Biff Sock Pow

Poor Biff’s Almanac — Change Is Bad

Poor Biff's Almanac Graphic (Colored) #1 (upside down)

I’m one of those people who resist change.  I don’t know why.  I like to think of myself as a forward-thinking, progressive-minded kind of chap who is not afraid of new things.  And I’m not afraid.  I just don’t like it.   Even though I’m a highly-technical person, I always view new technology suspiciously until it has proven that it is useful in some way, not not merely a distraction.

So the results are in from changing my blog’s theme (aka layout) this past weekend.  Readership is down 50%.

I blame a lot of that on it being a Superbowl weekend and people being distracted by the game and the hoopla.  Blaming it on the Superbowl is easier than just admitting that I am responsible for this precipitous drop in readership.  And it certainly couldn’t be the quality of my content … so it simply must be the layout change that is at fault.

Unfortunately, I can’t go back to the old layout, as it was discontinued.

So I shall be muddling along and not looking at my stats for awhile because I am very much like an ostrich in a lot of ways.  Jamming my head down into the sand has made a lot of problems go away.  For instance, I hardly have any memories at all of the grunge music phenomenon in the 90s.  I proudly credit that entirely to having my head submerged in a veritable beach full of metaphorical sand.  I don’t really remember CB radios, the Fear Factor TV show, or planking for pretty much the same reason.

But as a philosophy of life, I don’t recommend it much.  If one’s head is in the sand, that means their nether regions are up in the air, and if there is one thing that Life and it’s size 12 boots can’t resist … well, I think you know the rest.

Anyway, I apologize for the layout change.  I’ll try to make up for it with some excellent content.

Starting tomorrow.

Obviously THIS post doesn’t qualify.

If you need me, I’ll be in the sandbox.

 

 

 

18 comments

  2. My absence had nothing to do with the Stupor Bowl or your layout—in fact, today is the first day I’ve gotten to actually LOOK at it. I was on a tight editing deadline and did almost nothing but edit in every spare moment until the job was completed. Wrapped it up on Tuesday, which was exactly on time, and then Wednesday & Thursday were jam-packed with other work that kept me away from home from morning until bedtime each day. Today, I’m slogging through emails and blogs I’ve missed, comments on my own blogs, and all that good stuff. So you’ll get tons of love from me today and tomorrow as I catch up with a week’s worth of posts. And for what it’s worth, I do love the new layout! Very clean and inviting.

    I am sometimes guilty of reading your entire post from my email, but when I click “like” for it, it does take me here to the site, so that counts as a visit for the like, even if I don’t comment. No worries, your faithful readers will still be around. It’s hard for me to keep up with the daily stuff, but eventually I get to all of them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Welcome back. Lynda! I’m sorry to hear that this was such a bear of a week for you. Hopefully things will settle down for you. And I know what you mean about getting caught up on blog posts and comments. I certainly don’t have as many followers as a lot of people on here, but it seems if I step away from my blog for 2 or 3 days, it takes me a week to get caught up on the comments! But I am very thankful for every comment I get. I suppose having too many of them is sort of a “first world” problem.

      Thank you for your compliments on my new layout. it is taking some getting used to for me, but so far I think I like it. There are still some changes I want to make in terms of making the content more organized, but that shall have to wait until I have more free time.

      Welcome back! And thank you for reading and commenting!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. nope, definitely not your change of theme. and anyway, change of theme is no big deal…not sunk in concrete, and not limited to one change per year. find another. in the meantime, i’m also just catching up as i spent the last three days in a VA hosp with my hubby, that sweet Navy vet of mine. so i’m playing catch up. carry on…

    Like

    Reply

  4. I’m no statistician, but even I know that statisticians will take anything with a small sample size with a very large grain of salt. Of course, they take their large margaritas with a large grain of salt too, so who knows? After a couple of those (and a couple more weeks of stats) you might see the world in a whole new way.

    Or maybe everybody’s like me, and a couple days behind on their reading.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Dave! I’m sure you’re right. I guess I was just a little jittery after I’d changed layouts and worrying that I’d ruined everything. So, to see a precipitous drop in readership was a little disconcerting.

      And you’re absolutely right. I am way behind on my reading, so I’m guessing everyone else is, too.

      Keep an eye out for any wayward statisticians!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I am pretty sure that readership was down over the entire WP site….that’s all it was. A computer glitch! NOT YOU! see? it was a techie thing. do you feel better? (yea right, it was totally you changing the theme…*rolling eyes*)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, JM! 🙂 I guess I’m just a little insecure when it comes to my blog. I still feel it is at that fragile just-starting-to take-off stage. Thanks for the encouragement! I’ll give it another week or so before I panic.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  8. Awwww Bibibibbibibiibibibbibibiff! I bet it WAS the SB’s fault.

    Your knew blog look is just fine 🙂 I think Linda has something there too… And I shall go look for that option too, just in case it’d bring a few more people to the Cove 😛

    If your stats don’t go up this week, let me know, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll do something! 😉

    P.S. There is an all week long party going on in The Cove, it wouldn’t hurt if you came and had a beer with us 😉 Just sayin’ Muuuuah!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. Psssst… a little tip. Go to your admin panel, go to “Settings,” and click on “Reading.” Down the page you can select “show summary.” Choose that. Otherwise, people can read your whole post in the email they get without clicking over to your blog, and it doesn’t show up in your stats. You probably have hundreds of people reading, and you don’t know it. 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

I Love Comments!