2. THE TARANTULA BIBLIOGRAPHY - My October and November releases of the Tarantula Bibliography have just occurred in quick fashion. October saw me adding the 7 new species of Cyriocosmus and the new species Tmesiphantes minim. The new November release launches a couple of days early to include my friends' Ray Gabriel's and Stuart Longhorns transfer of Brachypelma angustum and B. embrithes to the genus Sericopelma with an in depth look at distinguishing female Sericopelma. In addition to using the site's database and bibliographic references, don't forget that you can always download the complete Theraphosidae species listing in PDF format. There are currently 975 species in 130 genera.
3. I was surprised at the lack of comments to my "end of" blog entries related to SPIDERSHOPPE and ArachnoGathering. I expect you've all heard more than enough of my permanent retirement from the exotic pet industry, but I expected some comments about my not hosting a 3rd annual AG in conjunction with the March NARBC event in Tinley Park. Comments are actually few and far between, except for the regular submissions by John Apple and a couple of others. Feedback is part of what drives this blog. Page views is the other. If both of these show greater decline I will be less inclined to spend my time with KMBHS.
4. Regarding Page Views - As I approach #100 blog entries since June I look back and reflect on the most read entries. It is no surprise that most are the controversial rants and highly opinionated calling out of asshats. However, it is great that mixed in are some of the more educational/instructional posts. Since this blog entry is called ten things I'll list the TOP TEN most popular blogs. If you missed any of them please go back and read. They are linked below for your convenience. These are the most important messages I have attempted to convey. Unfortunately, the last blog entry to have over 100 page views was #67 back on September 4, and that post was my only guest blog and written by Chad Campbell.
- #9 - DON'T SHIP BY USPS (or give a penny to those who do!) - 255 page views since posting on 6/11/2015
- #10 - PSEUDO DEALERS AND WEEKEND WARRIORS - tied with 255 page views since posting on 6/12/2015. It is interesting that these two were posted on consecutive days and saw a combined 500+ page views. I expect they have been linked and shared by others. If I educated one douchenugget, job done. But many twats were probably twats like Joe Rossi who proudly proclaim that they ship illegally by USPS. Postal inspector please visit him.
- #47 - CASA DE TARANTULA #3 - 238 page views since July 28, 2015 - This entry covered my housing of tarantulas and obviously it was very popular and was shared. I appreciate you spreading the KMBHS word. I encourage you to share via social media or direct link posts on forums.
- #35 - CASA DE TARANTULA #1 - 180 page views since July 8, 2015 - I love that this is an important husbandry related post and it reached a decent audience.
- #37 - CASA DE TARANTULA #2 - 174 page views since July 12, 2015 - Again, this is an educational post teaching husbandry techniques developed over forty years. I am glad that people are reading these.
- #11 - MEMORY LANE ... AND FEEDING & NETFLIX - 167 page views since 6/13/2015 - This entry covers a brief history of my career as well as that of American tarantulaculture. I consider it a must read for the neophyte keepers.
- #15 - BROWN BOXING CRIMINALS - 154 page views since June 18, 2015. This post should be #1 or at least tied with the first two posts. It is one of my three biggest rants, and it is a topic that many are ignorant on. Although many illegally import knowingly, there are those that are truly ignorant that they are breaking the law. This post should have been read by more people.
- #7 - PHOTO THEFT ... & MUSIC, BRIEFLY - Tied with the above at 154 page views since June 9, 2015. This entry covers more activity that could result in criminal or civil charges and should have reached a wider audience.
- #9B - A RETORT - This post was my response to Chad's comments on #7 and saw an astonishing 147 page views since June 11, 2015. The funny thing is that this entry is only two brief paragraphs and a photograph and yet it attracted a crowd.
- #38 - BREEDING TARANTULAS #1 - POECILOTHERIA - 146 page views since July 13, 2015. Another husbandry related post, this time focusing on captive propagation of a hugely popular genus. To be honest, I am surprised this isn't #1. I reveal many "secrets" that I developed over 15 or more years at the forefront of Pokie breeding.
5. Now that we've looked at the numbers for the 10 most viewed KMBHS postings let's look at the numbers for the 10 most recent posts. I realize these haven't had the time for more and more people to find them, but the numbers aren't stellar. From #80-90, which covers October 3 to October 24, the most page views is 63 (the oldest, #80) and the fewest is 24 (END OF SPIDERSHOPPE). This means two things: to get the numbers at 150+ such as in the TOP TEN LIST above I must stick to two general topics - RANTS calling out the asshats and exposing criminal and immoral activity within the hobby AND educational posts covering more of my tarantula husbandry and breeding techniques. As I've mentioned I am less motivated to cover the former and feel like I've said my piece and covered the issues I had to rant about. But if you really want me to write about why Todd Gearheart is a scumbag that should have been blacklisted from the hobby over a decade ago I suppose I could get myself in the mood. But teaching is what I do so I am very inclined to tackle the educational subjects. I guess what is most disappointing is that none of my Tales from the Field posts made the top ten. If I was a reader of this blog rather that its author, those are the posts that I would most enjoy.
#6 - BLACKHAWKS VS. THE WILD - The Chicago Blackhawks have 6 Stanley Cup Championships and three of them came in the last 6 years. The Wild have none. I shouldn't even have to waste my typing. But since Chad added it to his topic suggestions I will just say that we are now 10 games into the season and the Wild only have one point up on the Hawks. We'll chat about it mid-season. I expect Chad will again be buying me a bottle of Jameson's Black Barrell. That is if his Minnesotan team in green can even make the playoffs.
#7 - I've posted an advert on Arachnoboards that contains my absolute final retail offerings of my career. As I continue breeding on a limited basis, any offspring will only be sold wholesale or to close friends that are breeders. Please give the ad a peek. For any readers that are legitimate resellers, I currently have a 30-lot of Iridopelma hirsutum 'Recife' that I will let go at only $200 shipped and I have a sac of Poecilotheria rufilata about to hatch.
#8 - I don't know what my posting frequency will be moving forward, but there will be some gaps when I am out of town or out of the country. I will be in Costa Rica December 3-13, 2015; Chino Hills, CA from January 11-16, 2015; and Dublin, Ireland/Bristol, England February 28 - March 8, 2016.
#9 - Social media and the Arachnobored will rot your brain. Cease using them and you will find the peace that I have.
#10 - Don't let the bastards grind you down.
4 comments:
...cant be ground down just yet....social media gives me a GREAT heads up of who to not deal with....easy enough there....hold a sicarius or tarantula...no biz from me...belittle our teachers and decadarians...no biz from me...
arachnogatherings....we have talked about another location....I dig these folk and personally want to thank you for hosting the ones you have done...
Rants....meh....to a degree...sometimes you may have to revisit them a bit to refresh folk and alert noobs...whether you believe it or not Mike ...your still a great teacher
Be safe in your travels and bring me back a bts shirt
I try to share your blogs. The educational ones are easier to share as they come up in conversation a lot. It's easier to copy and paste a link to your blog when dealing with asshats than argue forever.
As for social media, Im too busy dealing with religitards to give up on it. If I can make one person squirm in their seats as they scroll through their newsfeed or influence one person to think for themselves, I am content :) but I do envy you at times.
I'll try to share more of your blogs as they come out however. I personally enjoy reading them and look for them to publish.
me personally -and I've mentioned this before - could care less about the rants, and not because your points aren't valid, but because I deal with fucktards all day long. in numbers. I do not come to Kiss My Big Hairy Spider to read about more of them. I am here for the teachings, the info being shared by one of the masters. that 150 yrs of tarantula experience you have. that is what draws me in, so if I open the new post and its about anything other then the care and keeping of spiders I move on, usually without reading the post. But, that's just me. I don't enjoy drama and don't prefer to spend my free time researching it.
Now as far as the tales from the field posts - and again just my opinion - I do read those but I am skipping through to read the animal parts, where they were located, what their home looked exactly like, etc. The parts about your motel or the beer you drank don't interest me.
Reptile magazine has or had a similar monthly article entitled Notes From The Field.
It was my least favorite part of the magazine and I would always just scan them for the important husbandry info.
its kind of like when your friends show you pics of their vacation, yeah the place was cool and it looks like they had fun and all, but you are no where near as excited to look at the pics as they are to show them.
it wasn't your vacation and its just not as important to you as it is them.
again these are just my opinions and what I'm looking for when I read your blog.
But, my wife says I'm an idiot so what do I know?
I appreciate everyone's comments. They are few and far between and I thank those of you who give me any feedback.
As far as Dave's comment on the rants, I understand. And moving forward there will be few, if any. I've said my piece and I agree that I deal with enough cretins daily to not want to dwell on them in the blog anymore. Still, they were among the most read entries and they did ruffle the feathers I was trying to. Job done. But done means finished and I don't see rants in the future. I am going to focus on the educational and sharing my decades of experience moving forward. I expect I'll only post about once a week, but it will have the content many are looking for most.
As far as skimming through the TFTF, I expect you are in the minority Dave. Traveling the world is the most mind-expanding activity you can enjoy. Every lodging, meal and beer is part of it. The flavor of the country is its people and culture, not its fauna. My field trips are about the fauna (and flora), but the entire experience is what makes them memorable. I understand your point though as I don't particularly care for my family's slide shows from Cabo or Italy. But when I talk to people who haven't been fortunate to chase spiders and snakes around the world, they want to know everything. They want to live vicariously through me, if you will. And I remember every beer and every meal as much as every spider and every snake. I don't care if you skim and skip. Most people read a book in its entirety and don't just jump to the action scenes. I'm not saying your wife is right, I'm just saying that I will write the way I write. I'm investing the time for myself first and foremost and every reader's experience or interest will vary.
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