Aug 15

What Difference Does Dooce Make?

One of y’all, over here from Dooce, asked what kind of numbers you have.  When Dooce pointed you here, how many of you came?


I get between 285 and 350 hits a day.  When Brittney over at Nashville is Talking links to me, I get about forty more people clicking through.  Unless they know it’s me, then it’s usually lower.  Yes, of course, that makes me laugh and feel a little self-conscious.  Whenever I say something thoughtful about pitbulls and Say Uncle links to me, I get fifty to seventy-five more hits.  When Bitch PhD linked to me, back when I was over at Blogger, she sent three hundred folks my way (at the time I had a readership of about thirty), and I was so freaked out by the thought of all these strangers reading me, I had to force myself to post my next post.


But Dooce?  As of right this second, she’s sent 1,495 of you here.  And you keep coming.


So, there you go.  I’ve lived in towns with less people than Dooce has sent here. 


Whew, that makes me laugh so hard.  I have the ear of an entire village!

49 thoughts on “What Difference Does Dooce Make?”

  4. Is now the time when I can start saying that I knew you back when you were a college freshman with a cute Oscar the Grouch garbage can in your dorm room? Unless somebody else wins the lottery or commits a crime, you are officially the famous member of our wedding party. Which means I need to find someone else to inherit my title from the Dog Yeller’s wedding, bad girl bridesmaid. Though actually, I’m not sure what kind of bad girl gets up the morning after the bachelorette party to work on her term paper. Well, anyway, you can be famous and if Oscar’s still around, bring him with you.

  5. ‘What’s the difference between a visitor and a page view? Stupid question I still can’t figure oot.’Depends on your stat package. On sitemeter, a visit is someone who views two pages (i.e., reads your blog and clicks to another link on your blog – such as comments). A page view is when someone views one page and nothing else.

  6. I think the only way I’m getting instalanched is if I get caught in a three-way with Ted Kennedy and George Bush in Condi Rice’s hot tub.

  9. Which post did they link? I need to know why you’re famous before I start telling "I knew her when.." stories.

  11. B, on your point about towns with less people, I’m reading "Smartbomb" right now, and one of the interesting bits is about MMORPGs, and how you have what is basically virtual cities bigger than Birmingham, Alabama all spending time with each other, while most people (in cities at least) can’t name 2 of their neighbors.It’s interesting watching the idea of community evolve.

  12. You know, I keep hearing statements about people in cities not knowing their neighbors. (Not to pick on Jebbo; I honestly do encounter a remark like this at least once a month.) And I think that’s weird. You always know your neighbors in an apartment building. Your building is like a big neighborhood. You recognize everyone, say hello to a lot of them, shoot the breeze with a few. You know their kids and pets, and their friends and relatives if they visit frequently. Then there’s your little bit of hallway: at a minimum, you know everything about the people on either side of you and across the hall (and, depending on noise issues, the people above and below you). You borrow a cup of sugar from each other, you pet sit, they put their food in your refrigerator when theirs has broken down. Of course, there are stand-offish individuals or even families, but you have them in the burbs, too. Why does our society promote such a myth of urban anonymity?

  13. I live in one of the most standoffish mid-sized cities in America, near the epicenter of what’s usually assumed to be the rudest big town. Yet, I know everyone on my block, my mailman, my ward boss, the owners of the local grocery and movie theater, etc. I was surprised when I realized this, since I hadn’t made a special effort to make these acquaintances, no block parties, no Night Outs…I think the burbs are less friendly, really. Car culture and whatnot.

  14. The Professor has this theory that the ruination of knowing your neighbors came with the rise in the attached garage. If you can pull in your garage, get out of your car, and get in the house without ever seeing the yard, no one can just happen to see you.I know my neighbors–not very well, but I know them–and that’s mostly from being outside when they are.But I also love having a virtual community like this. I really think it’s amazing and I feel honored all the time. I love that folks show up here not just for me, but to see what other folks are talking about. That pleases me more than I can tell you.It’s weird, but I like it.

  15. So, I’m supposed to make an inappropriate joke of some kind? That’s the expectation?Ok, here goes: What Difference Does Dooce Make?It cleans the vagina of unwanted odors.More to the point, knowing your neighbors isn’t the "Fellowship of The Parking Lot at a Grateful Dead Show" that some would have us believe.

  16. I assumed you’d flesh out Chris’s hint at a good village/idiot joke, not that you’d come up with just any old inappropriate joke. The expectation was that you wouldn’t pass on the chance to get in a dig at me.But, hey, if that’s not the case, that’s nice, too.

  17. I live in a small apartment building where we all share a common door and I’m not even sure which apartments on my floor are occupied right now. In four years I’ve had, at most, 25 conversations with 5 different people. And, I am not at all shy about talking to strangers. I know the local homelss people better than those that share my walls. B, thanks for the credit, but it’s really just a theoretical extrapolation of a comment my mother made. So, I should credit her. Thanks, Mom.

  18. Professor, What is the name of the bone thin woman with skin like an old leather catcher’s mitt, that staggers drunkenly up and down your street begging for change? B,The village/idiot opportunity seemed too cheap and easy. As far as passing on the chance to get a dig in to spare your gossamer feelings, I changed "the vagina" from the original, "your vagina".

  19. Okay, I don’t actually know her name – she rarely answers direct, personal questions. She told me once, but I’ve forgotten it. I tend to forget names. Still, she & I have chatted a bit in some of her more lucid moments, but they are rare and they seem to be less and less so. Her skin is a walking ad for sunblock and against tanning.

  23. "More to the point, knowing your neighbors isn’t the ‘Fellowship of The Parking Lot at a Grateful Dead Show’ that some would have us believe."You mean my neighbors won’t share their peyote buttons with me? I’m soooo bummed. Really, it’s been my experience that most people live more comfortably in a community, with others around they know they can rely on. For some, that community is in their neighborhood. For some, it’s at their work. For some, it’s an extended family. For some, it’s a group on the internet. But most people have at least one, and go looking to create one if they don’t.Professor, is your building full of transients? I lived in a building like that once: most of the residents figured they would be there no longer than a year or so and didn’t bother to get to know anyone.

  24. nm, there are people here who were here before me, but mostly I would guess that the average stay is closer to 2 years or less. But, aren’t most rental properties turned over rather quickly? I’m more the exception amoungst renters I know for staying in the same place for 4 years and just signing another lease. But, I do agree that I sitll live in a community – it’s just not in this building – see I have fallen victim to living in the Vandy Bubble. It happens before one even notices and then it’s surprisingly hard to get out.

  25. Ah, the Vandy Bubble. I can see that you don’t need your neighbors as a support system. But aren’t at least some of them in the same bubble? Doesn’t that serve as a bond?I have no idea about how often the average rental property turns over in Nashville. I’m a property owner here, baby! (You probably have no idea how amazing that is after 20 years in NYC.) But there are rental houses on my block here, and most of the tenants have been around 4 or 5 years minimum. Apartments probably have a much quicker turnover; I don’t know.In New York, renters are very, very stable. People who move in when the building is built, raise a family, and leave only when it’s nursing home time are not that unusual. If you have a decent lease you hold on to it. But it’s a different economic dynamic going on there, for sure.

  27. I was going to add something, but, I’m not sure which thread to start with, idiots, neighbors, vaginas, leathery skin or The Grateful Dead.Wait, I’ll bet I can connect these somehow…

  29. Yeah, I’m sure plenty of my neighbors are in the Vandy Bubble – in many senses the building itself is. And, it’s the grad students that seems to turn over the fastest. I’ve been of the mindset that homeownership isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – not even financially. But, just as the real estate bubble seems to be leaking I’m finally craving a yard and a garden and more freedom to paint crazy murals on all my walls. So, this will probably be the last apartment I live in. But, I probably will look for a place without attached garages hoping to befriend my neighbors.

  30. Come on over to East Nashville. Lots of friendly people who sit out on the front porches of houses they can afford. But I’m aghast at the idea of grad students moving all the time. How can you write if you’re packing? (I don’t mean you by "you," I mean "one," but, oh, you know.) I couldn’t have done it.

  31. I should do a study to determine the correlation between years enrolled, years ABD, and number of residences. You might have a point. If so, I’m going to start a side business advising and assisting 1st and 2nd year grad students in buying and selling homes – stay put, write, graduate, and make a little $$ for the next down payment. Now all I need to do is learn something about real estate. Do you know something about it? We could be partners.

  33. Bah, homeownership. Private property. Tools of the Devil.All the cool kids rent and are in debt up to their ears with no hope of ever escaping.

  34. B, when Salon had me up, I doubled in numbers and it sort of freaked me out. But No where near the Dooceage you got.I think everyone should read your blog. Your damn good.

  36. That’s my job. Sarcastro and the Wayward One incites you and I work hard to make you blush.All in a day’s work, ma’am.Actually, YOU sent me a ton of new folks who came to look at my dog stuck in the stairs.Thanks.

  37. Well I clicked on the link at dooce.com cos tiny cat pants ARE indeed funny, and that just has to be checked out. But I put it to you, that tiny cat pants AND tiny cat socks are EVEN FUNNIER. Definitely.

  38. "Bah, homeownership. Private property. Tools of the Devil."No, no, they’re tools of finance capitalism. You’ve got to keep your enemies sorted out."All the cool kids rent"Not *all* of us.

  39. Well, shucks. It’s just that I wanted to feel special instead of like every other shmoe drowing in a sea of debt.Though, that’s better than a sea of heartbreak and loneliness.

  40. But your debt *is* special. It has that special flavor of B.ness that arrests the gaze and engages the heart and mind. Data entry specialists and bookkeepers swap stories: "when she pays the bill it’s with an engaging anecdote that has this, oh, I don’t know, out-of-the-way sly humor" — "I think it’s the intelligence and wit. It just shines out of those monthly payments" "Maybe you’re right. I just know that it always makes me want to go read her blog."It’s not like my debt. When I pay my bills they snicker "so, she just snuck it in under the wire again this month, huh? OK, extend the office pool till next month." Except for the ones who say "who? Why would I remember her?"

  41. Christ! Are you trying to kill me here? Yes, I’m totally working on being all brave and self-confident and cool and worthy of all the awesome readers I have.But when y’all heap on the compliments, as much as I love them, they also make me about die of embarrassment.

  48. How’s this for a circuitous route with you as the destination: My homepage is the Google Portal. One of my items is the Quote of the Day. Today’s quote was quite humorous so I clicked on the author: Heather Armstrong. That led me to a Quotations page showing all of Heather’s quotes. That had a link to Dooce. Dooce had a link to the "losing your pants" story – and who can resist a site called Tiny Cat Pants!

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