December 17, 2003

THE SADDAM SPIKE

Spleenville usually generates about the same amount of traffic as Crikey.com.au (and way less than US lefty site Bartcop) but look at the difference since Saddam was captured ...

Posted by Tim Blair at December 17, 2003 11:52 AM
Comments

No doubt because a lot of what Crikey generates is drivel.

Posted by: Simon at December 17, 2003 at 01:03 PM

So what happened the second week of October ? Theres a pretty good spike there.

I also note Spleenville is closing in on Andrew Sullivan ...

Posted by: Robert Blair at December 17, 2003 at 01:11 PM

Tim’s Web site has grown international & should be put under United Nations control in order to assure its legitimacy. And it’s time for Tim to start putting a good word in for hard-working UN diplomats.

Posted by: ForNow at December 17, 2003 at 01:16 PM

Now, those guys know how to do lunch!

Posted by: Razor at December 17, 2003 at 01:19 PM

Whats the deal with the vertical axis? The higher you go the less you get?

Posted by: Grunter at December 17, 2003 at 01:57 PM

Uh, Tim, It's because you've been posting a lot more lately.. plus the Instapundit links. I think it's really that simple.

Posted by: Bill at December 17, 2003 at 03:50 PM

Yeah,

What's with the verticle axis? Is it ranking? So Spleen is heading towards the top 10,000 while Mayne's dropping out of the web charts? Please explain.

Posted by: BH at December 17, 2003 at 04:29 PM

It is like the top 100 song chart. The more people that visit your site - ie the more hits - the better ranked you are ie the higher you sit on the charts - so Spleenville is sitting in the top 20000 of sites based on the hits it has received over a certain time period.

I gave crikey a hit to see why - hmmm move along not much to see there. Only two articles on Saddam and a sneering piece of crap written by one of their reporters from Hong Kong slagging off at Oz. That is a crowd puller for sure.

Posted by: Rob at December 17, 2003 at 06:05 PM

Conclusion: Saddam was reading their blog and refreshing his IP every few minutes.

Posted by: Tim Newman at December 17, 2003 at 10:36 PM

Rob -- don't forget that the bulk of Crikey's content is contained in its daily subscriber email bulletin. The website is essentially a teaser.

Posted by: Robert at December 17, 2003 at 11:15 PM

A teaser eh? Some tease! Like getting some chick home and finding that instead of sweet apple pie you've ended up with meat and two veg! Blech.

Posted by: Rob at December 17, 2003 at 11:24 PM

Whatever. If Tim can convince 5000 people to part with $77 each to read this blog, it might be a fair comparison.

Posted by: Robert at December 18, 2003 at 12:59 AM

Specious. Whether people pay to read Spleenville or not is immaterial.

A more useful question is why anybody would pay to read Crikey.

Posted by: Harry at December 18, 2003 at 02:50 AM

I'd like to say I had something to do with it, but I know better.

Posted by: charles austin at December 18, 2003 at 03:27 AM

Actually, Robert, a lot of people have paid that much, and more, although they still would be able to read this site for free. Nowhere near Crikey levels, of course, but then again I'm not sending e-mails out every day asking for money.

Besides, the comparison isn't specious. I'm comparing this free site with Crikey's free (non-subscriber) site. And Crikey works much harder at generating publicity that this place does. Plus, Crikey has a staff. It's a business.

Posted by: tim at December 18, 2003 at 03:42 AM

Tim - WHAT? You don't have STAFF??

Who the hell does your TYPING? And FILING? And gets your LUNCH?

Posted by: ilibcc at December 18, 2003 at 10:03 AM

Lunch. Yes. Especially lunch.

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at December 18, 2003 at 12:56 PM

Tim, I have no doubt that you receive very generous donations, and good on you. But I imagine Crikey also receives contributions over and above the $70 subscription.

I understand the comparison is between the free sites. But let's face it -- everyone knows their best stuff is in the emails, and everyone knows your best stuff is here. Somewhere... ;-)

Posted by: Robert at December 18, 2003 at 02:43 PM

Congratulations on the spike Tim-san.

Your magnanimousness spiked my conscience, so i just hit your paypal tipjar. Probably won't buy much more than a Vegemite sandwich tho.....

(^-^)

Posted by: daniel at December 18, 2003 at 06:54 PM

A vegemite sandwich? LUNCH!

Posted by: tim at December 19, 2003 at 12:45 AM