In April 2009 I wrote my first blog post, which was the start of this Napoleonic Wargame blog. One of the very first to comment was Bob Cordery of Wargame Miscellany and writer of many wargame rule books. He was very generous in his comments and with practical advice on how to write blogs. I have followed his blog ever since (Wargaming Miscellany) and he has continued to comment and offer advice and support. We have never met, but I would consider him a real friend.
When I read his blog this morning I was very surprised, and not a little pleased, to find that my blog was the subject of his latest post. He commented on the small number of comments this blog receives and urged his many followers to have a look and perhaps comment.
According to his blog stats Bob has 394 followers and a total pageviews of 4,185,086. That is really impressive, but even more so is the large number of comments he receives on most of his posts. He has a very friendly writing style and obviously inspires interest in, and comments on, his wide range of blog posts. I know from the other blogs which I follow this is relatively unusual. A few bloggers have commented on the lack of response to their posts, and a couple have given up blogging as a result.
I currently write three blogs each week.
This is my main blog and covers all aspects of my Wargaming activities.
The second one is my 1813 campaign diary blog. As the name suggests it records the daily events in my long running Napoleonic campaign. It also has a battle report of each of the 432 campaign battles fought so far.
The third one is Jan and Paul in Spain. I started this one to keep friends and family up to date on what we are doing here in Spain. It is mostly a record of our hill walking activities with a U3A group which Jan and I run.
My purpose in writing blogs has always been personal satisfaction. Long before I started my first blog I kept a personal daily diary. It is a five year one, with a few lines for each day. I have kept one for almost all of my adult life. So blogging is only an extension of that activity.
Of the three weekly blogs, the easiest one to compare with Bob’s Wargame Miscellany would be this one. According to my blog stats I have 131 followers; I have done 931 posts and have had 1335 comments. All time visitors are 364499 and last month there were 1963. Not in the same league as Bob’s 394 followers and 4,185,086 visitors. But in my opinion quite respectable, and certainly more than I expected when I typed that first post 13 years ago.
Bob’s current post got me thinking about the relatively few comments I receive. 1335 comments sounds quite impressive, but it is only 1.4 comments for each of the 931 posts. I don’t know how many Bob gets for each post, but I would suspect 5 to 10, or even more.
On the one hand I am very grateful that after all of this time 131 folk follow the blog. I am also very grateful that 1963 of them read the blog last month. There were 5 posts in May, so if the stats are correct 392 folk read each one. However there were only four comments in May, and all of them from Bob.
Don’t think for one moment that I am complaining about the lack of response. I enjoy writing the blog each week, and until I read Bob’s recent post I was not even aware that there was so little response. If anything I was quietly pleased that I managed to have 131 followers. It was only today that I realised there were almost 2000 visitors last month. And none of this will prompt me to abandon the weekly blog. It is such an important part of my Wargaming activities that I would never consider stopping it.
But it would be nice to have more comments. I really enjoy each comment I receive, and I try to reply in full to any points raised.
So thank you all for following my weekly posts, and don’t take this one as a complaint that you have not commented more. But if you do have any comments or suggestions about the blog, please feel free to post.
I always read your blog , but I'm afraid I don't comment often . I too run a blog and as you do for my own entertainment mainly and have never really tried to advertise it so I don't get masses of comment either but I still enjoy blogging , Cheers Tony
ReplyDeleteThistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I don’t comment on every post on the numerous blogs that I read, but some - like yours - almost always have something that I want to comment about.
What I do like about your blog - and it is something that I do myself - is the fact that you always reply to a comment. This builds a dialogue between the reader and the writer … and I find that this helps to inspire and encourage me.
Keep up the excellent work … and I hope that you will get loads more followers and comments as a result of this blog post.
All the best,
Bob
There is certainly a silent majority amongst the blog reading population. Early on I used to sometimes wonder how many of the "views" were computer "bots" probing for a target for spam or to download a virus but I've bumped into a number of people on forums or in person at Wargame Conventions who read my blog but don't leave comments.
ReplyDeleteI like the questions and suggestions best but even the simple positive feedback is good. ( I don't think anyone has ever left me negative feedback,it seems to be a polite audience). I'm not entirely sure I would want every reader to comment though as I make a point of replying to each!
Anyway, the Napoleonic Wars, or any European Wars really are amongst those that I have least interest in these days, as are the higher levels of warfare in general, but I do still keep an eye on your blog and periodically stop by to browse through because it is something different from what I do and something that is very well done and presented and thus something I can occasionally learn from in as well as enjoy.
We are out here!
Thanks for sharing it all with us.
-Ross
It is a while since I have commented but I still read most of the blog posts...
ReplyDeleteI suppose the reason I don't comment more is that your games have reached a certain stage of perfection - it somehow feels like much comment on my part would be superfluous. Since I have followed the thread of your thinking since 'My Way' back in Miniature Wargames many years ago, I think I have a reasonable understanding of what you are aiming for and that you have achieved it, in terms of collection, tabletop rules, campaign rules and the integration between them. I have played your tactical rules and your campaign rules and they both work really well. For a couple of reasons neither is quite my cup of tea on most days, but that is almost entirely from my gaming having different objectives rather than thinking there is something wrong in your execution, because there isn't. So chatting in detail about rules mechanisms is probably redundant, usually.
Conversely, there are some issues that I face in my gaming that I am very interested in but I don't think that you are. For instance, your campaigns give great games but they look quite abstract to me: they don't seem like - because they aren't intended to be - a game-ified recreating of the problems facing Napoleon, Alexander, Eugene and Kutuzov at the beginning of 1813. Your campaigning in Spain doesn't feel very much like that of the rather motley French invasion of 1807-8, or Wellington's actual campaign of 1813 - and for very good reasons, these campaigns produced lots of very unbalanced battles, and sometimes no battles at all. And you could have done it: you have fought more major Napoleonic actions on your tabletop that occurred in the real thing. I on the other hand really want to get an 1805 campaign onto the table that reflects the actual conditions in September and October 1805.
As well, the vast majority of your battles focus on combat at roughly the same level, whereas I am interested in how to recreate some much smaller battles (say, Maida) and some much larger battles (say, Leipzig) and use quite different rules to represent them, because the command experience of Reynier and Napoleon respectively on those days seems to me quite different.
Anyway, very well done you on your gaming and blogging - an inspiration to us all.
Hi JWH
DeleteThanks for your comment . It was really thoughtful and just what I was looking for.
I find it quite hard to believe that anyone actually remembers “My Way” back in Miniature Wargames. That was my first attempt at putting my thoughts down on paper and opening them to the general public. If I remember correctly I was trying to explain my approach to Wargaming, and from your comments I seem to have achieved that aim. But my main memory is that I got some pretty harsh comments on the figures I was using. Strange how the same article has different memories to us both.
I think you are correct that I have achieved what I was setting out to do, and I am very happy with the result. But I have always stressed that what suits me does will probably not suit everyone else, or even a sizeable proportion of them. The beauty of Wargaming is that we all aim for different results, and we are mostly really single minded about what we want to achieve.
Like you I would probably not be open to making major changes to my campaign or wargame rules system. Not because I think it is perfect – far from it. In fact I adjust both wargame and campaign rules regularly. But because my overall aim is to play short, fast but most importantly FUN wargames. This does not mean that they should not reflect historical battles, but rather that the emphasis should be on fun rather than complete accuracy. Many years ago I went through the stage of trying to recreate historical battles. I found it an impossible task, and worse still a very hard and unrewarding exercise. I remember reading a comment by the late, and great, Don Featherstone in one of his Wargamers Newsletters. Something along the lines that it is quite impossible to recreate historical warfare on a wargames table. He, like me, had served in the military. His experience of actual war was much greater than mine. But we both understood how little actual military operations follow the plan. Something about the plan is abandoned when the first shot is fired.
But that is not to say there is anything wrong with trying to recreate a historical battle. Great fun researching the battle, building the terrain, collecting the model soldiers. But a lot of work for just one battle. And you quickly find it is impossible to recreate a historical campaign. Unless you fight each battle is isolation and don’t carry on the effects of the previous battle/wargame.
You will see that your comment really got me thinking. Already have plenty of ideas for future blog posts.
Thanks again for a really thought inspiring comment
Regards
Paul
Thanks Paul. As you say, memory does funny things - I remember your 'My Way'-era table being huge and full of lovely-looking big battalion Napoleonics based for 'In the Grand Manner' and can't believe that anyone would criticize that! The criticism I do remember - not very fairly expressed, I think, so rewritten here by me - was that your critic couldn't understand why you were organizing your campaign in the way you did (to ensure relatively fair battles for your club members) since (for him) it made the pre-battle campaign moves somewhat less important.
DeleteI think that I disagree with your comment that "we are mostly really single minded about what we want to achieve". I think *you* are very single-minded about what you want to achieve, as are some of the other most productive wargamers, but I suspect that the majority are much less-focused and prefer an approach which emphasizes options. Of gamers I am aware of, I think that only you, a couple of WW2 players and a few more Warhammer 40K players have adopted Brigadier Young's injunction to "pick one period and stick to it!".
I didn't mean to imply that I think your rules do badly as a reflection of Napoleonic warfare compared to other tabletop rules - I know from experience of your rules that the opposite is true. But more to the point, I think Don Featherstone didn't always have a very helpful approach to re-fighting historical battles - or at least, was trying to do something that most of us aren't. He would be quite upset by a recreation of Waterloo which didn't begin with an attack on Hougoumont, a bombardment and then an infantry assault by D'Erlon's Corps...whereas what most of us mean most of the time by a historical re-fight is simply to set-up the troops that were present on the day, perhaps in the same deployment as they started, but perhaps not, use a good set of rules, and then have at it. The same for campaigning - I don't expect a Peninsular War campaign to produce a Vimiero or even less, a Talavera or Salamanca; although part of the joy of historical campaigns for me is seeing how the mere conditions of the campaign will often produce very similar battles to real life. When I have re-fought the Peninsular War, I have been surprised by how similar the events of the 1808 period were to reality, although the disparity between campaign re-fight and history steadily enlarged into 1809. I really enjoyed your historical refights and campaigns when you posted them on the blog, although I got the impression from your notes that you and Jan found them less satisfactory than your own campaigns and the battles which they generated.
Just found your blog and have really enjoyed reading through your archived. I have found your story very interesting and look forward to following your blog with interest.
ReplyDeleteHi Martin
DeleteThanks for your comments
It sounds from your comment that I may have found a new recruit. Not what I was aim for with this post, but one which I welcome anyway.
I hope that you will have a look at the blog now and then, and more importantly that you will comment if you find anything interesting.
Best regards
Paul
I have followed your blog for some time now, despite not being a Napoleonic gamer, and have only commented a couple of times maybe, curious about elements of your campaign process.
ReplyDeleteMostly, I see your blog and the subject of your posts as being an amazing accomplishment and rather consider it in the same way I think of the contributions of Featherstone and Tony Bath. Your entire process is so complete and well presented; there is simply a beauty to it.
Since following your blog, you have helped to educate me about the period and inspired me to reseaerch it further. And maybe the most curious thing about what you have shared, is what I've taken away or given consideration to, that have been incorporated into, or otherwise impacted the execution of my own campaigns, despite them being set in such completely different periods.
Please know that despite my lack of comments, your effort is immensely appreciated.
Hi - I'm one of those slackers who lurk around the blogs, reading without comment (sorry) - please know I have enjoyed reading most of your extensive blogs. In reading & re-reading I have found much inspiration from your campaigning rules & map making
ReplyDeleteForgive me, twelve months ago I knew nothing of war-gaming & wrongfully assumed the participants were a mob of "anoraks". Then I stumbled upon someone's blog & found a wealth of military history, crafting skills & humour - I was hooked
This maybe the only comment I'll make but I'm still reading - for all your efforts THANKYOU
Hi Unknown
DeleteThank you for your comments
No need to apologise for not commenting. It is rewarding to know that you not only read some of my posts, but that you found them to be enjoyable.
I know what you mean about wargamers appearing “a mob of anoraks”. Certainly some of the wargame shows can give that impression. The advantage of blogging is that it gives both writer and reader the opportunity to express their considered view without the distraction of physical appearance.
I hope that you will continue to read. But I also hope that having made the leap to comment you may feel the need to do so again in the future, should you feel the need to do so
Best regards
Paul
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI do regularly look at your blog and also enjoy enjoy following your walks on FB. I think generally that blogging is not what it was a few years ago and has been largely overtaken by the FB group pages in my experience. My post views have fallen off considerable although there is still the core following for whom I am grateful as feedback does fuel enthusiasm to keep it going. I recently made the same post on the blog and on FB and the latter received almost 100 likes and lots of interesting comments while the blog post post got 60 views, interesting!
Oddly enough while my post views generally run at around 60 to 70 my last post on 2mm wargaming received a staggering 500 views - I have absolutely no idea why, possibly shared somewhere or possibly something more sinister, I don't know!
Anyway Paul, keep up the blogging,
Hope you continue to enjoy life in Spain, things are pretty grim here in the Uk right now.
All the best,
Lee.
Hi Lee
DeleteThanks for your comments.
I read your blog regularly, and I noted that you seemed to be getting a little jaded. I was sure that this would not last , and I note that you have started blogging again.
I am always surprised at the wide range of your interests. Not only different periods, but also different scales . You really give it all when you take on a new project, but it never seems to reach the wargame table.
As you said yourself, your real love is painting. And your painting projects for other wargamers must be very rewarding. Not only the wide choice of period and scale, but also the appreciation expressed so often on your blog comments from grateful waramers.
Although I also use FB a lot, I don’t really agree that it has overtaken blogging. Of course it is more popular, but you can’t really compare one with the other . FB is short and sharp and forgotten in seconds. Of course you get a lot of response, but it is so easy to “like” and dosen’t really mean much.
But you can really explore a subject on blogger, and I am sure leave a much more lasting impression on your readers. And you can also refer back to blog posts many years later. I still get emails about posts of my Walking Napoleonic Battlefields blog, and the last entry was a summary in May 2011!
Pleased that you follow my Monday Ramblers group on FB, but if you look at the same walk on Jan and Paul in Spain blog you will see a much wider selection of photographs, plus comments about the actual walk. And again they form a record of every group walk Jan and I have done since 2006.
What a shame that we never got together when you were living our here. We would have had so much to talk about.
Thanks again for your comment, but also for the help and advice you have given me over the years. Particularly in relation to my failed attempt to find a new home for my AB Napoleonic figures.
Best regards
Paul
Paul, receiving commentary on a post oftentimes provides just the motivation needed to continue the effort. Even having few comments does not necessarily correlate to low readership. As you state, you blog for your own enjoyment, so commentary is icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, visit your Spain walking blog regularly and enjoy looking in on your exploits hiking about the countryside.
My own blog posts generate between 30 to 50 comments each (well, half of them are mine!). There are ways to increase this two-dialogue if increasing dialog is a goal.
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, and indeed for starting this subject with the kind mention on your own blog.
Like you, I don't comment on every blog I read. Only when the subject is of particular interest, or more importantly I have some to add to the discussion.
But it is interesting that some blogs, such as your own, regularly attract comment. Others, like mine, do not. I suspect that the more your followers comment the easier it is for them to do so. It should be something natural, not something you have to think about.
It will be interesting to see if I do get more comments as a result of both your post and this one. And even more so if those comments will throw some light on the reason why you do and I dont!
regards
Paul
Hi irishserb
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your kind comments
They really are too generous, but I am more than happy to receive them.
When I started the blog I hoped that I might be able to influence less experienced wargamers than myself, and encourage them to explore wargame campaigns for themselves. I wanted to show how easy they could be to create and run. Even more I wanted to show that they could be fun, and not require thousands of expensive model soldiers to run. Using my rules and order of battle you could field a corps with just 32 infantry, 4 cavalry, 4 gunners and 1 gun.
My campaign looks complicated, but only because it has developed over 13 years. I started with a hand drawn map and symbols stuck on with blue tac.
I don’t think the wargame period is at all important, my campaign system could be used for any period. The simplified campaign rules could also easily be adapted to any period. The wargame rules would be more difficult, but the general principle could easily be adapted.
I am particularly pleased to hear that the blog has given you ideas which you then adapted to your own campaign.
Thanks for following the blog, and even more so for your comments
Best regards
Paul
Hi Ross
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
I do agree that the number of “views” is highly suspect, but I don’t know of any other way to gain an idea of the interest if the blog. I also suspect that some of the followers may well no longer follow! But again how to determine whether anyone is actually reading the blog?
On the other hand any comment does confirm that at least that person has read the blog. And more importantly has been inspired to comment on what they have read. This is perhaps the most important aspect of comments.
I would also agree that too many comments could be very time consuming, but that is not a problem I have encountered yet.
Thank you for visiting the blog as and when, particularly as you are not interested in Napoleonic warfare.
I hope that you will find the occasional post which you feel you would like to comment on
Best regards
Paul
Hi Jonathan
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment
I don’t really think I need comments as motivation to continue the blog. If I did I would have abandoned the blog long ago. Without doubt the real motivation is to provide an outlet where I can share my wargame experiences and to explain aspects of my 1813 campaign which the campaign history do not allow.
And, of course, you are right that lack of comments does not necessarily correlate to low readership. However given that the blog stats seem unlikely, it is hard to see how else you can get an idea of what interest there is in the blog.
Also the lack of comments does imply that the post itself was not sufficiently interesting or though provoking enough to inspire a comment . Obviously many of the posts will be of only passing interest to most readers, and one would not expect anyone to post regularly. But it does seem strange that apart from Bob almost no one else has commented.
I am surprised that you read my walking in Spain blog regularly. I don’t think I have ever had any comments on that. I know a lot of folk read it , particularly those living in or near Parcent. Because quite a few people stop us in the street, or come up to use in a bar, and say how much they enjoy it. That makes more sense, because the walks I report on are in their immediate area.
I am REALLY impressed that your blog generates 30-50 comments each. That is a real relationship with your readership. I am not sure I would want so many comments on every post, but it must be great to have such a relationship with your followers.
Best regards
Paul
Hi Tony
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
I am sure that many, indeed probably most, bloggers do it for their own satisfaction and entertainment. And indeed that like us don’t get a lot of comments. Indeed until I read Bobs post about this blog I had never really thought very much about it .
However his post , and even more so the comments I have received here, have made me think about it more and more.
I don’t think I posted this to advertise the blog, but rather to try to find out why one blogger gets lots of replies, and other very few. It may well be that one is a much better writer and offers more interesting posts. Or it may be that their style of writing simply encourages more replies. Rather like “open questions” in general conversation.
Best regards
Paul
Paul, from your reply to my comment, it may be helpful to switch your comments to "embedded" so that there is a natural hierarchy in discussion. I have commented on your Walking in Spain blog in the past. Maybe those comments fell into SPAM? It has been a long time since I last commented. A large number of comments does carry with it extra effort to respond to each. Time well-spent, I think. Taking the time to read and comment on others' blogs is a good step in building a bond between yourself and others.
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan
DeleteThanks very much for your suggestion to switch my comments to “embedded”. I had never heard the expression before, and I had to Google how to do it. But what a difference it makes.
In the past I have never had sufficient comments to require what you call “natural hierarchy in discussion”. But it certainly makes it easier to organise a more complicated response than I am used to.
I must check the comments on the Walking in Spain blog more. With this blog I receive an email when someone comments. I must make sure that I have something similar on the walking blog.
Best regards
Paul
Well, looking at the number of comments garnered from your latest post, the free promotion on Bobs blog seems to have generated a significant response! I have been blogging for about seven years and write in what I like to think is a conversational style that invites a reader response, so I do like to see double digit figures at least....I commented to Jon Freiburg recently that I am quite surprised I continued, as the first twelve to eighteen months, I have virtually no comments on any of my posts, which to me, at least, makes the whole process a bit pointless...I have tried keeping a diary a few times, but was never able to keep it up, so I guess that's just a manifestation of different personality types!
ReplyDeleteHi rross
DeleteI am very pleased with the response to my post, no doubt because it is so unusual for me to receive so many comments.
But I can understand that if you are used to receiving double digit figures for each post, it must be very difficult when the flow of comments decreases.
I started this blog 13 years ago, and have posted at least once a week since then. About the same time I started a blog about our 1813 campaign, and another one about our local walking group. So throughout that period at least three posts each week. Because I have not had the encouragement of regular comments, I have obviously done this for my personal enjoyment and satisfaction. But I can see that if you have a lot of comment s from the start, it might be difficult to keep going when they decrease.
It can sometimes be difficult to think what to write about each week, at least on this blog. My other two blogs are just a record of what I am doing each week, so no inspiration requited. When I started I never posted anything here about my 1813 campaign. But that is now pretty well my whole wargame experience, so recently I started including a short summery of the campaign each week, plus comments on what has happened. I often do these a week or so in advance, so I don’t have to face a blank page each Sunday.
I hope you are not tempted to give up your blog due to the recent decrease in comment s. I am sure you will miss it if you do
Best regards
Paul
“Jon Freiburg”???
DeleteDon't know, not my comment
DeleteI check in but am guilty of seldom commenting on your blog (confession).As a fellow bloggist. I certainly understand all of the issues and motivations of which you speak. For what it's worth, I would take heart in both the longevity of your blog and your substantial follower count--you're not wasting your time in terms of sharing and informing an interested audience.
ReplyDeleteHi Ed
DeleteThanks for your comment
I am just as guilty as you in that I visit about a dozen blogs most days, and only very rarely comment. It is partly because my interest is very much limited to the Napoleonic period. I also avoid commenting on commercial rules. I have long used my own "house rules", which I am very pleased with. But in the past I have posted on Forum about rules and have received a quite aggressive response. However if you venture onto wargame forums you must be prepared for that. Fortunately a more polite type of wargamer seems to frequent the blogger world. I don't think I have ever read an adverse comment on a blog.
best regards
Paul
Of course you are correct that the follower count is respectable, and has remained constant for many years. I am less confident about the blog stats recording visits.
I am very impressed with the number of comments on this subject. Most are from fellow bloggers, so it is obviously a shared interest.
Hi Paul -
ReplyDeleteBob Cordery's mention of your Napoleonic blog reminded me that I hadn't seen any traffic from thence for a goodish while. Which was odd, since not only has it been listed on my 'Favorite links' since I don't know when, I also have your 1814 Campaign Diary also listed there. However, it seems I was not a 'follower' (hiatus valde deflendus), under my own name (Ion Dowman) or my cognomen (Archduke Piccolo - which, by the way, I no longer seem permitted to use as my follower ID).
I have always liked your style of game and presentation, as very accessible and attractive. I enjoyed the one campaign I participated in, but, situated half-way - well, all the way, come to think of it - around the world, always had the vague feeling of being slightly out of touch.
At any rate, I'm glad to discover 'Napoleonic wargaming' is once more appearing on my reading list.
Please don't expect more than occasional comments from me. I like to have something fresh or interesting to say, and to keep it (more or less) relevant.
Cheers, and may your followership increase
Ion A. Dowman (Archduke Piccolo).
Hi Ion (Archduke Piccolo)
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your comment
Sorry to hear that you had problems with both this and 1813 Campaign blog. They ways of blogger are strange indeed, and defy logic. Some time ago the layout just changed overnight resulting in gaps between lines. I was never able to sort it out, and just left it. Now I see that although typed in word, when transferred to the blog it shows part of a post with 1.5 spacing and the rest with normal spacing.
I remember you from the PBEM, which I must admit I miss a lot. One of the great advantages, for me, was that it was so international. It was my first attempt at running a PBEM campaign, and I was always surprised that we could usually acieve a one week turnaround with ten players from all over the world.
I was very sorry to cancel it, but it became increasingly to find sufficient players to fill the ten roles. The worse were the players who quit mid campaign, failed to tell me and ignored my emails. It was only a small number of players over the six years it ran, but it took up an increasing amount of time.
Despite that I am very glad that I did it, and got an immense amount of enjoyment and satisfaction from running the campaign, receiving so much support form almost all of the players, and the enjoyable wargames it provided for Jan and I. It always added a lot to each campaign to know that at least two other people were very anxious about the outcome.
I hope that you will continue to follow the blogs, and that you will post a comment now and then when you feel the urge
Best regards
Paul