Many moons ago I setup Analog to run over my web logs for blog.jj5.net so I could see what was going on.
A little while back I gave my computing infrastructure here a pretty serious 'hardware injection'. At the same time I dramatically reorganised and locked down my network. The server that hosts my blog changed, and I haven't bothered to reconfigure Analog.
I used to check every couple of days on activity levels. I used to freak out a little bit when a traffic poured in from various places, such as Rory's blog. I even went out of my way to avoid getting 'Sells Brothered' after my Geek Milkshake stint.
I think I'm the only blog that actually *doesn't want traffic*. Heh. :P
I just want to say whatever I want and not be caught up in someone's tea-cup storm. I disabled track backs, etc.
On the other hand, it was cool to see interest in this little forum on the arse-end of the internet (from the arse-end of the world ;) slowly and steadily increase over time. One thing that really amazed me was how many lurkers I'd acquired. I'm a pretty vocal kind of a dude. Often enough I just make noise for the sake of it. Which is odd, because at the same time I always consider myself as an 'observer' more than a 'participant'. I've always been fascinated by people who don't have much to say, but who stick around anyway. I've actually been practicing “the art of lurking” myself of late. But that's all beside my point, which is:
I have absolutely no idea what's going on with the traffic here now. None. Don't know what searches are getting me hits. Don't know if more or less people are subscribed to my feed. Don't know anything. And I like it!
My blog now seems like an unconscious thing for me. I barely even acknowledge that it's here. It's like I've developed an alter-ego or something. I walk away from my web browser and often forget that it even exists. Which is funny, because I've run into a few people in RL who'll comment on it, or ask me about it. I tend to be a little dismissive, and engage in a little bit of hand waving. “Oh, yeah.. that.”
On the other hand, it's also a pretty substantial part of my life.
I like telling “The Internet” things.
I like not knowing if “The Internet” is actually listening.
I like it when “The Internet” randomly talks back.
It's so bizarre.