Germans love "Pornography"

Every once in a while, I get curious about what the stats for a month are looking like before the month ends. Today is one of those days. And I notice that, for the month so far, Steve Almond's Pornography is not only in its accustomed spot atop the list of most viewed flashes on SmokeLong, it's having another berserk month, looking like it might actually register 2,000 hits for the month. So I got curious. I've wondered for some time now where all the hits are coming from, but haven't gone into the log files to find out. The log files, alas, are somewhat skimpy--they don't show what the referring link is, which is what I really want to know. But I still wanted to know physically where these links are coming from. Is there one person obsessed? Well, here's where they're coming from today:

00:06:54 Germany
00:25:57 Morocco
00:36:18 Morocco
00:45:36 Belgium
00:45:46 Spain
01:28:42 Australia
01:58:54 Brazil
02:02:47 Canada (Montreal)
02:07:45 Germany
02:54:39 Colombia
02:58:17 United States (Live Oaks, FL)
03:13:40 Dominican Republic
03:34:44 Mexico
04:04:22 Germany
05:17:57 Germany
05:29:59 Costa Rica
05:41:27 Greece
05:51:59 United States (Sunnyvale, CA)
06:07:37 Turkey
06:12:54 Netherlands
06:34:44 Germany
06:49:01 Germany
06:52:59 Japan
06:53:00 Japan
06:55:11 Germany
07:13:35 Romania
07:23:11 Germany
07:26:17 Germany
07:38:36 Macedonia
07:40:37 Finland
07:43:53 United States (Redmond, WA)
08:04:47 Germany
08:41:16 United States (Dulles, VA)
08:47:57 Czech Republic
08:54:39 Germany
09:28:13 United States (Sunnyvale, CA)
09:29:32 Turkey
09:36:47 Italy
09:47:05 Germany
09:47:08 Germany
09:57:02 Finland
09:57:43 Romania
09:58:33 Austria
10:04:59 Romania
10:17:21 Portugal
10:24:24 Germany
10:36:30 Turkey
10:38:38 France
10:42:35 Turkey
10:45:13 Italy
10:51:51 France
10:53:07 France
10:55:16 Norway
10:57:46 Romania
10:59:51 Saudi Arabia
11:00:31 Germany
11:19:26 Germany
11:19:43 Germany
11:30:32 Germany
11:37:59 Lithuania
11:40:13 Germany
11:42:36 Germany
11:48:39 Germany
11:57:59 Turkey

Okay, that's a half day's worth of data. Which leaves me even more bemused than I was before I began this exercise. How many of the people above are likely to be English speakers? Who are these people? Has Steve's piece somehow made it into an international (most likely German, based on the above) porn directory? I have no idea. But it makes me more curious than ever where our traffic is coming from. I'll have to see what resources I can tap to find what the referring pages are... stay tuned.

why aren't people outraged?

First they came for the Socialists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left
to speak up for me.

interviewed

Kay Sexton interviewed me on her blog today. Reading it back, the one thing that bugs me about it is that I'm so damned serious. I used to be funny. When did I stop being funny?

Amazon reviews

Did you know that Amazon hosts reviews of web sites now? I didn't, either. And SLQ has a page where it can be reviewed. Pretty barebones right now. But if you're a fan (or, okay, even if you're not and want to pan us), consider heading on over here and giving us a review.

Top Ten Page Views for September

Steve Almond is still on top, although Myfanwy Collins came very close to unseating him. A couple stories from the issue released in the middle of the month, and I imagine they'll show more prominently in October, once they've had a full month's worth of page views. Scott Ford is still hanging in there with his piece that will celebrate its third birthday in December. Choke on that, print mags.

1) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
2) Prey by Myfanwy Collins (3/15/06)
3) Five Fat Men in a Hot Tub by Jeff Landon (9/15/05)
4) How the Broken Lead the Blind Until They Both Become Something Else Entirely by Matt Bell (6/15/06)
5) Daffodil by Kathy Fish (6/15/06)
6) Everything by CB Anderson (9/15/06)
7) Axl Rose Is My Dog by Scott Ford (12/15/04)
8) Twelve Steps Down by Mark Budman (9/15/06)
9) A Foreign Woman by Roberta Allen (6/15/06)
10) See Odi Naked by Lisa K. Buchanan (6/15/06)