Why People Come Here

I’ve surveyed the hitcounter on the blog, and the search terms people use that bring hits.

Until about ten days ago, the most common search term resulting in a hit was something that included the word “pterodactyl.” Pterodactyl searchers rarely stay for very long — I think they take the picture from my review of the godawful bad and immensely entertaining Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature Movie of the same name, starring (strangely bald) Coolio.

A search for examples of “southern names” also produces large numbers of searchers, as do people who are looking for instructions for to hang a dartboard. I do not advise doing it the way I did, although I do repeat the official distances and height.

But after a link from CNN, Sideways Mencken, and most effectively from the Carnival of the Godless, these are no longer the most common reasons people come here. The above are “stumble upons” — search for one thing and find something else by accident that you’re also interested in. The three recent hits have produced a huge spike not only in hits but in actual readers — people who come here and stay for more than a few seconds. I assume that they are staying because they are actually reading what I wrote.

Of these, Carnival of the Godless has generated the most hits — about as many as CNN and Sideways Mencken combined. The CotG hits come mainly to the reference to my ruminations about the Decalogue being posted in court and why that’s bad judicial ethics. The CNN and Sideways Mencken posts come for the politics.

After the election, I’m not sure what I’ll be writing about to keep attracting political viewers. Hopefully, the long-awaited Republican Reboot will go on and something of a debate about what the GOP will become will be going on. And the Obama Administration will be kicking into gear, so that may generate some headlines.

But unless Jesus Himself returns or Shiva rekindles the Eternal Fires to bring about the End of the Cycle of Time, there will still be no God and there will still be an Establishment Clause and a Free Exercise Clause, so there are sure to be plenty of things to talk about at the intersection of religion and law.