There have been a number of discussions over the last little while that relate to suggested etiquette, or new “rules”, for posting here on Open Salon. They often talk about Open Salon as a “community”, and, I think, implicitly suggest that when we post articles up here – when we “make the headlines” – our audience consists mainly of the rest of that OS community.

And it is a community here. However, I thought it might be worth throwing in some information that puts a slightly different slant on that discussion. A couple of weeks ago, I copied an idea from Randy Smith, and embedded a free hit counter into a post here on Open Salon.

Here’s what happened. In the first 24 hours or so my post, A Grand Old Parting, was viewed about 44 times, with 6 rates and 10 comments (including a couple of comments of my own.) So far so good: that’s the Open Salon “community” reading at something like its natural rate, and similar to the results Randy Smith got.

In the next 12 hours, though, the numbers got a bit surprising: views climbed to some 500, with only 6 new comments and 2 new rates. After a bit more time ticked over – another week or so – views climbed up to 730 or so, with not much further in the way of comments and rates. After looking into it, I found two factors that could have contributed to that post-24 hours leap in “my” readership – firstly, a couple of people “dugg” my post. Secondly – and I think more significantly – my post received a mention in Salon’s daily electronic newsletter, which caused a small rush of Salon’s (but perhaps not Open Salon’s) regular readers.

What does all this mean? One thing it means is that you can’t take your comment count, or even your rate count, as a good sign of how many people are reading what you’ve written. These counts may suggest that a few dozen people who you already know have read your post, when in fact hundreds of strangers have done so as well.

These stats also suggest that we needn’t get too caught up in any sense of community, at least when it comes to thinking about who our posts are reaching. That big kerfuffle in your comments thread, or someone else’s post that says you’re an ass because of what you wrote, may very well be a pair of storms in teacups not only because arguments on the internet don’t matter much, but also because the vast majority of the people who actually read your post just read it in the same way that they read all sorts of other things, without feeling a strong enough urge to comment or complain.

I am not being dismissive of the community atmosphere here. I think it is great that there is a big element of bonhomie and personal interaction here. I am just suggesting that the community’s input needs to be kept in perspective: it very possibly represents a distinctly small majority of one’s readership, and comments and rates may not mean a heck of a lot in the real world. Along with this, all the rules and etiquette that are oriented mainly at the “community” side of things may just amount to so much navel-gazing. Yes, it is clearly good, just as a matter of basic manners, not to insult or degrade others. But if you are blogging here on OS because you feel it may help you reach a wider audience than a private blog might, that is all a bit beside the point: it’s more about the basic rules of writing well than about how others here may feel about you.

My humble suggestion for a new "rule"? Don’t write anything that makes you sound like an idiot!