Update: Sep 18, 2007 @ 5:15PM:
Well, after thinking about it for a few days, and listening to the feedback I got, I’ve decided to not end the site. At least not yet. What I’m going to do is finish out the season, and then stop. I’m not going to update for a couple of months after that, and see how I feel. Perhaps it’s just supreme burnout, but I’ve never felt quite like that at the end of a losing season. As I’ve pointed out before, this is the end of the ninth season since I started doing this site. Only two of them have been winning seasons (1999 & 2004). I doubt it’s burnout for THAT reason. Remember, I grew up in Philly, and rooted for a franchise that has now lost 10,000 games in it’s overall existence. :) I think it was born out of frustration at seeing lower than expected audience numbers.
I did run the logs as I said I would, and found these numbers for accessing the xml files that comprise the news feeds for the various aggregators out there:
Jun 2007: 9,026
Jul 2007: 9,561
Aug 2007: 8,589
Sep 2007: 4,044
Now those aren’t true numbers, because it doesn’t count all the calls made on the files by the various aggregators checking to see if anything new has been added. There’s no (quick) way to tell unique feed reader stats on those numbers, but it’s still larger than I figured. The overall pageview numbers are fairly respectable, too:
Jun 2007: 107,706 (3,590 a day avg)
Jul 2007: 82,156 (2,650 a day avg)
Aug 2007: 79,980 (2,580 a day avg)
Sep 2007: 20,637 (1,213 a day avg)
Again, things like Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp spider will inflate those numbers – I’d say about 10% of that is search spider pageviews. That’s a completely unscientific stat, I did not properly research it, I admit. Still, they’re decent (if not great) numbers.
So there is an audience after all. Some of the feedback said that since I went to a “no immediate comments” system with the blog, they’re having problems. Let me address that briefly. The reason I did that is to combat spam. Comment spam is a major problem on blogs everywhere, and with the new system here, there are better tools, but I decided that I didn’t want to deal with the problem, so I turned off anonymous comments. I was getting about 200-250 comment spams per day before I did that, now I’m at zero. I’m sorry if this gets in your way, but it makes life a lot easier. There are multiple methods for you to login for. I suggest using Typepad. It’s a unified login system that is recognized by any blog using Six Apart’s “blogging software” packages like this one (Movable Type), as well as their other stuff like Typepad itself, Vox, and LiveJournal). It’s free, and you can use it on all of those things.
Anyway, to sum up I will finish out the season, and take a break, and re-evaluate at some unspecified part of the off season. I don’t know what I’ll do then NOW, but I’ll probably continue on, I think I just need a break.
My original post from Saturday is still here in the extended version of the post. If you’re viewing this on a feed reader, you’ll need to visit the main site to see it.
Original Post: Sep 15, 2007 @ 7:15PM
You know, this afternoon, I was looking at the statistics for this website that show me how many people read this site, and while you can never be sure about the total overall stats, I saw some numbers that were rather disheartening.
I’ve never had the biggest draw of a site, and I’m good with that. It’s never been about having the biggest or best – I’m not Jamey Newberg’s site, and I don’t pretend to be. But in my mind I always thought there was a small group of people who liked the site. When I looked at the stats, I didn’t realize how small that actually was! Google is telling me that a total of fourteen people subscribe to my site via xml readers that they use (meaning either Google Reader, or their iGoogle customized home page), one of which is me. Now that is just Google services, and I can accept that into the equation, but I thought it’d be higher than THAT.
Started this site in December 1998. It’s now September 2007. I doubt this is burnout over the team’s performance, because if it was, I would have stopped awhile back – other than 1999 and 2004, we haven’t had really good winning years since I’ve started this site. I seriously doubt that is where this feeling is coming from.
On Monday I’ll run the raw log files to see how many people are accessing the actual rss/xml/atom files via other aggregators and whatnot, but I was somewhat disheartened by the number of 14 just from Google. It’s been an enormous amount of work putting the site together over the years. I don’t get much in the way of feedback hardly at all – a “hot” story for me is about five comments. That’s not a lot at all. I don’t really “need” the feedback, but its existence (or lack thereof) is something that can drive content providers into keeping going – or stopping.
So I wonder as I look at those numbers – is it worth it to keep going? Should I even bother doing the site anymore after this season? It’s possible I could just be reacting to end of (another) losing season burnout, but I wasn’t even thinking of anything like that until I saw the low numbers of subscribed readers.
Now I’m not expecting a flood of responses to this – history has shown me that if I have an audience at all, it’s apathetic towards giving me feedback on direct responses to “Hey, say something, please”.
Just disheartened right now, and thinking about stopping the site after this year, which is a shame, as I finally have got it into a form that I like. But if nobody is bothering, then I wonder if I should bother myself, as the time could be spent elsewhere.
No way man, you’re the only fan site I read. I personally use Rojo for my RSS feeds and it does pretty well for me. The best reason I can give you for why I like to read your posts is because you always know when something happens when it happens and always have your own opinion about it. for example, when we have a stinky loss and all you post is “bad game…dont want to talk about it” then I won’t bother to read anything more about that game. Plus you give a recap that’s not the redundant AP story from texasrangers.com or anywhere else, you actually give commentary about certain things that is more than just “Marlon Byrd slammed two homers in the 7th inning…and they won”
Don’t give in now. The team will get better and your readers will come back. Yeah, it’s disheartening the way the team is but I tell you, I didn’t even really like baseball at all until 2004 when we came out of nowhere and did so well. Before that I went to Ranger games just because it was something fun to do but I never actually went to see the game, I was young and just went for the atmosphere. Now, at 17, I attribute everything I love about baseball to that 2004 season when Rangers baseball was fun. From R.A. Dickey’s doubleheader sweep of the eventual champs, Red Sox, to being in first place of the entire major leagues, to the three amigos of Carlos, Frankie, and Cocoa, to Dellucci’s game-winning series sweep hit to right field that barely got by a diving Jermaine Dye against Oakland that we HAD to have to stay in the race. They will eventually give back to us, we just gotta stick through the Hicks era and they’ll eventually be playing in the World Series and have players we know we can pay to keep.
“To the world you may just be one person, but to one person you may just be the world.”
I can relate. I am president of the alumni association of a state-wide volunteer organization up in Oklahoma that runs a three-day seminar every summer and then I follow up with service projects and fundraisers and various other events throughout the year and it’s always hard because in the summer we’ll have about 120 people come to seminar (which I help organize but don’t lead it) and then when it comes time for school and service projects, I’ll only get about 15 or so to come. But I know that there is still that base of people out there that comes every now and then who didn’t ever come before and it’s the fact that no matter how many people come, we’re still doing good for those who do and good for those it benefits.
So please, you’ve stuck with it for this long…at least let it still be a hobby and not necessarily a service.
And about the comments…that’s why I applaud you because you stick with the losing seasons and games after we’re already eliminated but this is also why people don’t comment. It is discouraging to talk about all the losing times, but yet you still do, which is awesome. All I’m saying is if you stop you would have one sad reader.
Maybe all you need is some publicity. Contact the rangers or something to post a story on their website or maybe contact Tom and Josh to give you some spots I don’t know. I know if more people knew about this blog and gave more of a chance to read it then I bet more would subscribe.
Definitely can’t put it in as many words as Kurt did, but I personally love your updates! It’s definitely nice to get personal, unique perspectives on the team like you and Jamey Newberg. I make sure to stop by your site at least every other day to see what’s the latest on the team. Plus, this league gave me an opportunity to play fantasy baseball against fellow Ranger fans! If you continue, you’ll definitely be keeping this reader. If not, like Kurt, I will be one sad reader. Really appreciate everything you do and what you bring to Ranger Nation. Thanks for a great season of Fantasy Baseball and for sticking with the team through the ups and downs!
-Alex
I’ll be even shorter…i dont use a RSS reader or anything like that…I come directly to the site and read it there. I get disappointed when I come and there is no update so from that I can tell I enjoy it more that I thought. I’ll respect your decision, but if your counting votes, I vote that you keep on going.
Hey Joe, This is your friend from Build A Bear, I wanted to let you know how much I apprciate your site and all the work you put into it. I am a Ranger fan and a collector of Rangers memorabilia and I use your site all the time to keep up with the Rangers and as tool to check uniform numbers and box scores. I hope you hang in there even if it was only part time or something.
Thanks Again Charlie
Joe,
I have been reading your site since ’99. I am one of the loyal readers. I do not subscribe, but check it several times during the week, during the season. You do a great job, and I know how much hard work you put into the site. I don’t want to see Rangerfans leave. If you do decide to shut it down, I hope someone can keep it going.
Hey Joe,
It’s been a long time since I’ve chatted with you. Your page is amazing and I don’t want you to think that no one reads this page because the readers are out here. I pull up the site just about every other day or so to see your updates and columns on the team. I just upload your page off my favorites pretty cheesy I know but that’s what I do. Your fantasy teams have always been fun as well as reading the articles from the other texas fans that post regularly.
It would be a shame to see you close this site down but if you must then it would be understood because it does take time out of your busy life as it is to keep it going. Maybe you could get some guest columnists or something to bring another aspect to it. Maybe like Kurt said we can come up with a bigger way to get your page out there to more fans. As I have worked at the stadium this season I have mentioned it to several fans in my area just to try and get it out there more myself. Any help you need you got it from this Texas fan. Chrystal a.k.a Txskye
Not wanting to be a parrot of the guys before me. However, I don’t read through an RSS feed – I go directly to rangerfans.com…and do so on a daily basis. If you decide to hang-up the cleats, I’ll miss your updates. But, before you go, know that I very much appreciate all of your hard work on the site.
From: Michael Babin via email
Hi Joe,
Been a quiet reader of your Rangerfans.com blog for a couple of years now. I read your last post where you wonder out loud if you should keep the site going, based partially on lack of traffic as measured by Google Reader and iGoogle customized home pages (wow, put an “i” in front of the company/brand name, really original thinking there, eh?) and a lack of comments on your site. First, let me say that I’ve enjoyed reading your game-by-game summary posts and other Rangers- related material. Your site is one of the Rangers-related sites that I subscribe to through the RSS feed using Safari (yes, I’m one of those Mac users, but no come-to-Jobs proselytizing this time). Not sure how that shows up in your site traffic logs. As to comments, I rarely comment at any site (including Lone Star Ball, which has many more comments, and the Newberg Report, whose forums have gotten so “noisy” that I rarely even venture there anymore). At the Newberg Report, comments are not directly associated with Jamey’s “reports”, so avoiding the forums is easy to do. At Lone Star Ball, keeping track of some items (such as new posts/comments/diaries) is aided by signing up and logging in with an id. It’s easy if you have a quick comment to compose and post it. On your site, when the rare inspiration for a comment is triggered by something I’ve read, I’m asked to sign in to post a comment. That leads to the usual “ummm, what blog system to I have an account on, what is it, what’s my password, first guess was wrong, second guess was wrong, I give up, it wasn’t that important” chain of events. In this particular case, I decided to look for an email contact link and found it easily enough, but since I’ve never emailed you in 2+ years of reading your blog you can see that it’s not a frequent recourse for communication (insert :-) here). The barrier to responding vs. just browsing is something you might want to consider when judging whether anyone reads the site by the lack of comments. Although given the “quality” of some of the comments at the above-mentioned sites, you might be doing yourself a favor if you disabled comments entirely. :-)
Second, I think the determination of whether the enjoyment you derive from this site and your work on it is worth the effort is entirely up to you and may change over time. If you were deriving some other benefit (building a brand/presence/), then it might be worth it even when the enjoyment was lessened, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Third, when a baseball season has proceeded the way this one has (terrible start, season effectively over in June), it probably drives down other people’s interest in reading about the Rangers, similar to ticket sales, attendance, ratings, and other measures of fan interest. At least in the case of ticket sales and attendance, they have some sales from pre- and early-season to spur some people to still go to the games (hasn’t seemed to help much, seen a shot of the ballpark lately for any game where the visiting team doesn’t pull a large block of fans?). It’s as easy to not check a Rangers-news site (or check it less often) as it is to not listen to much or any of the local radio/TV broadcast. How are their ratings these days?
In summary, I appreciate your work and am a regular reader. If you decide to continue because you find it enjoyable and rewarding in some sense, then I look forward to continuing to read your posts. If you decide not to continue, then thanks for the enjoyment provided over the past 2+ years and best of luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Michael Babin
From: Lance Simmons via email
Joe, here’s the crucial question: do you know who is retrieving your
rss feeds? That’s how I read you, via Google Reader, hence I’m one of
the 14. But there are many other RSS aggregators. That’s the key:
finding out who downloads your feed, and exactly what they do with it.
Probably few people visit the actual website, since most people who
read blogs know RSS aggregators is the way to go.
I think you should keep the site going, obviously, especially since
the website is where you announce your Yahoo fantasy league each
year–a league which I still plan to win for the second year in a row.
From: Elaine Seydel via email
Joel — again, I can’t get it to leave a comment on your page. I keep getting rejected.
I just want you to know that I visit your website almost daily and enjoy your comments. I would miss it.
I view the website as is — I don’t know how to use the rss/xml stuff…just never have gotten into it.
I hope that you keep up the website, but if you don’t, I certainly understand — and I wanted you to know that those of us that do visit, appreciate all your work !!!
elaine
From: Naomi via email
Joe,
I just read today’s post by you and I am upset. You say you might stop because the numbers are so low. I am not a computer expert so I don’t know if I get counted or not. I have your site saved in my favorites and I check and read daily. Do you count that sort of visit or do I have to do something more to “count?”
I have to say that I love your site. I can tell you are a passionate Rangers fan, as am I, and you have many unique features that I appreciate. I am a long distance fan, and rely on the Internet for most of my Rangers news and information.
This has been a particularly disappointing year as a Rangers fan, following several bad years so I can understand why the interest level would be down by the bandwagon crowd. But for us diehard, year in, year out Rangers fans it has been nice to have a place like yours to visit regularly to share in our allegiance.
I certainly hope you get enough positive feedback to continue.
Thank you for all you have done.
Naomi
California
From: Jamey Newberg via email
Joe, I stop by your site every morning.
I hope you don’t shut down, but believe me, there have been times when I’ve wanted to stop writing or shut down the message board, etc. You can’t keep this thing up unless it’s what you want to do.
FWIW, I don’t subscribe to your feed — I just check the site each day. Are you able to track traffic for those of us who just stop by like that?
Make the decision that feels right. Screw the stats.
From: Adam Morris via email
I’d echo what Jamey said. At the end of the day, it is something you have to want to do and be passionate about doing, and I’ve thought about bailing a few times before.
I think there’s value in what you do, and I wouldn’t get bogged down on the number of RSS feed subscribers…I think, according to Bloglines (the RSS I use), I’m one of just 5 or 6 people who subscribe to LSB through Bloglines.