It’s taken close to 15 years, numerous platforms, many different web addresses, even a good few fits and starts, but we’re finally here – the 300th blog post on my website! A milestone that should have come a lot sooner, if not for laziness, website issues, and at times general apathy towards keeping it up… But we’re here now, and it provides us the perfect excuse to have a bit of a cheeky retrospective look back.
My blogging journey started way back in 2007, on good ole MySpace. Not only did my MySpace have fantastic customization – hello blasting my own music when my page loaded up – but it also introduced me to this idea of penning my thoughts in digital ink and sharing them with strangers. If it wasn’t for MySpace and positive reception I got from my early blogs, would I have discovered my love of writing, I wonder. That was truly the golden age of the internet, and one we’ve strayed very far from, I fear.
I then took a creative leap – to BlogSpot – and another world entirely. Here was a platform that was all about sharing your thoughts, just writing anything that came to mind. And shoving it straight into the public domain. I dabbled. I wrote a few things, and it was fun. I thought I was deep. I wasn’t. I thought I had uncovered some truths about life. I hadn’t. I thought I could reach people, make them think differently, and impact strangers. I didn’t. But, I did have a lot of fun writing out my thoughts. I enjoyed being creative, and in doing so found a certain boldness to share an idea you think is core to your very being.
Then Google bought Blogspot, and here my concern for the never-satisfied Google Monster started.
That prompted my move on to Windows Live Spaces (for hosting the blogposts) and Windows Live Writer (for authoring the blogposts). Back when Windows Live was all the rage in naming conventions. In true Microsoft fashion (I’m talking about the Windows 7 era), the software was fantastic, but the platform was halfhearted. It was buried in your Live Page, which was Microsoft’s attempt at social media, and it had MSN Messenger vibes all over it. In fact, the only way I knew of how to access it was via your @live.com email inbox… I really did try to make this my home online, but it never quite got all the features that one needs when blogging your life away.
So back to blogger I went
And then, something new appeared. This brand-new platform called WordPress burst onto the scene. Suddenly, your website was a platform, and you could customize it with pre-built themes, plugins and even good ole HTML code if you wanted. Overnight, WordPress put website designers out of a job (mostly). It was time to jump ship again. And thanks to the Way-Back Machine, I can confirm that all my blogposts on Blogger have followed me to WordPress!
From Kyles.One to KyleDunkerley.xyz and now KyleDunkerley.com, I played around with a ton of different addresses. This address was because it was funny, this one was because I thought I was deep, and another address because it was cheap. And all the while I kept blogging about my shower thoughts, ideas and opinions (all unasked for, I can tell you). Looking back, I can remember each and every conversation I had with Simone about my website – the future, the content, and should I even be publishing this. I asked for her advice when I wanted to expand into music reviews, tech opinions and even more creative writing. Each time, it felt like a big jump as I shared more and more of myself online. Each time I asked if I should even keep it up.
Which brings us to the here and now – three hundred posts later!
But alas! To my dismay, stat tracking has only been going since 2018… So, while we will never know what banger of a post I had in 2016, or what my most commented thought was from 2011, we can at least go back seven years, and (hopefully) marvel at the personal growth one has achieved when they put themselves online.
Now, I would like, if I may, to take you on strange journey. A journey into the wonderful world of my personal greatest hits, if you will. The greatest hits from the past seven years. The previous years are now lost to time immemorial – but that won’t stop you from reading them on this very website!
Here the views (light green) per a visitor (dark green) since the stats kicked off. This year, I cracked 2000 views from almost 1,500 unique visitors! Quite an achievement for not blogging much and leaving social media (again)..
2018
In 2018, I wrote 34 posts and got 892 views. Not too bad! My top post was The 2017 PC Part Guide [Part 1] (of which a part 2 has never materialized) sitting at 38 total views for the year! I also got my best ever day this year – with 112 total views in a single 24-hour period.
Coming up close was An Open Email To NOW with 36 views. I have no idea why this email chain was not broadcast on NOW’s homepage, but I am not a businessman. But I know in my heart that the CEO has these framed on his wall behind his desk.
2019
2019 saw my output almost double. Was this the year where I was going to blog every day for a month? No one really knows. Unless, of course, you look at my Sunday Firesides. Those will tell us. And no, I am not going to go looking either, so it’s all on you, dear reader.
Anyways, I got through 53 blog posts, and countless drafts. My total words hit 44,635. Thats a lot of waffling!
2019 saw me officially retire as an active participant in the Windows Insider Program, with my Windows Outsider post getting 131 views alone. I still have a post to write about the rise and fall of the Windows Insider Program. And who knows, I may even get to it this year.
2020
Ah, the infamous 2020 and the start of basically everything we see happening today with record inflation and cost of living crises. Who would have thought when you print billions of dollars and pay people to not work you would have ramifications for years to come? Oh, that’s right! Every economist in the world. But that’s beside the point.
2020 was the year we decided to move to Australia and make a better life for ourselves. So, it’s no surprise that my top post for the year was all about Moving On.
2020 was also the year I took another leap in my blogging life and started my Investment Series, with An Introduction & A Disclaimer. While it didn’t rank super high on the view list, it’s still interesting to note how far I have come with my investing journey.
2021
The year of the perpetual lock down (thanks Dan), saw my creative juices almost dry up completely. I still got more views than my output demanded – with only 21 posts to 46 the year before. Word count also dropped from 43,000 to 17,000… Oof.
My top post was my Apple’s Spatial Audio & Lossless Review, with an impressive 91 views, doubling that of the next closest post! Maybe I should do more reviews…
2022
If you thought 2021’s output was bad, well we haven’t hit the bottom of the barrel just yet. With just 12 posts to my name this year, it’s no wonder my views plummeted.
I did another review – this time my Cider Review. It got a modest 54 views and some angry comments on Twitter. People don’t (or can’t) read, so when you write something, you’re bound to annoy someone. Still, the makers of Cider appreciated the review, so that’s all that counts.
For everyone else that has no clue what Cider is, then let me introduce you to the best third-party Apple Music app for Windows.
2023
The views and visitors continued to drop, which could only mean one thing – even less blog posts! Thats right, we have officially hit the bottom of the barrel here, with only 6 posts published in 2023!
To be fair, 2023 was quite a busy year – what with traveling to Bali and Vietnam, becoming a father, running the Melbourne Marathon (the 10K, but I still got a medal, so it counts!), and more. This was the year I got my Heavy Headphones and published my modest review. Said review then proceeded to get 241 views!
Interesting… Maybe tech reviews are my thing? Or maybe I was one of the first people to actually write a review? Either way, for only writing 6 posts, my views and visitors didn’t drop off a cliff!
2024
2024… 11 posts (now 12 after this one) and just look at those views to visitors! What the heck happened? The Heavy Headphone review happened. Sitting at a comfortable 1062 views as of writing this, it seems that people really liked it! Or rather, people still like it!
It’s clearly my most important post ever written, judging by the views. And the views I continue to get every day on it.
And for those that want something more visual, that’s not too abysmal, we could take in an old Steve Reeves movie. Or better yet, a heatmap of the views broken down by year and month!
All this to say – it’s been quite fun having my site around. And I hope to blog more. I really enjoy writing my nonsense down, but time is fleeting these days, and madness takes control when you have a toddler to watch out for. Along with all the other things I want to do in the coming year, it may be another down year of posts. Or it could be a return to form, as I finally get my act together. Who knows! Certainly not me.
One more thing…
I’ve been working on something in semi-secret for a while. And it’s the reason this post has been so delayed. All because I wanted to get it done before I patted myself on the back over one site being half finished.
Introducing KyleDunkerley DotPro. This is my professional site, and online resume if you will. But it’s also more than that. It’s a site to where I can direct my employers (both present and future) while not being as insufferable as LinkedIn. It’s also going to be where I publish my most useful GitHub scripts on.
I’ve been fortunate to have the help of the internet when I needed it, and now it’s time to give back. As I build new things, I’ll be publishing them for anyone to use. It’s mostly technical PowerShell stuff, but hey – every bit counts.
I hope you check it out and give me some feedback.
As with all my sites, it’s still a work in progress!
