IMAO’s One Year Blogography

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It’s my first blogiversary! One year before today I started IMAO, and now I’m well read enough to demand that every blog link to me today or there will be punishment. How did I get to this point? Well, I decided to go back through my blogging history and record my rise to power. Hopefully it will be of interest to anyone thinking of starting their own blog.


July 9th, 2002: IMAO is created on blogospot (imao.blogspot.com) First post, followed by first commentary. Both are read by no one.
Rest of July 2002: I write a number of short posts based on news items, trying to be like Instapundit. Still am read by no one.
August 2nd, 2002: I post about something that has been bothering me for a while, the existence of blue pens, and then pretty much give up on blogging figuring no one will ever read me.
August 13th 2002: I received an e-mail from Ocean Guy about why there are blue pens, and then find my link on his webpage under “Florida Bloggers”. My first permalink! Encouraged, I attempt to blog some more.
August 15th 2002: I wrote and added my Nuke the Moon essay, figuring it would be funny thing for any new visitor to my blog.
August 17th, 2002: I add my Brief History of the Gun, adapted from a editorial I had written for my school newspaper. Still not read by anyone, but I start to comment on Little Green Footballs and Right Wing News hoping someone will thing I’m witty and check out my blog.
August 21st, 2002: After suffering a number of days of between 0 and 2 unique visitors, I hit 76 in one day when Geeks with Guns gives me a great feature having really liked my Brief History of the Gun essay and Right Wing News names me Blog of the Day. I am now read!
August 23rd, 2002: I write a silly post mentioning Glenn Reynolds, so I e-mail it to him in the vain hope he’ll link to it. It works! My first Instalance! Over 400 visitors in one day. The attention also gained me links from Daily Pundit, Joanne Jacobs, and Amish Tech Support. Later that day I have possibly my best post title ever.
August 27th, 2002: Glenn Reynolds llinks to this post and then quits for the rest of the day for his birthday. I get six short of one thousand visitors, and it stands as my highest day for months to come.
August 29th, 2002: I realize my style of writing humorous commentary means I don’t link to other blogs much, so I then have my first Link of the Day. At the time, it was to be a single link of the best thing I read that day on another blog, though later it would become Links of the Day™.
September 2002: I start to get my groove on, but I do mainly small posts compared to what I have today.
September 4th, 2002: My first time to capitalize on the double meaning of Frank.
September 12th, 2002: A little disenfranchised that my traffic seemed stagnant well under a hundred visitors a day, I whine about it on Daily Pundit. I end up getting a lot of attention, especially a nice plug from Emperor Misha I and yet another Instalanche (my last for quite a long time). Regular traffic has a significant increase hereafter.
September 19th, 2002: I start my “These Thing I Believe” page. Man, I haven’t added to that in a while.
September 28, 2002: Out of a whim, I make stuff up for a post instead of just doing commentary. Hmm, that was fun.
October 2nd, 2002: A post about the bait and switch in the New Jersey race gets me wide linkage.
October 4th, 2002: Rachel Lucas gives me a huge plug, leading to a big increase in regular readers. Rachel Lucas is a lovely and beautiful woman.
October 7th, 2002: I make the swtich to my own URL, taking IMAO.us since IMAO.com is some Korean company. I was helped significantly in the switch by Rachel Lucas. Did I mention how lovely and beautiful she is?
October 8th, 2002: Through some fluke, I make honorable mention on Right Wing News’ poll of top blogs… right alongside my arch-nemesis, Scrappleface.
October 11th, 2002: Again, I make stuff up for a post. That’s fun!
October 25th, 2002: Making fun of the French gets me on Right Wing News’ front page.
October 26th, 2002: Getting really angry at other countries, I make up a press statement where Ari Fleischer says what I wish he would say. I entitle it In My World™. It also has brief mention of Rumsfeld strangling a Frenchman.
October 30th, 2002: To compete for Bill Quick’s most blood hungry blog title, I make a list of my most blood thirsty posts so far. Competition is won by Michele, probably through skullduggery.
October 31st, 2003: By whining, I finally get my Instapundit permalink.
November 2002: Blogging slows down a bit, but posts increase in size.
November 14th, 2002: I suggest bombing France for real. I ended up later having to close comments on this post because it became a huge message board for people hating France or America since the post became the number one Google hit for “bomb france”.
November 15, 2002: In my third In My World™ post, I feature Rumsfeld at a press conference. In it is the first appearance of his luger and his Buick. The post is a huge hit.
November 25th, 2002: My first top ten list.
December 2002: A short month of blogging, but posts continue to increase in size (and quality, by my opinion).
Janurary 2003: This is when I really start to take off, finally cracking a thousand visitors in a day, and then continuing to keep that traffic (a look at monthly traffic shows most of my growth happened in this year).
January 15th, 2003: The first appearance of the Rumsfeld Strangler™. D.C. police are baffled.
Janurary 19th, 2003: Fleischer, a gameboy, and Helen Thomas are a huge hit, and, with this post I go into an agreement with John Hawkins that he can put my posts on his webpage in their entirety as long as there is a link back to my page.
Janurary 21st, 2003: First appearance of “Rarr!”, though not uttered by Rumsfeld.
February 4th, 2003: Emperor Misha I names me Imperial Secretary of War.
February 5th, 2003: Condoleezza Rice makes her first appearance in an In My World™.
February 7th, 2003: One of my favorite posts, my ever useful Terrorist FAQ.
February 25th, 2003: I get hate mail and e-mail the person back. I wish I got more hate mail.
March 5th, 2003: “Rarr!” finds its proper place in Rumsfeld’s mouth.
March 26th, 2003: Laura Bush’s first appearance and her conflict with Rice.
March 28th, 2003: First Know Thy Enemy post, quickly becoming a top hit for people search for “Iraqi Republican Guard” (this beginning my getting in the way of useful information). Also begins my making fun of Aquaman.
April 2nd, 2003: First time Cheney gets lost.
April 18th, 2003: My first interview. Was supposed to be weekly, but I couldn’t keep coming up with ideas.
April 19th, 2003: By this time, I started to get around 2000 visitors a day on weekdays, long beating the 994 record set by an Instalance a long time back. Still, in my rise to success, I had been ignored by the Blogfather, and hadn’t had a link from him in months and months. To get back at him, I told people he put puppies in blenders. Soon he links to me, and now give me an Instalance just short of 10,000 (9,394) which stands as my highest day still.
April 22nd, 2003: I learn if you want real poll results, don’t give them a joke answer involving monkeys to vote for.
April 24th, 2003: I write one of my most popular posts ever, my hate letter to Michael Moore.
April 30th, 2003: Thinking it would be funny to have a big military guy talk to kids, I make up a character called Buck the Marine since I couldn’t think of any real person to put in his place. I accidentally have him say, “Hoo-rah!” but he is still a big hit.
May 1st, 2003: I have a vote on favorite new characters. Strangely (to me), the unnamed Fox News Reporter wins, though both he (later she) and Buck beat the non sequitur monkey answer in the poll.
May 2nd, 2003: Bill Whittle’s own idea, I interview him over ICQ, and then he interviews me.
May 7th, 2003: I decide to make the unnamed Fox News reporter female.
May 8th, 2003: It being hard to come up with more than one funny thing a day, I have people send me questions to have my first Frank Answers™ post. It gets me charged with blasphemy.
May 11th, 2003: I think I peaked early with Frank Answers™. Ha ha, Thantor.
June 2nd, 2003: Chomps, the world’s angriest dog, makes an appearance in the second part of my first three part In My World™ post for what was supposed to be a one time joke. I liked him so much, though, I brought him back for the conclusion to become Rumsfeld’s companion.
June 13th, 2003: My Nuke the Moon t-shirt comes out and I start my contest for a new tagline.
June 20, 2003: My new tagline premieres.
July 9th, 2003: My first blogiversary.

No Comments

  1. Well, Frank, let me be the first to congratulate you. (That’s assuming I can type faster than everyone else…) Your writing cracks me up — keep up the good work!! Oh, yeah, and by the way, what the h*ll does IMAO stand for??
    Rots-O-Ruck!!

    Reply to this comment

  10. Just remember Frank — I helped make you and I can break you!!! Bwaahahahahahahahahahahahhahaah…..whoo…that’s a long one…hahahahahahahahhahahahahahaahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahhaah!!!!!! Don’t tell anyone in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy that I couldn’t finish my long maniacal laugh or Henry Kissenger will send me back to “So you want to be a super villain 101” again…

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  24. Frank’s Anniversary

    Today is Frank’s one year Anniversary! Check out his post describing his rise to fame. Frank wouldn’t pee on me if I was consumed in flames, but I’m linking him anyway. He’s funny and he deserves it. It takes a…

    Reply to this comment

  26. OK, I baked you a damn cake AND bought a t-shirt. What more do you want?
    Ever watch the Flintstones?
    Happy Blogoversary! Happy Blogoversary!
    Happy Blogoversary!
    Haaaaaaaaaappy Blogoversary!
    Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Blogoversary!
    Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Blogoversary!
    Happy Blogoversary! Happy Blogoversary!
    Happy Blogoversary!
    Haaaaaaaaaappy Blogoversary!
    (Repeat ad nauseam)
    Oh, well. Some old coot like me will get it.

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  27. Noteworthy News Of Other Blogs

    Frank at IMAO is one year old today. He writes remarkable well for an infant… Seriously he has a fascinating recap of year one here. Did I mention that Frank is a leader of the Baby Seal Clubbing Association? Oh…

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  28. Congratulations, Frank!!! You’re an inspiration to us all and quite entertaining. Also, thanks for answering a couple of my stupid questions. They were a real hit here at the firm. Have a good one.
    Jason H.
    Texas

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  34. Dearest Frank,
    A very Happy Blogiversary to you!
    I spent my weekend reading your whole blog and I must say, I fould it to be a deep, historical archive of current events that of course, is all true. Who needs any of the media when the world has your blog to read?
    I better go over to Rachel Lucas’ blog and thank her for the link to you.
    But, before I go, because I am the proud owner of a Marine (my oldest son) could you interview Buck the Marine and post it soon? I need to know about boot camp. My Marine will be graduating in early September and I need to be informed before I get there. ( I don’t want to be just another stupid mom who is not informed.)
    Thanx again Frank, for all of the fun on your blog.
    Dalton
    P.S. I get it Fritz, but I’m not an “old coot”!

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  40. Frank,
    Happy Blogiversary to you !! You are the smartest MAN ever to have found all the courage writing for your readers. Morning, evening and lunch on IMAO, engineering on the fun you can make with your words. You have talent, so keep it on, we all love to read you.
    I wish you a nice year II, full of many other success… and of videos…
    I still enjoy the first one !
    Many love,

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  41. Frank J.
    I initially e-mailed this to you, but maybe the server monkeys got it. Yet, after all this time reading you, I’m still not exactly sure WHY you hate monkeys, but I’ll take your word for it. Me? I’ve just developed a hatred for squirrels.
    Actually, you can read about it on my BRAND NEW blog (I’m not typing the url right here because it seems something that might upset Chomps … so, um, you can click on my name and such)
    And you know what else? Of the few people I’ve linked to (and there were thousands of choices), you were one of the chosen. Better yet, so far I’ve left off scrappleface.com simply so I could offer that to you as a gift on July 9th. So, maybe, you know, you could um, link to me or something.
    Or not.
    At any rate, happy anniversary, dude.

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  46. HURRAH!!!!
    Congratulations, Frank! You know I adore you and I would just DIE if you ever stop blogging.
    I posted a tribute to you and hope I’ll be posting another one a year from today. Yay!
    P.S. I see you now understand why I didn’t audition my dog Sunny for the role of Chomps. Mwheh. She’s just not…angry enough. Rarr!

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  50. Happy Blogoversary, Frank. Although I’m still suspicious of your Japanese spatula factory, I must offer a gesture of thanks for the humor you bring to my day. As such, I have created a petition requesting the establishment of July 9 as “The National Day of Frank.” Please sign this important document here.

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  51. HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY, FRANK!

    The inimitable Frank J., the funniest man on the internet, seller of great t-shirts, and our last, best hope for quelling the menace that is monkeys is celebrating his first blog birthday!. Go wish him well. That’s an order….

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  54. I came into the blog world on April 9th thanks to a Glenn Reynolds appearance on the news.
    It was also Glenn Reynolds who pointed me to your site, a mere 10 days later on April 19th.
    The puppies in a blender joke was pretty funny but what hooked me was your hate mail to Michael Moore. That was all it took for me to become a loyal reader. You haven’t let me down since. Thanks Frank.

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  58. Happy Blogiversary!
    May the time between this and the next one be filled with many many more hits, Instalanches, great posts and Rumsfeld saying ‘Rarr!’. Well, it undoubtedly will be, so I don’t even know why I used the word ‘may’ there.

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  61. I have a smaller, weaker blog. Perhaps you could sacrifice mine in honor of the joyous occasion.
    I linked IMAO today, just as commanded. Indeed, I couldn’t help but add the fact that I am two years and one day older than Frank to my ‘Coincidence Day’ post…
    Enough self-promotion. Happy blogoversary!

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  63. Happy One Year, Frank

    Allright, I am caving in an linking to Frank “J” at IMAO on this, the occasion of his One Year Blogography. Congratulations, Frank. Here’s hoping that you have many more years of making the internet collectively spew beverages at monitors…

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  71. Required IMAO link

    I already linked to IMAO today, and explained that the server migration was on and Rebel Yell would probably be lost for a while. That’s zackly what happened, too. So, I link again to ensure that I am not among…

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  74. Better Late…

    …than never, to greet Frank J. a happy blogiversary!
    At least he will not come down and drive the point of his sword through my database.
    Excuses aside, in one way I took most of the day off of blogging so y’all could read
    my old entr…

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  79. happy blogiversary!!! stumbled into your kewl blog via …hmmm…. i forgot…lol (musta been thru one of the rottweiler fans).I’ve read your nuke the moon story too and boy,…i never had so much fun!!! Now…given I came from a developing country (indonesia)and your 15.95 basically could feed me for 2 weeks…can i have the T-shirt for free? ;;)

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  82. The blogger, by virtue of simply writing down whatever is on his mind, will be confronted with his own thoughts and opinions. Blogging every day, he will become a more confident writer. A community of 100 or 20 or 3 people may spring up around the public record of his thoughts.

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