Thursday, February 28, 2013

Get Some


Today marks another important milestone. Four years ago, this blog was born.

I never thought this venture would last that long. Nor did I ever believe that I'd be averaging close to 7500 page views a month. That means more than 250 people a day are willing to subject themselves to my nonsense.

Crazy.

I've learned a lot in these four years. I've learned that milestones are an opportunity to shut down the rage machine and just riff on the events of the day.

For instance, did you know that since its inception, roundseventeen has been through 6 tag lines?

At the beginning, it started as:

Round Seventeen
28,000 words, rotated daily.

Language experts say the average American has a vocabulary of 30,000 English words. Mine isn't that extensive so I downgraded myself to 28,000.

At about the 300 post marker, the tagline changed to:

Round Seventeen
Now with 27% more cynicism.

That felt a little pedantic, and shortly thereafter changed again to:

Round Seventeen
At the corner of West Coast optimism and Bronx-born nihilism.

That was one of my favorites as I know it sent many readers scurrying to the dictionary to look up the principles of nihilism. I also liked the way it rolled off the tongue. It had a certain rhythm to it that only other writers can appreciate.

Personal factoid, there is never a time when I don't have to look up the proper spelling of rhythm. Never.

For a short time that tagline changed to the very paternal:

Round Seventeen
Because I said so.

In retrospect, this may have been my least favorite. That brought us to the latest iteration:

Round Seventeen
Enough bitterness and cynicism for two blogs.

Of course, that was yesterday.

Today, in addition to a reader reaction section at the bottom of every post we're also sporting a brand new shiny tagline:

Round Seventeen
Not always well-written, but always well-priced.

If you don't like that one, tough nuggies.
You get what you pay for.


(BTW, this month, a short month, was the second highest ever in terms of web traffic here at R17. I consider that a nice birthday present. Thank you.)







3 comments:

  1. I had a grade-school music teacher who taught my class the meaning and spelling of "rhythm" by making us chant it loudly, overemphasizing the "H", at least once a week. r-H-y-t-H-m. Seemed stupid at the time but damn if it didn't stick.

    BTW, my fave tagline remains "Now with 27% more cynicism".

    And congrats on being the funniest 4-year old I know.

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  2. Congrats on being the funniest 4-year-old I know.

    BTW, my fave tagline remains "Now with 27% more cynicism".

    ReplyDelete