Posted by
Andrews on Friday, June 05, 2009 11:50:46 AM
I have noticed something odd examining the traffic to my site. Thanks to Site Meter, I get to see the page which refers users to my blog, and it is quite revealing. You see, I have spent quite a lot of time refuting conspiracy theories, arguing against Wikipedia's methodology, and debunking those quotes you often see attributed to Rush Limbaugh, George Bush and others. As a result, I seem to be getting an increasing number of hits from people who are looking up such matters. Most recently, I got a query for "George Bush Sr killed RFK".
It is one of those ironies of the internet, whatever you argue against, you end up with traffic from readers having the exact opposite intent. I suppose in one way it is a good thing, as you get the chance to bring your message to those most in need of it, on the other hand, it does tend to bring you traffic of the most inappropriate kind. For example, I am sure thanks to his quoting of broadcasts he detests, Brent Bozell gets a ton of hits from people who are fans of the shows he criticizes. Similarly, I get regular visits from both the tinfoil hat squad and those who want to run down Rush Limbaugh. (And, oddly, people seeking proof of the "7 million died of starvation during the Great Depression" myth.)
I suppose this is mostly off-topic, but I thought it might amuse my readers to hear of the strange people with whom they share this site.
POSTSCRIPT
My most frequently hit posts are "
A Request for Rush Fans" cited
here and
here, "
One More" which has a trackback
here, and "
Amusing "Truths"" which is linked
here. And, most strangely, "
Way Off Topic", which seems to get a lot of hits from Wikicommons users. There are probably a few more, but those are the ones I recall off the top of my head.
Update (06/05/2009): I can't believe I forgot this, but the other handful of hits I got was due to an off-the-cuff comparison of Obama to Allende in "
A Thought on Analogies". Thanks to that analogy becoming more popular, I got a few new readers, enough that I actually revisited the topic in "
Revisting the Allende-Obama Analogy".
POSTSCRIPT II
Since I mentioned it, I might as well put in a small plug for some old threads. First, my rants about Wikipedia:
Stop Confusing Me With The Facts!
Mystery Quotes
Wikipedia?
The Failure of Wikipedia
Opinion Masquerading as Fact
Funny Numbers
What is Wrong with Wikipedia?
Endangered Species
Sterility of Formal Economics
Deceiving Themselves?
A Question About Language
Why People Don't Take Academics Seriously
A Request for Rush Fans
Wikipedia Absurdities
Proof Positive
Some Libertarian Analogies
Have to Love Wikipedia
Wikipedia Syndrome
Yet Another Wikirant
Final Comment on Wikipedia (For Now, Anyway)
Wikipedia Absurdity, Or How To Create Your Own Citation
Now I know Why
Rush Debate
Vindication
Predictability
Second, my writing about conspiracy theories.
Sinister PNAC? Hardly!
Food For Thought
Bill Clinton Murdered Leon Trotsky!
Idiots or Geniuses?
Dismissing Conspiracy Theories
Our New Paranoia
259 Lies?
Isn't History Enough?
The Appeal of Conspiracy Theories
A Shortcoming of Conspiracy Theories
Amusingly Left Wing
Absurdities on Oil
Your Fellow Man
Revival of an Old Absurdity
A Question for Those Who Believe "Bush Lied"
Tips for Conspiracy Theory Buffs #1
Rewriting History Concerning World War II
Those Darn Jews
Those Darn Jews Part 2
One Last Time
Conspiracy Theorists' False Logic
Conspiracy Theory Enters the Mainstream
Can They Both Lose?
All In How You Say It
Conspiracy Theories
Sorry, But Jews Aren't the Problem
Not A Smoking Gun
Mumia, the DaVinci Code, Full Body Scans, and Loose Change - How Conspiracy Theories Arise
The Zionist Conspiracy and Israel Lobby
Finally, my rebuttal of those Limbaugh quotes can be found listed in the postscript to "
Rush Debate".
POSTSCRIPT III
And, for those who are curious, this post does mean I am feeling a little better, and so will be writing today. Work is a bit piled up from my absence, so it may be a while, but I will try to get to at least some of the posts promised in "
Upcoming Posts".