Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Proof of Evolution

Posted by Ed Brayton on August 26, 2005
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We have witnessed a speciation event right here on this blog. In the last 24 hours, this blog has gone from being a “marauding marsupial” to being a “large mammal” in the TTLB ecosystem. In this case, however, the event was in fact the result of an intelligent designer. More specifically, it was the result of someone more intelligent than I am telling me that if I added my sitemeter code to the individual entry pages it would more accurately count the number of hits I get each day (because a lot of people who visit my blog follow a link to a specific entry rather than to the front page of the blog). So I did that and my daily hits about doubled, moving me much higher on the TTLB list. The good news for William Gibbons is that there will be no transitional form left behind, so he can continue to believe it didn’t happen. The speciation event was abrupt and sudden, as Gould and Eldredge predicted.

Along those same lines, sometime in the next few days this blog will go over 250,000 hits since its inception. That’s an amazing number to me, and I am truly appreciative that I have so many readers who enjoy my writing and keep coming back to contribute to the discussion and smack me around when I say something dumb. I always go back to this delightful statement from my favorite writer, HL Mencken:

One reason, I believe, is that an author, like any other so-called artist, is a man in whom the normal vanity of all men is so vastly exaggerated that he finds it a sheer impossibility to hold it in. His overpowering impulse is to gyrate before his fellow men , flapping his wings and emitting defiant yells. This being forbidden by the police of all civilized countries, he takes it out by putting his yells on paper. Such is the thing called self-expression…It is the pressing yearning of nearly every man who has actual ideas in him to empty them upon the world, to hammer them into plausible and ingratiating shapes, to compel the attention and respect of his equals, to lord it over his inferiors.

Despite the fact that this is primarily an exercise in egotism, I can sincerely say that I appreciate the feedback and discussion I get from so many well informed and eloquent readers. And the few obnoxious trolls I’ve managed to attract (yes, I’m talking about you, Mr. O’Brien) are at least good for providing amusement. So thanks for helping make this blog bigger than I ever imagined it would be.

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Comments

  1. #1 the Ticktockman
    August 26, 2005

    While no transitional form might be pointed to as evidence of your apotheosis, we have ample proof of “new information” generated within the site’s genome on a regular basis. It’s this steady flow of new information that keeps lurkers like me stopping by, and I thank you for the time put into this blog.

    -TTm

  2. #2 Joshua White
    August 26, 2005

    Thank you and you’re welcome!

  3. #3 spyder
    August 26, 2005

    A huge and shouting Thank You to you Ed. If i may report an observation that is purely without referential data; one of the not so trivial merits–of this blog, the posts, and comments–is that DftCW has the fewest spelling, syntax, and grammatical errors that i have seen in the blogsphere.

  4. #4 Patterico
    August 27, 2005

    Ed,

    Your writing has always made this blog strong. That’s why I picked it out as an underrated gem long ago. I’m glad to see you’re finally getting some small measure of your due.

    However, I don’t think your change in SiteMeter placement is relevant to the TTLB ranking. It was a critical move for accurate traffic measurement, but I believe that your SiteMeter is not relevant to the linkage ranking.

    Rather, I think the Bear must have just done something to upgrade his software monitoring a site’s links. I myself just leaped into “Playful Primate” status from about 15 spots down into “Large Mammal” status. I think the timing of my evolution parallels yours.

    Don’t get cocky, kid. Like shit, devolution happens, too. I was once a “Playful Primate” for a couple of weeks. I soon slipped back into my mammalian fur for some months, until the very recent aforementioned leap — which I am also not expecting to last.

    But enjoy it for now. I can say without reservation that you deserve it, and more.

  5. #5 Ed Brayton
    August 27, 2005

    Patterico-

    As it turns out, you may be right. The large mammal designation only lasted a day, then back to being a marsupial and now a large mammal again. Devolution in action, perhaps? The sitemeter stats really did double though. And the TTLB link stats are way off. Technorati lists me with over 200 unique links but TTLB only has around 100. But I assume that’s probably the same for other blogs too.

    Thank you for the kind words, by the way. It feels particularly good to get such praise from someone who generally disagrees with me on things.

  6. #6 Patterico
    August 27, 2005

    Yup, and I’m back to Large Mammal status. I think everything changed for a lot of people for a day, and then changed back.