followers

For those of you who noticed (or didn't notice), I just added a new feature to my site that will allow regular readers to proclaim themselves as "followers" of my blog. Which totally makes my blog sound like some sort of cult, of which a twenty-one month old child is the leader and prophet, who has developed his own set of Rules By Which To Live and expects everyone to do as he commands, or else...which is sort of true. But it's not so much that as just a way to keep track of who reads my posts. And while some of my readers may prefer to remain anonymous - which is understandable considering the offensive and graphic nature of my content - I'd love to know who knows every detail of my family's personal lives.

I can't tell you how many times I've had people - many of whom I didn't know or at least hadn't met in person - email me or come up to me and refer to something that I had said on the blog, or tell me that they have been regularly checking in on us since Alex was born. I truly have no idea how many people actually read what I write (not that it matters, I would blog if my only reader was a literate monkey pursuing his B.A. in Human Development and Family Studies), but I'd love to know who checks in to see what we are doing, regularly or just on occasion. Oh, and any random internet stalkers that may be lurking out there - I'd like to know who you are, too. A fan is a fan.

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but there is a link in the lefthand margin of my page, below my blog archive*, where you can sign up. It appears as though you sign yourself in with a username and password associated with your Google or Yahoo account, then you have the option to follow publicly or privately (and see, for those of you too embarrassed to admit publicly that you follow my blog can be discreet - your little secret's safe with me). I don't know if I will keep this application - I suppose it depends on how easy it is to sign up and how many people actually go through with it - but for now, I am just excited to put faces with the numbers in my site counter.

* I moved the Followers application to a more visible location so that people might notice it even if they have not read this post.