Uh, well, here we are, I guess. Five thousand posts. Huh.

This has been my goal since that first post 1,291 days ago. I posted about The Gutenberg Project back then, back when the site was deanebarker.net. Since then, we’ve managed to post just under four items a day, every single day.

I hope that longevity counts for something. I know we’re no Slashdot or Digg or Kottke or Boing Boing, but we’ve been doing this fully and consistently for a long time now, and there’s something to be said for that.

Five thousands posts has been the goal since I started. So now what? We’re close to 10,000 comments too, so that’s the next milestone. One thousand subscribers in Bloglines would be nice (we’re at 699 as I write this — top 200 would be nice too, but the 200th feed right now has over 3,000 subscribers, so maybe that’s hoping for too much).

I keep wondering how readership of a blog expands. Does it expand incrementally, one reader at a time, or is there a big explosion one day when you get Slashdotted or something? I tend toward the one reader at a time theory, and I try to be a mensch in the hopes that tomorrow, one more person will come read the site that wasn’t here yesterday.

I always get philosophical when we hit these milestones. I keep wondering where the site is going next. Some people have asked for a forum, and there are a bunch of other directions and options, I guess.

But the bottom line is that I’m really good at pretty much one thing — writing blog posts. And while I sit and ponder Gadgetopia’s position in the universe tomorrow, I’ll probably post about half-dozen different things.

And, in the end, maybe that’s just the way it’s always going to be. I can think of worse things.

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Comments

1. Comment by Brian, February 22, 2006 5:17 pm

   Congrats!

2. Comment by Brian Benzinger, February 22, 2006 6:47 pm

   Great new! Congratulations. I’ve got no where near that many posts! Lets hope you reach your next goal with Bloglines ;-)

3. Comment by Will Hayworth, February 22, 2006 6:49 pm

   Congratulations, and keep up the excellent posts!

   I’ll tell you…I read a good number of blogs, and it is your posts that I spend the most time savoring in general; the topic mix that you’ve got right now is perfect.

4. Comment by Tommy, February 22, 2006 8:54 pm

   Congrats. I’ve been lurking around here almost daily for a few weeks. I’ve been a long time reader of similar sites like Engadget, Download Squad, and Lifehacker. I now prefer your site. I appreciate your posts contain more then a handful of words. Keep it up, I enjoy your musings.

5. Comment by ardief, February 23, 2006 2:43 am

   Congratulations…I’m a geek-in-training :) and I get so much out of your blog! Thanks!

6. Comment by Peter Shen, February 24, 2006 8:37 pm

   Congrats!! :-) I have a question though, how come this post is actually numbered 5048 in the system? Database key values? Non-posts or deleted?

7. Comment by Deane, February 24, 2006 8:54 pm

   I have a question though, how come this post is actually numbered 5048 in the system? Database key values? Non-posts or deleted?

   Deletions or false starts, probably. I have no doubt we’ve had 48 of those of the last four years.