visitor ever since.

  518. I heard you speak at ALA this year and you caught my interest so I went home and Googled you. I read a couple of posts and was hooked. My copy of Fuzzy Nation is waiting impatiently for me to finish grad school.

  519. I’m pretty sure I came over here when someone linked your writeup of a trip to the Creation Museum.

    Of course, it’s also possible that I am thinking of someone else entirely.

  521. Searching for sci fi authors’ blogs. Didn’t start really reading regularily until I added it to my RSS reader.