When Five Hundred Posts You Reach
… look this good you will not. But man, I tell you, the memory goes.
In the July 1985 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov wrote:
Yesterday I sat down to write my 321st essay for Fantasy and Science Fiction. […] It went swimmingly. I was pleased at the ease with which I worked out its construction. It practically wrote itself and I scarcely had to look anything up. I whistled while I worked. And then, when I reached the last page and launched into my climactic paragraphs, I thought to myself: Why does this suddenly sound familiar to me? […] Hoping earnestly that my memory had misfired, I looked it up. It turned out to be essay #182, first published in the December 1973 issue. There it was. That earlier essay was essentially what I had just written.
The other day I wrote a blog post. It went great. It was strongly opinionated and about an interesting topic. I did a web search to make sure that I had a particular fact straight and… I found my own previous article on the subject. Apparently the late Dr. Asimov and I have at least one thing in common. (I also have something in common with writer Neil Gaiman, but that’s another story.)
It seemed to me looking back that I started off with a huge backlog of old emails answering real user questions which I could use for blog articles, and indeed, when I got started there, I was posting a couple a day. And then over the years I both got busy with other things (writing and editing books, for example) and ran out of canned emails to turn into blog posts, so my rate of writing dropped off. And then lately it seems like I’ve gotten more of a groove back and am doing a couple a week.
I decided to see whether my memory was correct by computing the twenty-post moving average of number of days between successive posts: (Yes, I am a geek, but you already knew that.)
Yep, I think in this case my memory was correct.
Five hundred posts from me and six thousand comments from you all in less than six years seems like rather a lot. I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone who has given me great feedback, interesting questions and technical and moral support over the years. You rock.
Enough chit-chat. On to more fabulous adventures!
Comments
Anonymous
May 28, 2009
Five hundred, and you're still consistently interesting. Good effort! I'm looking forward to the next five hundred.Anonymous
May 28, 2009
This sort of thing amazes me. Good topics, good writing, and it keeps going and going and going and... All I can say is keep them coming! There be readers here.Anonymous
May 28, 2009
Congratulations on your 500th post! If you find yourself in France anytime soon, I'll buy you a beer to celebrate.Anonymous
May 28, 2009
It's interesting that the peaks lean to the right; your posting frequency slowly declines, reaches its nadir, and quickly recovers.Anonymous
May 28, 2009
Always glad to see someone who is, at the same time, competent and passionate about his job, and a good writer. Keep going, while you still have fun with it :-) Now, if you only could change the color of your blog from purple to bla... ducksAnonymous
May 29, 2009
We've thoroughly enjoyed your blog for years; keep up the great work!Anonymous
May 29, 2009
Eric, Yours is one of the BEST development related blogs [Others are Joel, Raymond and Eric Sink] which has shaped how I think about software development and made me a better developer. I have much respect for your ability to explain difficult concepts with minimum text. If you are ever on the East Coast (NJ/NY) do let me know, I would like to buy you a beer! And here's to another 500 posts! Cheers! RJAnonymous
May 29, 2009
I look forward to your blog posts in that they have some depth. The comments are nearly as interesting.Anonymous
May 29, 2009
Eric, I would like to thank you for an interesting and informative blog. It continues to stretch my theoretical knowledge about C#, .NET & programming in general. I really appreciate it. NathanAnonymous
May 29, 2009
Congrats on ur 500th post. Great blog and fun to read.Anonymous
May 29, 2009
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 29, 2009
Thanks for sharing so many interesting things with the rest of us. congrats and keep the good work.Anonymous
May 29, 2009
Yours is definitely the most interesting programming blog I've read, Eric. Keep it up!Anonymous
May 30, 2009
You're consistently one of the blogs I recommend programmers read - good to see you keeping tabs on yourself, CongratsAnonymous
May 31, 2009
Congratulations Eric! 500 is an amazing figure to reach, and it's more impressive that in each post you manage to be interesting, informative and (rather importantly) entertaining. I only started reading your blog a year or so ago, but I've had fun reading through the archives ("riddle me this google" is a gem). Thankyou for the great posts, as always I look forward to reading your next one.Anonymous
June 01, 2009
Congrats and Kudos to you! Looking forward to more :)