OMG Are Those Stats?!

From Hige:

One restriction I really want to impose is a five hundred word limit for every post I make. Not only because it will avoid the tl;dr problem that seemingly blights the internet, but also to help improve conciseness and stop me waffling in unreadable incoherent ways.

I’ve been using the Blog Metrics plugin for a while now, but with version 1.0 it seems to actually work correctly (especially in regards to trackbacks). I use it to stay in I AM BOSS mode and monitor the team, but it is actually quite useful for self-analysis as well. For instance, I see that I am remarkably consistent in terms of how long my posts are. My all-time word count per-post is 379, while my last 30 days had me at 382 words per post. Considering 2 of those words are the new headings I have added to each post, I am steady as hell.

On a more amusing note, even though Ender vowed to trim his posts down, he has gone from his lifetime average of 416 words/post to 773 words/post this month. Kungfucius has also increased his word count, but when you go from covering Naruto single episodes to Persona batches that sort of thing happens.

I really like the stats that this plugin pulls, such as comments per post. The 30-day stats are especially useful to see how you’ve changed since you started. There is also an option to turn off the standard deviations.

17 Comments

  1. Ender (422)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    I should make a bunch of 1-word posts to quickly bring my average down!

    I think my average shot way up because I post very infrequently now, but when I do, it’s usually a long-winded rant about some game or another. If I took on episodic blogging duties again, the word count would surely decrease.

    Also, Robert Jordan is dead now, so I definitely do not want to become like him.

    Hige’s idea is an interesting one. Perhaps I should adopt that word limit as well…

  2. Kabitzin (1515)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 4:11 pm | Permalink

    You should sign in when posting comments, too…

  3. Matte (49)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 4:33 pm | Permalink

    Omg what, Robert Jordan is dead!? I stopped follow the Wheel of Time series a few years ago, cause I got tired of waiting two three years for every new book and thought I’d just read the whole thing when it was done. I guess he won’t be able to finish it now though. :( Sorry for the off topic comment but I’m a state of shock!

  4. Kabitzin (1515)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 4:38 pm | Permalink

    Seems like Brandon Sanderson has been tapped to finish up the series, so it might be a good time to pick it back up again.

  5. blissmo (102)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 5:35 pm | Permalink

    Downloading this plugin right now … It sounds interesting and I wanna know how much I write. Sometimes too much and sometimes too little …

  6. Posted 4/18/2008 at 6:25 pm | Permalink

    That’s neat. I had no idea I was being as tldr/wordy as the plugin says.

  7. Hige (7)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 6:36 pm | Permalink

    Man, there’s so many WP plug-ins I’ve yet to discover. This one sounds pretty comprehensive. I assume when it logs the amount of comments you can see how post length corresponds to reader feedback? That could be very interesting.

    As for word count, I write everything in Word before I post it anyway so I’ve got the info at a few clicks of a mouse. Will definitely investigate Blog Metrics, however. :)

  8. Jesus159159159 (321)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 7:11 pm | Permalink

    Hey, wheres the pun-per-post plugin? This plugin FAILS! :mad:

  9. Posted 4/18/2008 at 7:24 pm | Permalink

    I don’t trust that plugin. It has me at 640 words per post, which is impossible no matter how you look at it. What’s really strange is that I double checked it with another plugin that also had me at 640. I don’t know what’s going on here. I copied and pasted a bunch of my posts into a word count website that had me consistently around 300.

  10. Ender (422)
    Posted 4/18/2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink

    Going even further off topic, I just now realized where I’ve heard of the rare blood disease amyloidosis - it’s mentioned on House as a potential diagnosis maybe once every other episode.

    Oh yeah, concerning not logging in when I comment? That’s me doing my little part to STICK IT TO THE MAN. Or in your case, BOSS.

  11. Posted 4/18/2008 at 10:18 pm | Permalink

    I need to discover this also. It would allow me to monitor myself when it comes to writing and help me avoid the tl;dr disease.

    Like Hige, I will check it out. Thanks.

  12. Posted 4/19/2008 at 12:45 am | Permalink

    Fun stuff, thanks for the tip. but the real question is, will it track stupid gimmick posts per week ratio? If so, I’m screwed.

  13. Owen S (50)
    Posted 4/19/2008 at 2:28 am | Permalink

    Avg: 1447 words per post

    Heh, I knew I was toeing the 1K line. Apparently I’ve also written 2074 words per post this month, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Thanks for the plugin suggestion!

  14. Impz (38)
    Posted 4/19/2008 at 2:50 am | Permalink

    so damn cool. Installed it. Lol, crusader talks the most in our blog. 1935 words per post. ROFL.

  15. Stripey (58)
    Posted 4/19/2008 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    Fun plugin! 385 words this month myself. :) I personally find it a little harder to enjoy an entry beyond 800 words.

    To quote Blaise Pascal

    I’m sorry this letter is so long, but I did not have time to make it shorter.

  16. Josh (43)
    Posted 4/19/2008 at 5:03 pm | Permalink

    This kind of takes “mine is bigger than yours!” to a whole new level…

  17. Hung (41)
    Posted 4/20/2008 at 12:26 pm | Permalink

    Whatev. I use R for all my blog statistic crunching!

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