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Sunday 31 March 2013

One year Ravalation


One year ago, I was really excited for posting my first message on this blog. I remember being afraid that people would laugh at what I was writing and what my blog looked like. Ravalation was (and is) my first blog, and everything I did was scary. Luckily I got positive feedback from a few bloggers, and that made me confident enough to keep going.

And now all of a sudden it's my anniversary and I don't really know what to do about it. I thought it would be weird not to mention it at all, so I'll take the opportunity to look back at what has happened over here at Ravalation. Beware my navel-staring!

Here, eat some graphs

Everyone loves graphs, so I'm sure you're okay with me feeding you some.

It's cool to see how your little corner of the internet gets visited a bit more, coming from 74 pageviews a month, going to over 5000.

Total pageviews at March 30 2013, 2 pm: 39,743

For all those who ever referred to this site, thank you! It's much appreciated.

And it's even more fun to spy on you guys... mwouhaha. Not that I get to know much more than the origin of anonymous visitors. Still, it's fun to see where your readers come from. 

*note to self: be nice to Americans*

*note to self (2): stop sounding like a creepy stalker*





I love how there are people from all over the world reading my nonsense.


So what do you guys like to read about?

Top 5 posts of all time:
1) LOTRO: Should you play a lore-master?
2) LOTRO: Lore-master legendary items
3) LOTRO: Riders of Rohan legendary edition
4) LOTRO: My hideous appearance
5) LOTRO: A tourist guide to Rohan: the Wold

Okay, so you like LotRO I guess, and lore-masters in particular. 

Most people seem to want to read LotRO advice posts. While I do enjoy writing those and I'm happy that the relatively large amount of time that they cost to make pays off, I prefer to write about my adventures, including other games (at the moment especially SWTOR). This means Ravalation will probably never get super popular, but that's not really the point anyway.

Okay, I've played enough with graphs for today. Many thanks to Create a graph, a website meant to teach kids how to make graphs, but which kept me busy a whole afternoon (guess what that says about me).

Here, have another lore-master. Because you guys like them so much.

A short history

When I started blogging I only knew of two gaming blogs, but everything changed with the Newbie Blogger Initiative (NBI) in May. The NBI made me discover that there were loads of people writing about the games I loved, and from there on things started rolling.

What happened in-game?
I've always considered LotRO to be my main game. It's the first time since 2007 that I now don't. For some reason I don't get absorbed as much by the new raid as I've been before, and SWTOR proves to be much fun. We'll see where the road takes us.

I've changed Ravalation's layout a bit through the time (oldest to the left, current to the right).

Hall of fame

Blogging is fun, but it's not half as much fun without a readership. That's why here's a small hall of fame for my commenters, who wrote a total of 631 comments! I hope the individual numbers won't push you down into a "omg, what have I done with my life" sort of crater. I have gotten to know each of you a bit and I consider you my blogger friends. It's amazing to have you here!

Top 5 commenters:
1) Rakuno (51)
2) Lothirieth (44)
3) Danania (38)
4) Vaneeesa (28)
5) Rowan / Daniel (each 27)

I would like to thank all of you, both commenters as well as silent readers, for taking the time to read my ramblings this past year. On to another year of Ravalation!

Ravanel goes off to discover more adventures!

11 comments :

  1. aww, congratulations! how exciting! It's really looking great over here!

    xoxo

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  2. Congratulations! Here is looking for another year of reading Ravalation! :)

    ~ Rakuno

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  3. Congratulations! I'm surprised you've only been blogging for a year, because while I've only been reading for a few months, the blog's always had the feeling of something that must've been around for a while to me. :P

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  4. Yay Rav!!
    I guess I knew that you had been blogging only a year since you showed up in the Newish Blogger list but you do it so very well that the fact was just lost on me. You inspire me to be better and I enjoy coming to read your articles and see your pictures (and your graphs are great!).

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  5. Congratulations on one year of blogging from me, as well! I remember when you first got started and were so nervous about it, and now you've gotten so much experience with all the elements of design and writing and nerdy parts. :) You're still an inspiration to me (I continue to compile blog articles in my head and promisepromisepromise that I will someday write them down. I decided that I want to try and write my own blog code first - instead of using Blogspot or Wordpress - so that's a challenge and motivator for me.) I'm also honored to have been one of your top commenters! (although it's funny to see you call me "Daniel." I guess I sound so formal if I use my Google account. :-P )

    Here's another wonderful year and many more of Ravalations! :) (Must keep up with Rowan for posts now...!)

    (Rargh! Spoiled by the wiki and didn't realize I can't edit my comments. Sorry for the double-post.)

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  6. Awesome! Congrats! You and I started at around the same time, but I think we have much different results. Now, noticeably, I'm not as prolific a writer. Trying to get better at that, but I find the activation energy quite a hump to get over. Give or take, though, we have about the same amount of views (which, holy hell... 40K?! WHA?!), but all of mine seem to be concentrated into 1 single post... about 2x every other page combined.

    But when it comes to comments... you're tied for third. :)

    - Ocho

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  7. congrats on your anniversary! looking forward to reading more :)

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  8. Congrats on your first year. I love coming and seeing what you're up to.

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  9. Thank you all for the sweet congratulations and for making this blog happen!

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