Anyway, the big news is DMD has achieved 4,000,000 page hits since I started it back in March 2006. There's been a reduction in visitors over the past year, no doubt because there's generally less content because I've altered my reviewing habits. The days of 4-5 new posts every single day are sadly over, so it will probably take me much longer than 7-years to achieve 8 million hits. But hey, that's still a lot of people and I can't complain. I continue to be amazed we're talking in terms of millions here, as I still remember the days when cracking 100 hits in a day was cause for private celebration.
In other news, as you've undoubtedly realised, my work for MSN has really kicked up several gears in 2013. At times DMD feels more like a gateway to MSN UK's site, where I've been covering various TV premieres. This can't be avoided and I've enjoyed having a different outlet; particularly as it's taken me out of my comfort zone and made me look at more home-grown stuff. The trade-off is editorial decisions aren't mine, so reviews can be altered in odd grammatically ways sometimes. Nothing too serious, but I wonder if readers of DMD notice 'my voice' is different over at MSN. It's all about house styles, see.
However, while I've definitely made a conscious decision to limit episodic reviews because the workload was starting to take over my life, I like to think there's still good reasons to keep visiting DMD. There are still a number of shows I will review every week, I just won't risk wasting my time on things I'm not excited by or know people like reading about. Sometimes that means only Hannibal and Doctor Who is being reviewed with regularity, but things change throughout the year.
I've also made a bit more of an effort to write "features", like that Things Fictional Characters Never Do post (which was astonishingly popular), a brief revival of the old Where Are They Now? (focusing on American Gothic), and the new Argumentelly idea--which I'd love to continue after a three post trial, but is very hard to organise with other writers who are (a) very busy and (b) prefer to get paid. Understandably. And there were very few comments beneath each piece, so I'm not convinced readers liked it as much as I did.
I think all of those things are fun and stop the blog becoming simple a repository of reviews and occasional news. It's a bit strange, but non-review content actually tends to do a lot better in terms of page-hits here. I assume this is because not everyone watches the same shows I do, but everyone can enjoy a tongue-in-cheek argument, a list of amusing TV-related things, a trailer, etc.
Anyway, many thanks for visiting DMD over the years--particularly if you're a regular and tend to leave comments. It's the main thing that keep DMD going and keeps me interested. Here's to 4 million more!
