10,000
Posted on July 13, 2016 Posted by John Scalzi 39 Comments
WordPress informs me that this post is the 10,000th post on the site. I know that figure is inaccurate, since none of the posts from between September 1998 and March 2002 are on the site, and there were at least several hundred of those; likewise, the WordPress doesn’t distinguish between the posts I write, and the several dozen guest posts and hundreds of Big Ideas. But I suspect they all even out, more or less, in the end — subtract the Big Idea and guest posts, add in the missing posts from the beginning era of the site, and you probably end up with me having written 10,000 Whatever entries, more or less.
Which is a lot. I’ve been writing this blog nearly 18 years now — yikes — and 10,000 posts is an average of 555 posts a year, or one and a half posts a day (I didn’t always write write here daily in the early years, and lately I’ve been taking more weekends off). And while I’ve written close to 100,000 Twitter posts in since March 2008, which seems like a lot more, most posts here are rather longer than 140 characters. In short, it’s a whole lot of writing, for a really long time.
As I’ve noted before, and with no disrespect to my fiction work, which is great, harumph harumph, it may end up years from now that people see Whatever as my life’s work, and everything else I’ve done as incidental to it. Which would be ironic, as I by design make no money from the site. But, whatever. The future will decide for itself.
In the meantime, hey: 10,000 posts. It’s a lot. I’m curious to see if there will be another 10,000 before I’m done. Let’s find out.
And in the meantime, here. Have a picture of a cat.
Congratulations! Waiting for the next 10,000
Alien Anthropologists in the distant future: “One of the greatest communication devices of its time, the ‘Whatever’ blog served as a societal public commons, where the hoo-mins engaged in banter and discourse with Au-thor Scal-Z, and worshiped cats and dogs according to the powerful religious beliefs of the time. The study of ‘Whatever’ derives much learning about the hoo-mins and will continue to produce dissertations for years and years.”
That’s huge. Congratulations on the hard work and dedication. :)
Thank you for those 10,000 posts, sir. I enjoy your fiction, but your Whatever posts represent a major highlight in my daily routine, and I deeply appreciate your ongoing commitment to sharing commentary that runs the gamut from thought-provoking social and political observations to roll-on-the-floor-laughing comedy. Plus cat pictures, of course!
Congratulations and “Thank you!”
I always like to watch the odometer roll over.
Happy postiversary!
What, no cat pic metrics?
Actually, two cat pics, since the header for me was Sugar and Spice looking out the window.
Congratulations from Covina!
I really don’t know how you have this much to say. I don’t agree with everything you say, but they are usually well written.
What Colonel Snuggledorf said. Plus also the light but firm hand on the reins that has kept the comments mostly civil while allowing for a range of opinions. It has been my privilege to read and sometimes converse with some wonderful, knowledgeable, warm, and often quite witty people here, thanks to your generosity, John.
Congratulations, John. I enjoyed the first 10,000 and I’m looking forward to the next 10,000, if I should be lucky enough to live that long. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and those of so many of your thoughtful readers who have commented.
That’s a lot of posts! Congrats on the milestone!
I used to live near a recreational airport. Gliders, light, and vintage aircraft dotted the sky. Visualize lots of folks boasting and telling tall tales. The regulars would often challenge a newcomer with “How many flight miles have you got?” I always enjoyed the silence that followed any answer beginning with “I’ve got 10,000+ miles….”
Congratulations on the milestone!
Alien Anthropologists part deux. “Worshiping ancient food stuffs can also be observed – burr-eat-ohs and chur-ohs in particular. Hoo-mins also have an affection for liquids of strange colours and storage devices.”
tl;dr: Cat pic but still no bacon wtf
I’ve enjoyed most of the first 10,000 and look forward to the next.
Congratulations and thank you.
The photos are an additional benefit; puppies, kitties and sunsets :-D
Yes, Congratulations!
conga-rats! much words. U rite gud
Seriously though, wonderful for you to have reached such a milestone number (at least in base 10, only 5954 in base 12). I hope to still be around and reading when you reach B6A8 (base 12).
[Huh, html “subscript” tag doesn’t work. I am appropriately shocked and stunned.]
There’s a better than average chance you have the longest running continuous blog with a decently sized audience on the internet… I wonder if that qualifies for a Guinness world record?
Wait, you’re a writer?! Of books?!? I thought all you were famous for was taping bacon to cats!!
Don’t undersell the value of your novels, sir.
10,000! That is so cool. Do you get a raise? Do _we_ get a raise?
MVS:
James Lileks’ “Daily Bleat,” for one, has me beat.
10,000 for whatever! One speculation of yours (on your blog vs your works) reminds me of the Boswell/Johnson relationship where scholars nowadays refer more to Boswell than his idol. Time will tell!
Congrats! I’m pretty sure I’ve been reading you since almost the very beginning!
As someone who has started and abandoned three different blogs, I think that’s a huge accomplishment!
And fwiw, while you might not be selling ads or whatever on your blog, you’ve earned at least a tiny bit of money from people like me who discover your books after following your blog. :)
Congrats on this milestone!
At 10,000 posts, do you still receive writing requests with the payment of “exposure”?
Congratulations! My first exposure to Whatever was the Schadenfreude Pie post back in the day, which I have now made several times for very special occasions. It has been an excellent ride. Thank you so much!
@Pinky – delayed guffaw!
Congratulations! Like others, I look forward to your next myriad of posts.
How do you keep from running over your cats? Do you figure they’re intelligent enough to hightail it out of there when the engine starts, or do you have a cat-rousting protocol?
I had a friend with kittens in the yard. Said kittens, too capable for their own good, liked to climb the tires and nap on top of the tire, between tire and wheel well. He managed to never cycle one around and crunch it but I’m not sure how.
Well Bonne Fête!!
Congratulations!
And please be careful for the kitty – my dad lost one when he climbed on the engine to warm up when it was cold and dad started the engine.
Thank you for the posts, thank you for mentioning the daily bleat (which I had not run into before), big ideas, novels. Squee. Gush.
Not bad, given that, when you started, serious writers were seriously predicting that, in the near future, the Internet economy would consistently of being paid on *attention.* Wait, what?!… ok, well I guess you sure showed THEM!
10,000 posts, I assume that includes pix of cats and sunsets and parking lots behind hotels. 100,000 tweets, now that says ‘I should be hunting pokemons’…
*Rushes in, throws his coat to a chair and asks:
– Have I missed anything?
Dear Word Press group. I lost my word press account long time age due to lack of communication.May I know if I have any chance of recovering the website? Thanks.