It’s Been 668 Days

This is one of those classic personal blog posts.

Here’s the structure:

1. I point out how long it’s been since my last post
2. I apologize for the inconvenience to you
3. I promise to do better in the future

I’m going to buck the trend and only do #1.

It’s Not an Abberation, It’s a Pattern

Yes, there have been 668 days since my last post, which was kind of a joke about the glue of the internet. Those 668 days, for those who are keeping track of such things, set a record. This current gap, which ends today with this post, surpassed the previous record by 181 days.

The last record was set in 2016 and its gap stretched back into 2015. I have been not writing on this blog for a long time.

Look, I made a chart:

Those first five years were prolific, but I explained that in a different chart in a post from 2015. I blamed it on the cobbler problem since writing blog posts has been some part of my professional capacity for years now.

The days between posts have expanded. In the last five years, I have written here 11 times. On average, that’s 178 days between posts. That’s about two posts a year, which is more than I would have guessed.

But things are about to get crazy.

Bursts Used to Be the Norm

I might not be sticking to the structure of the first-post-in-awhile post, but I am keeping the spirit intact. There’s already been one self-referential chart. Another is on the way.

During some time when I could have written a meaningful post, I reviewed the data for my personal blog. Something about the days between posts numbers jumped out at me: not only did I blog more frequently at one point, but I also used to publish multiple posts on the same day.

There were 61 days from 2005 to 2007 that I wrote two posts. The next year, it happened twice.

And then: a long, long drought. More than a decade.

Those with a keen eye for chart-reading will notice there were multiple posts published on the same day in 2022. Since this post broke a streak of almost two years between posts, it seems impossible.

Your omniscient narrator knows something you don’t.

I’m Not Sorry and I’m Not Changing

I’d originally planned a different post to share some news and poke fun at the plight of personal websites. But curiosity about the time between posts got the best of me and next thing you know, I’d made charts.

So, now I’ve gone to great lengths to point out how long it’s been since my last post.

But I haven’t apologized for the inconvenience to you. And I won’t. Because I hope you haven’t been reloading this page for 668 days.

I also haven’t promised to do better in the future. In fact, I showed data that suggests I’m more likely to do worse in the future.

Now…

Remember that different post I was going to share before I got distracted by this meta-post? The reason I’m confident enough to include same-day data in 2022 is I’ve already written that post. Through the magic of editing, I’ll include a link to it here once I’ve published it.

But please remember: just because I’ve published twice in one day for the first time since April 22, 2008, does not mean I’ve promised to do better in the future. And I’m not sorry about that.