2008 is OVER, let's honor our winners

208 different Bloggers visited my blog and left a comment in 2008! Wow, for that I thank you all.

When I started back in January 2008, my average number comments for a blog post was only 12 comments and that included my own. As I ended the year, my average was about 30 including my own. Not bad…it almost tripled by readership participation. My highest commented blog at the start was 33 and by the end of the year I had reached one with 87 comments and several with 70s. Wow.

My first commenter of the year was Kanrei. Kan is a good friend and one of my longest term readers here.

My last commenter of the year was Quilly over at Quilly's Pacific Paradise. Quilly snuck in late to educate me on engineering and say hello.

Anyone who has wondered, “Gee, can I make any money blogging?”…well, yes you can. I’m going to pay 10 cents per comment to you personally. That’s right, cold hard Pay Pal cash. Don’t knock it. Google Ads only pays a fraction of that and that’s only if you get the clicks.

Here’s what you do. Simply send me your email address that I can Paypal to and I’ll send you your money. Send it to me at ewelter1 (at) Comcast (dot) net

There’s a catch though. I’m not made of money. The top 10 are guaranteed to collect. Anyone after that can collect until I say STOP (which means I ran out of budget or this). The only other catch is that you MUST have more than 20 comments in your tally because that equates to $2 and I’m not doing a bunch of little payments. Sorry.

On with the show…

I had 287 posts in 2008 that could be commented on. Let’s look at our top achievers. You'll have to click on the gnome pictures to read them I fear.



Note...all top 20 bloggers get a free blog topic request if they would like it.

First, two Bloggers in a class all their own:

No 1

With an astounding 275 comments, Serena from Parenthetically Speaking


Yes, Serena commented on 95% of all my posts this year. That’s amazing. She and Kurt went back and forth throughout the year but in the end, she persevered.

Serena has a fun blog if you have never been there. And shame on you for not visiting my number one reader! Anyway, she has great activities for readers to do and answer in her comments. I enjoy the challenges and camaraderie

Congrats, Serena, you’ve earned it! And with number one comes a completely separate widget linked to your blog (working on it) along with your free blog post request for me.


No 2

With another astounding 261 comments, Kurt from Other People Exist.

Kurt was leading much of the year and then went off and traveled to Egypt. Damn him, I haven’t been there. Kurt, I would have done the same in your shoes. I probably would have hired an illegal immigrant or intern to comment for me though in my absence…

Kurt runs a comedy zine of the same name. I have actually read it and can attest that it is funny. Kurt has a comedy sense of humor that appeals to me. He doesn’t have themes, silly diversions or anything like that. He just puts out the funny.

The next four on the list and in their own special class…

No 3

With 192 comments, Leelee from Thoughts and Meanderings

Leelee found my blog several months later and skyrocketed to number four and got stuck there for a long time. But when my then number three person stepped out of blogging, Leelee moved up and has been there ever since.
Residing in sunny Florida Leelee has some fun stuff on her blog and she is ever the social butterfly! She’s like family but without all the cruddy part…

No 4

With 186 comments, Jacki from Moving at the Speed of Life

Jacki was also a late starter in the spring but she steadily moved up the list and has been there ever since. Jacki has family in Denmark and therefore has the happiest blog in the world because we all know the Danes are the happiest people on the planet according to studies. Jacki has comedy, life, thoughts, family, and other topics on her blog. It’s always a pleasure to read. Stop by and say hello sometime.

No 5

With 180 comments, Jeff from View from the Cloud

Jeff has been gnomed before. Jeff was my first blog partnership on a post. He’s felt used every since! No seriously, Jeff is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. His blog has a large following, probably bigger than mine because he’s nice to them and doesn’t freak them out like I do mine. He also puts up amazingly embarrassing photos of his younger years for us to laugh at errr I mean with him. Do visit, he’s got some funny stuff going on.

No 6

With 174 comments, Megan from All I Need is Everything

Megan didn’t show up until like mid year or something. And she kept climing the ranks. Wow. Given enough time, she’d challenge any of my readers for number one. Megan has an entire family blogging and I probably owe her for a lot of reference readers that she has given me. I love to figure out the most witty comment I can when I read her blog (meaning stupidest comment). Do check her out. Well…maybe not her; she might not like that suggestion, but her blog for sure!

No 7 and no 8 (they are tied)

With 136 comments, Matt-man from Bagwine Ruminations and Marie from Memarie Lane

Matt-man is my mentor. The outwrites me, he out comments me, he outsmarts me. He’s been writing nearly exactly as long as I’ve been writing my blog and yet he has written almost 400 more posts! Unbelievable. It’s not uncommon for him to exceed 100 comments on a post. Hell, he averages 50 at least. He has an amazingly dedicated following and he responds to nearly everyone. I don’t know how he manages to get to my blog this often. He has a heart of gold though. He whored for me during my Blogger of the Year effort without hesitation. He’s got a funny perverse sense of humor. Check him out.

I started stalking Marie sometime in the spring after stumbling onto her blog. I thought it was funny so I stayed. But she mixes it up with life, advice, and thoughtful posts too. I thought she was taking a sabbatical but she is in so many places perhaps that’s just my own delusion. She’s got a great blog and is always there commenting for everyone.

No 9

With 135 comments, Lime from House of Lime

Lime was sneaky. She’s always been in my top 20 or so and she really snuck up this fall and winter. I love going over to her blog. She rips meme’s to shreds with her humor. I’m envious. She also seems to get tagged for every one in existence. It’s like one of those people that get struck by lightening all the time. She does more than just humor posts though. She has regular quilting posts and she has some writing posts as well. Another good friend.

No 10

With 133 comments, Red Mojo from Half a Bubble Off

Alas…Red Mojo is even more mysterious than I am when it comes to photographs. There are none. And the gnomes are pissed about it!

Red Mojo skyrocketed to number three faster than anyone. From the time she came on in the spring to the time she left in the summer I don’t think she missed a single post. It’s a testament that though she hasn’t really commented since the summer she still held on to 10th place.

Red Mojo is like a sister I never had. She has a couple of blogs but I think she’s been taking a sabbatical from them for awhile now. I hope she returns a fresh at some point.

And everyone else...

I’d love to feature all of the rest of you but the top 10 is all I have time for and all I probably have room for or this will be encyclopedia sized. The ADD folks left after my first paragraph. But to all the rest of you, I’ve really enjoyed your comments, friendships, fun and watching you move around on that blasted Blog roll.

And why stop at 2008, let’s move on to 2009.