Who reads my blog?
Hello! Thank you for reading what I write. Sorry to ask, but… who are you?
I was chatting to a friend about what it is like running a blog, finding new topics, keeping up with a daily schedule, moderating comments, etc. And they asked, quite reasonably, "who are your readers?"
And, honestly, I have very little idea! The only analytics I have on here is basic WordPress JetPack statistics. I can see which posts are popular. I get a sense of which countries you are in. If you leave a comment, I know the name you choose to give. If you link back to my posts, I know what your website is.
But, that's pretty much it. I don't know your age, height, gender, dietary needs, or the date of your last colonoscopy. Frankly, that's the way I like it! I write, you read. You don't have to pay me in fiat, crypto, or your personal data.
It is nice if you subscribe and/or share my posts. But there's never going to be a big pop-up asking for your email address, or trying to make you sign in with a social network. I don't need to know anything about you.
And yet… I'm curious!
About 500 of you subscribe by email. A few thousand of you subscribe by RSS. Even more come via links from social media.
If you're comfortable, I would love it if you dropped a note in the comments of this post. You can either just say "hello", or you can tell me why you read, or what you like, or what you'd like to see more of. Leave a link to your blog, if you have one. Or just say what part of the world you're from.
So, who are you?
I don't know really what specifically I like, or what I'd like to see more of - but I like the voice you have in your blogging, I often find out something new to me, or you post about a side interest I already have.
I do like that your posts generally aren't super long, that I have to put aside time for, and take a run up!
Iirc you disagreed with the system of government I was proposing (direct digital democracy) but felt like the campaign was an interesting idea nonetheless. Which I thought was a pretty cool reason for donating.
@edent says:
In my case, I probably know even less about my "audience" because I actively sabotage any chance I have of meaningful analytics: no tracking JS, access logs rotated fortnightly, etc. (there's a draft blog post about the hows and whys of that somewhere too, but I just need to find the right words to sensitively explain that yes, I've written code to undermine Jetpack's tracking, but I don't want my choice to do that to reflect on my employer... who makes Jetpack 😅).
I subscribe by RSS and have for years: I'm a huge fan of RSS. I can't remember how I first came across your blog. You'll also find me on OpenBenches (the geocacher/geohasher/OpenStreetMap contributor in me approves) and represent, I think, 50% of the project sponsors on Github. 😂
In the rest of my life I write WooCommerce-related code for Automattic, break into badly-secured computer systems and then tell the owners how I did it, use military satellite networks to find lost tupperware in forests, and susprise myself every time a magic trick I try to learn works first time (which is almost never). I live in West Oxfordshire in a polyamorous triad that friends-of-friends like to use as the counter-example to oft-heard claims that nonmonogamous relationships aren't stable on decade-plus timescales (they can be, and ours is as we approach the end of our second decade), along with our two children.
@edent says:
Charlie Seaman says:
@edent says:
No real preference for any specific subject, for me the fun in blogs is the wide range of subjects one can cover!
I blog as well, too sporadically, I'm afraid, have done so for some 20 years.
@edent says:
I'm one of your RSS feed subscribers. I read your blog because of the broad digital and tech things you write about. In my feeds you're categorised as 'General' because I can't put you in any other category.
@edent says:
Mike says:
@edent says:
A Belarusian living in Slovakia, doing open source for a living, selling Dutch bicycles and parts for fun 🙂
I mostly hang around here to see how desperately you'll hustle for comments 😉
@edent says:
US based. IT management.
Robin says:
Anyway, I kept reading because I enjoy the blog and the randomness of the posts.
Ciao from the SF Bay Area!
Corey says:
I'm a 40-ish I.T. admin from U.S.A.
I subscribe to your blog over RSS, because that's how I get all my updates.
I like the way you post. Sort of conversational. Not too long, but with the right amount of information and story-telling.
I read every post from your blog, and I feel like I'm gaining something from all of them (even if I'm not likely to see The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, or dine at the Savoy).
I can't recall how I found your blog, or what made me subscribe, but I've currently dog-eared several of your book reviews to follow-up on and some of the SQFMI Watchy smartwatch information.
You mentioned rigidity issues, have you considered doubling the cost of Watchy by buying the CNC aluminum case?
At any rate, if you keep posting, I'll keep reading. Thank you.
@edent says:
I might pick up another case for the SQFMI watch. But it is on a long list of other half abandoned projects.
Thanks for reading.
Corey says:
Spike says:
I follow your blog posts via the daily email and tend to read all of them all of the ways through. They are always informative, interesting, and exceptionally well written.
Most of your programming posts are above my pay grade 😉 but I enjoy your book, beer, and gadget reviews.
Thank you!
@edent says:
Spike says:
Fred says:
DinoNerd says:
I don't recall exactly how I came to subscribe to your blog, but my usual route is that someone else signal-boosted posts of yours, which I liked enough that I decided to subscribe for myself. Most likely the signal booster was on Dreamwidth.
I’m Belgian and American and grew up in Germany. Currently located near Chicago, USA. Middle aged, married, one child, work as a programmer. Big fan of open source and non-corporate/federated networks. RSS is my favorite means of consuming online content.
I have an online journal ( https://www.esgeroth.org/log/) that is approaching the quarter century mark, but it’s mostly just personal ramblings.
@edent says:
No advice re content, other than to keep doin’ what you’re doin’. 🙂
I work in the software industry and am currently Director of Engineering at a smallish company. I am a writer and photographer in my spare time -- it's more than a hobby but not quite a side hustle or business venture. I'm also married and my wife and I have seven children between us, all adults.
I understand the curiosity about one's readers! I've blogged for almost 17 years and the curiosity finally got to me enough that I created a survey and asked my readers to complete it. 231 did (out of about 10,000 followers). I just published the results today.
https://blog.jimgrey.net/2023/09/10/results-of-the-2023-down-the-road-reader-survey/
Sam says:
Jorge says:
Kai says:
@edent says:
Stef says:
Please tell me what drug you're on to be able to write so regularly and have time to investigate so many different subjects.
BTW, I'm 60 and from Switzerland
@edent says:
I often have read your blog pieces based on links you and others share on Mastodon. I am mostly interested in open mapping and Web standards, and of course the intersection of those. I first discovered your blog when someone, I think maybe Bruce Lawson's blog, alerted me to a post about a map element for HTML.
I appreciate your dedication to blogging and am always amazed at your apparent insatiable curiosity.
I just added your blog to feedly.
Peter Cooper says:
Jeremy GH says:
I’m a 28 year old male (175cm, no restrictions, too young for that) sysadmin/help desk/one man IT department/computer guy from Zimbabwe.
I mostly read you through RSS and I like how you write as well as your tech savvy. My blog is at https://im.farai.xyz which doesn’t have any readers at the moment.
@edent says:
I like your writing as it is mostly around tech and I keep learning new things from your posts. And thanks for writing consistently.
Btw I'm from India, an undergrad majoring in CS.
Pierre says:
I've followed you on social media (first on Twitter, now on Mastodon) after we met at Tuttle c.2009 when I lived in London - I now live in Edinburgh.
I post erratically to two blogs (another is dormant!).
Keep it up!
@edent says:
A/S/L?
I came originally for the book recommendations! I stayed for the interesting posts about your journey with solar and your perspective on life in general. thanks!
I'm also very impressed at your continued blogging, it's impressive.
I'm a freelance geospatial software engineer, with interest in a wide range of tech/geek/nerd stuff.
Jakob Smith says:
| Reply to original comment on mastodon.me.uk
@edent says:
Sava says:
read-only (now that's not entirely true 😁) gal from south of France here. 42 y.o., 1 husband, 3 cats, russian roots (so not popular now, but sorry, not sorry). freelance IT of all (mostly not that amusing) kinds, language teacher, mountain pilot. RSS via feedly, came across your blog thanks to Google several years ago when looking into some obscure enough hardware.
generally I don't agree with you on any and all subjects 🤣, and that's precisely what I like (if I need an opinion that mirrors mine, I can just look at the, well, mirror).
sometimes when I really, really, really disagree, I write an angry and rude comment and then I just erase it and continue my read-only existence (but I think one or two of those still somehow got through my internal censor over the years 🤣).
basically, I just like your writing and find you a very nice guy 🤗
never dared to contact you when coming to London, though. too socially awkward for that 😁
@edent says:
Always happy to have a pint with random Internet strangers. As long as they promise to bring photos of their cats.
Sava says:
if I ever dare, of course. and thankfully I don't dash through London all that often 🤗
I have followed via RSS for a couple of years and enjoy reading your reasonably argued and opinionated posts. Most interesting stuff for me is when you give your personal insight on the NHS or telecoms companies but really like the range of topics. I arrived from a newbie tech angle as I was trying to figure out how to get my hobby popular history book review website off the ground and something you wrote helped, not sure what! Live in South London, male, early forties, 2 smallish kids.
Lex says:
Come here for two reasons - you're remarkably smart on IT and I value your insights. I love that you were a supporter of Open Rights Group so early and secondly, more recently, I deal with renewables at work and you're the only geek who puts out stats this way (that I know of, there are some from Twitter but they very much coming from electrician / plumber's sides which I grok).
I dislike the conservatism of the LGBT / trans posts but its all got very fraught and I just see it more from the TERF side. However I would never comment as I like the blog vibe. Its your blog etc etc.
More? Stay like this. Maybe reflections on what you have learnt over your career perhaps? Why you turned out the way you did? What make someone a good colleague? I dunno, don't change too much 🙂
@edent says:
@edent says:
Irene Bick says:
@edent says:
I like your site because I love any writer who will dig in deep on a topic, no matter how narrowly-targeted (maybe archaic?) and post a recreation of their thoughts or process of approaching it.
Mia says:
On a separate level I also really enjoy reading the musings of a cis-het man who actually gives a shit about trans people for no other reason than it being the right thing to do. I find a lot of media quite stressful to read as a trans person in this current political climate so having places of solace like this site are really nice to have 🙂
@edent says:
@edent says:
Zoe Knight says:
Also helps you married my cousin haha.
@edent says:
This is why I liked the concept of webrings and having a page that links the other blogs like yours to find new indie sites.
I found you via https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/09/a-floppy-disk-mp3-player-using-a-raspberry-pi/
I intend to release a no-fi version of my LP in this micro format using your post as inspiration. I'm an RSS follower because your other posts are super interesting. Reviving old hardware/software/hacky things is fun to me.
I'm a web developer (10 years professional) and a casual computer/software tinkerer. I've hacked game consoles, built computers and self-host various apps.
Thanks for the quality and considered content. And, thanks for respecting our privacy to the extend you don't know any of this already 🙂
@edent says:
According to my backups from previous feed readers: I was reading you at least by 2016. I keep you on because of your variety of stuff, some times it's interesting. I might have also bought a book you recommended at one point? Probably 🙂
@edent says:
I'm also pretty impressed with your hardware hacking - so I've added you to my reading list.
I read your blog via RSS. Even linked back to a couple of your posts too over the years.
I'm a Brit living in Ohio, USA. My site uses Eleventy. I too have zero analytics on my site, so my working assumption is I have a couple people who read because they know me 🙂 I don't have comments on, and have yet to show webmentions.
Been blogging since the mid-2000's I think, though most of that is now in a Wordpress export that was corrupted when moving hosts. Some day I'll get around to finding a way to reinstate those posts here.
| Reply to original comment on davidjohnmead.com
Jacob says:
I'm a student studying Computer Science, and as such appreciate your assorted tech insights. Look forward to more posts!
@edent says:
M. Seri says:
@edent says:
I'm the CTO at a software company
Burnie says:
Neil N R Lawrence says:
(oh and Geek Nights in Oxford too)
I mostly get to your posts from Mastodon, and really like how you re-post old and interesting ones.
I'm into web, security, privacy, open source and tech so a lot of your posts are pretty relevant to me. I also enjoy many of your other posts that aren't necessarily my interests, like your book and product reviews.
(I'm one of the email subscribers, btw.)
@edent says:
I'm JP, live in the Netherlands, love too much too mention in ICT-like stuff, personal growth and empowerment and adore my wife and our two daughters.
I get the emails, sometimes I read
I get the emails, sometimes I delete
Guess that has to do with the moment, time available and a choice of a bit over a zillion e-magazines fighting for my attention. I have not unsubscribed, not even felt like it so: KUDO's!
Ethan Z. says:
I'm Ethan Z. from the USA (Wisconsin). I found your blog through social media I think, probably during the pandemic lockdowns - maybe a retweet or a boost of the Doctor Who phone articles? Now I follow your feed and your mastodon posts.
I work for a co-op grocery. I'm an avid walker, reader, and hobby photographer. I recently started making small computer games and have been having quite a lot of fun (and frustration) with that.
Peter Sugarman says:
Best wishes
anonymous says:
raff says:
I’m just your average 40-ish dad who works in tech and also happens to build cockpits for fun in the basement or loves swinging a sword around 🤓
…and I almost had longer hair than you once 😛
| Reply to original comment on beko.famkos.net
Herman says:
I seem to enjoy the same topics that you enjoy, so keep doing that! And keep the swearing too - there should be more swearing on private websites!
@edent says:
Work for the NHS in things library / knowledge related and think I picked up on you when you were passing that way.
Always find something interesting to read in your posts. I like the range and the dismantling. Curious people who share what they know are always worth following.
I am an increasingly infrequent blogger
Jasper says:
Omega says:
Lee Hauser says:
Lee says:
I'm old, I work as a tech guy in logistics in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, I read a lot, and I'm pretty sure I started following you after I found you on Mastodon. Your interests and mine more-or-less coincide and I enjoy reading your stuff. I drive a 14 year old Prius and I'm not telling you my shoe size.
I discovered your blog through your Mastodon account, and I also have a blog at https://tarneo.fr .
I like the mixture of topics and the quantity of posts you have here, and so I'm subscribed with RSS.
I've commented a few times. I'm a UK-based geek working in Retail. I can't remember how I stumbled across your blog, but I really like the blend of things that you write about, especially the deep nerdery. I have my own blog, but it's been neglected of late. I'm trying to do something about that.
morph said on :
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What I enjoy about your blog is the wealth of variety on various topics. Solar, NHS , Public sector working, etc. etc. I also directly visit your blog from my RSS reader because it's one of my favourites to read, design wise.
Mark
Anon says:
Sjoerd (stuart) says:
Chris Wells says:
Chris March says:
After reading some of your other articles and enjoying them, I decided to subscribe. And here I am still!
Thank you!
@edent says:
I read via RSS because it allows me to check blogs in bulk when I feel like it, rather than being prodded by notifications. I like to operate on a pull, not push, model for most technology (which also explains why I'm only commenting on this post weeks later). I probably subscribed after seeing a few of your posts linked by Bruce Lawson and/or Cooper Press. Came for the tech stuff, stayed for the reviews of books from authors I'd never heard of — the Becky Chambers books are amazing!
(Although I also stayed for the tech stuff, to be fair.)
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