Since John did a retrospective on his SF experiences of 2004, I thought I'd take a look at the big, blue SFS' 2004 went, both in terms of content and traffic. It could be interesting, who knows?

• January - January was our 7th month as an active, (mostly) SF-related blog. We were getting into the swing of things, what with John's review format taking charge and his personal short story (and the patented short story point system) challenge going into effect. We also learned the following about our geekness: JP (33.7%), Kevin (35.7%), John (37.28%)!!, Tim (31.55%) and Scott (33.93%). The most talked about post was from Kevin, concerning the possible demise of Enterprise.

  Unique Visitors - 2297
  Hits - 39324
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 5.4% of hits
  #1 search term - Paycheck the movie
  

• February - John's unhealthy obsession with a certain unnamed review gets a boost with the discovery of a kindred soul, La Gringa. We discoveredd that Asimov's Science Fiction magazine is actually an adult magazine, and here I was reading it for the articles. The most talked about post was about the Japanese SF movie, Casshern, which should be in theaters Stateside shortly.

  Unique Visitors - 2012
  Hits - 18919
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 27.2% of hits
  #1 search term - jpg 2 ascii (and thus, Dan's huge melon.
  

• March - March got off to unhealthy start when John invited everyone to 'Lick Isaac Asimov', as a stamp of course. There was also another update on the Japanese anime film, Appleseed, which almost a year later, is supposedly coming to US theaters in early 2005. The state of SF on TV is discussed and is generally agreed to be lame. Also, the SciFi Channel is rather in-aptly named. The most talked about post was about Ad Astra Games' tactical spaceship combat board game. It still looks cool.

  Unique Visitors - 2718
  Hits - 34771
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 16.5% of hits
  #1 search term - last exile torrent
  

• April - Pete threaten's to quit posting, actually does for a time, then comes back. And the great Pete-Tim flame skirmish of 2004 is joined. The Hugo's are announced (as are the Nebulas), and we have our say. Alastair Reynolds got a lot of play, with two novels and a short story reviewed. The most talked about post? The Worst SF/F Book Ever.

  Unique Visitors - 3304
  Hits - 44746
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 17.9% of hits
  #1 search term - clone wars cartoon
  

• May - SFSignal gets a facelift! Gone is the beautifully alluring purple, and in is the cool techno-blue of today. Lots of work by John to pull this off. The Essential SF Movie List for Beginners is unveiled, to much confusion on John's part. But then again, he's always confused. The most commented post? The new SFSignal!
  
  Unique Visitors - 3747
  Hits - 68621
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 16.6% of hits
  #1 search term - kate beckinsale
  
• June - Halfway through the year, and no sign of stopping (unless you count Pete, who shows signs, but never really actually quits)! More scorn is heaped upon the movie I, Robot. Asimov rolls in his grave, especially since many people (John) are thinking about licking him. John questins the utility of SF series. The most talked about? Iain Banks reveals the title to his latest SF book.

  Unique Visitors - 4256
  Hits - 61235
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 15.4% of hits
  #1 search term - jpg to ascii (sigh)
  

• July - SFSignal turns 1, yay us! The age old question, 'Would Zombies Care About Infrastructure?' is pondered, if not answered. Pete threatens to quite City of Heroes, but doesn't. Yet (at that point). The sanity of many favorable I, Robot critics is questioned and John continues his online stalking of H. Klausner. The most talked about post? The I, Robot reviews.

  Unique Visitors - 9790
  Hits - 95079
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 19.9% of hits
  #1 search term - revenge of the sith
  

• August - Alastair Reynolds again makes an impression with three reviews. Pete actually carries out his threat to quit City of Heroes. A ton of SF list links is revealed, and Tim uncorks the most talked about post ever in the history of SFSignal. And don't forget the Cheese Weasels.

  Unique Visitors - 10515
  Hits - 139989
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 23.6% of hits
  #1 search term - jpg to ascii (what is it with people? Maybe Dan's head will scare them off.)
  

• September - John shows us where to get free short SF online. Pete backtracks on his quitting of CoH and posts about the Update #2. Author John C. Wright graciously accepts to be interviewed by us, and has to put up the John as the front man. What a guy! The 1954 Retro Hugos are announced. John goes gaga over The Risen Empire and does his best Klausner imitation. Only he's actually read the book he's reviewing. The most talked about post? Lucas' suckage.

  Unique Visitors - 12693
  Hits - 155190
  #1Country to access SFS - .com
  Mozilla/Netscape - 22.6% of hits
  #1 search term - jpg to ascii (this is getting ridiculous)
  

• October - Bowing to pressure, John adds a Star Wars category and retro-actively readjusts old posts. (Fanboy). Darth Vader mugs pizza delivery people. The SF world is saddened to learn of the death of Superman actor, Christopher Reeve. And John shares with us a bizarre forklift safety video. Yikes! And John begins his offensive against spammers. The most talked about post? Pete brings us a couple of 'funny' shows on Comedy Central.

  Unique Visitors - 13887
  Hits - 158147
  #1Country to access SFS - .us (! who? where? what? from out of nowhere really. I suspect a feed reader of some sort)
  Mozilla/Netscape - 22.1% of hits
  #1 search term - kari byron (you know, the Kari Byron. AKA, the babe on Mythbusters.)
  

• November - The frightening news that Spock's Brain is being produced as a theatrical production is unleashed on an unsuspecting and defenseless world. The SW Ep. III teaser is released to much wailing and gnashing of teeth....and a good bit of drool over wookie armies. The 'SF Movies You (Probably) Haven't Seen' list is revealed! The most talked about post? The teaser trailer for Ep. III.

  Unique Visitors - 14601
  Hits - 152709
  #1Country to access SFS - .us (.com drops completely off the chart, leading me to suspect AWStats has reclassified the .coms according to IP, or something. And BTW, .eu, the European Union, comes in a distant second.)
  Mozilla/Netscape - 15.2% of hits
  #1 search term - kari byron (thanks pete!)
  

• December - I'm not going to go over December because it just happened and you can see a week's worth of stuff on the front page. But, the most talked about post was the revelation that the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant have had the film rights sold and an adaptation in the works. And Hollywood yet again sucks the sould out of decent fantasy....

  Unique Visitors - 15370
  Hits - 149325
  #1Country to access SFS - .us (with Pete's favorite country, France, coming in second)
  Mozilla/Netscape - 18% of hits
  #1 search term - kari byron (it's a trifecta!)
  

I know there is a lot of stuff above that I could have added links to. But I'm lazy, its late, and I don't want to be up all night linking when I could be celebrating the new year by sleeping!

Thanks to all who have stopped by to chat with us, and a big thanks to those who stop by regularly. Here's to hoping 2005 is bigger and better!

Comments (4) | PermaLink | Category: Meta
Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 31, 2004 at 11:46 PM
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