The topic of this blog has shifted quite a bit as well. In the past I focused mostly on foreign policy and only occasionally drifted into political and cultural ideas. That has changed dramatically as the election season has heated up. Some of my most successful and read posts so far this year have been about the election. I have also made some comments on cultural issues but that has been more of a mixed bag. I'm afraid I haven't really kept up on movie and book reviews, despite seeing plenty of books and movies since last year. It's something I hope to do more of next year, but who knows what the future holds? I've occasionally strayed into covering more social issues like Reddit and Gawker being stupid or even LGBT issues, but that hasn't really come to dominate the blog like politics has.
I think I am doing a much better job of getting my blog out there. I figured out how Twitter works now and I do a much better job of gathering followers who like what I have to say. Or not as the case may be. My facebook page is growing as well and a few times this year I have noticed how a single like or share on one of my posts grew into something larger. So for everyone who reads this blog and especially everyone who shares, comments or likes on facebook or Twitter, thank you so very much! You have no idea how valuable a single like on one of my posts is worth in terms of exposure.
Last year I did some predictions about the status of this blog. Some of them were spot on and some of them were not. If you are interested the original post can be found here, but I will just copy paste the questions here.
1. This blog will still be here a year from today. (I've got no plans to quit now, but you never know what could happen) 95%
-Obviously if you are reading this I was correct!
2. This blog will no longer be hosted on blogspot.com. (It could happen. Stumbleupon blocking blogspot domains hurt my views considerably and I would like to get those page views back. Buying my own domain or switching to Medium, could help, but I would have to figure out how to transfer stuff over) 25%
-Didn't happen so far but I am still considering it. I briefly considered buying my own domain but I kind of realized that StumbleUpon was garbage traffic anyways. My blog has more views now and they tend to be of higher q
3. I will, at the very least, double my viewcount. 90%
I'll break 100,000 views. 50%
I'll break 1,000,000 views. 5%
-Definitely doubled my view count but still a bit away from 100,000 views. Better then I thought though, and the rate of growth has increased. I am hoping there comes a day when I laugh at thinking 100,000 views is impressive...
4. I will focus more on political and cultural issues instead of just international conflicts. 65%
A post about political or cultural issues will get me into some kind of trouble. 5%
A post about anything else will get me into some kind of trouble. 1%
-Yes, no and no. Unless you consider getting called a Nazi on Twitter trouble. Which I don't unless it's the whole internet doing it.
5. I will have someone else do a guest post on this blog. 10%
-Hasn't happened so far so I guess I was correct. 90% of it not happening counts right? I have considered allowing a few people I know to write something up, but I never managed to work out the details. If you are reading this and I know you and you are interested you can always ask!
6. I will keep up the current post rate while continuing to improve the quality of posts. 75%
-Post rate stayed the same but I would like to think the quality has increased. It's been about a post a day for pretty much the whole year.
7. I will still be talking about ISIS in a year. 99%
-Obviously. I don't think I expected things to turn out this bad though.
8. I will still be talking about Ebola in a year. 5%
-The last post I had on Ebola was in January, so I think this counts as being right.
9. I will be extensively covering the 2016 presidential elections. 95%
This will be the thing that gets me into some kind of trouble. 1%
-Naturally I was right on the first count and second.
10. Gun rights will once again become a major focus of this blog after trailing off considerably. (Mostly because there hasn't been all that much to discuss, the gun control push is largely over). 50%
-Eh, half credit here? I have been talking about gun rights semi-frequently, but often in the context of other things like terrorism and ISIS. Still, not quite the focus I expected when I started this blog.
11. I will get a death threat, be doxxed or otherwise have my life attacked because of this blog.
I will get a death threat, be doxxed or otherwise have my life attacked for reasons outside of this
blog. 1%
-A guy did say he was going to stab me with a pen at work the other day and another guy told me to go back to Mexico (even though I am a white guy born and raised in America) but the first one was a joke and the second one was an incoherent person. Ether way thought, I get zero credit because I didn't even give a probability for the first question!
12. There will be a candidate that I actually like left in the presidential race (There are a couple now, but who knows if they will last until next year). 33%
This blog will officially endorse a candidate. 10%
-Had no idea at the time but I actually like Donald Trump right now. Never thought I would say that but I don't think I have officially endorsed him. My blog has an obvious pro-Trump bias though so I think I was pretty obviously wrong on both counts.
As for this years predictions:
1. The blog will still be here next year- 95%
2. My facebook page, twitter account and blog will have more then double the ammount of likes, followers and views then now. 75%
3. My blog traffic will drop off by the middle of November after the next president is elected. 70%
4. I will have either an utterly despondent post on election day (or the next morning) or an utterly jubilant one. 100%
5. Someone will write a guest post on this blog. 15% (still not likely, but possible)
6. I will purchase another firearm and will blog about it. 33%
7. I will actually start writing regular movie reviews and maybe even a book review. 40%
8. I will still be talking about ISIS by next year. 99%
9. Someone will start some kind of trouble with me over this blog or my social media accounts associated with it. 1%
10. I will have a different post as my most popular post by next year. Been a long time since that one about the poor Croatian guy got killed by ISIS. 55%
So another year is in the book for this blog. Once again I have to say thanks for all the support everyone has given it and I really appreciate everyone that takes the time to read my blog. I hope the growth of this blog continues and that I will keep up this tradition next year and many years into the future!
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