February 27th
Today is a momentus day, my good old friends. It’s a celebration. Today Arseblog is 4 years old. On this day back in 2002 the very first Arseblog was inflicted upon the world. You can see what it looked like here and how very exciting it all was. I think it was the very first club specific blog, now you can’t move for Arsenal blogs let alone those for other teams.
Four is a good birthday for a blog especially when you consider Arseblog is updated almost every single day and how many other Arsenal blogs have come and gone in that time. Of course if you had said to me in Feb 2002 that four years later I would still be spending massive amounts of my time I would have thought you quite mad, I have to say, but lots of stuff has happened in that time.
I’ve gotten married. I’ve retired (from teaching English). Arsenal have won the league twice and the FA Cup three times. I’ve moved house. I’ve started playing football again. I’ve expanded my blogging empire (don’t ask, I won’t tell). I’ve seen Arseblog grow from a fairly small site to something much bigger. I remember when I’d look at my stats counter and see that 250 people had visited the site in one day and being ever so chuffed. Now there’s somewhere between 10 and 12,000 unique visitors (that’s just to the front page, not including archives, forums, arses, columnists or any other pages) every single day. Last year the site did over 14,000,000 page views. In 2002 the site did a little under 300,000 page views which shows how much it’s grown.
Arseblog is, as I’ve always said, a labour of love. In the early days the posts were not infrequent but there was no fixed schedule so I might post early in the day or late in the evening. I can’t quite remember how it happened, something to do with work no doubt, but it became the norm to post first thing in the morning making the site almost like a daily newspaper for people getting to work – except you couldn’t really pick it up and read it while having a crap (although there is something in the pipeline which would enable you do that). Arseblog and a poo, what could be better?
With the morning edition popular there then grew the race to get first arse. For those of you who still wonder what the Arses are it’s a comment system that was enabled on the site in around July 2002. Most conventional blogging software had a comment system built-in but because Arseblog is wonderfully hand-crafted for you each morning I had to use a system called YACCS. Which was great, if a little slow at times. It certainly wasn’t as busy back then. Check out this for example:
27!! Now between the time I post the blog and get to work there’s usually double that. The first arse thing is really funny though. It’s just one of those things that grew with the site. A little tradition that came from you lot who visit and not something that I implemented. Naturally a weekday first arse is much more valuable than a weekend one.
Then disaster struck. YACCS had a total server crash and in the end I think it was out of action for more than a week. It was then the comments system that’s in place now came about. Long time Arser Tom, who has deputised very ably for me on the occassions I haven’t been able to post, is a complete and utter nerd tech wizard and as people felt their very life slip away from them, having to actually do some work, he wrote the new Arses system. At one point there was even a league table of the top 100 Arsers but after a while we realised that every time someone tried to look at it made the server crash. Cheers, Tom!
The forums were launched in October 2002. For quite some time it was a free for all, anyone could register and join. After a while though I wanted to control the numbers. Now registration opens every once in a while and you have to go through an application process to enter before brin, the world famous Decidinator, gives you the Roman thumbs up or thumbs down. Keep your eyes open for the next opening.
I don’t do all the writing though. I’ve been lucky to have had fantastic contributions from some very talented Arsenal fans. If you haven’t visited the columnists section you’re missing out on some good stuff. And then there’s the magical Leopold Mendacious over on the Arseblog News Review. Obviously most net savvy Arsenal fans know where the joke lies in that and it’s just part of the peculiar little world of Arsenal websites. It always makes me laugh but unless you know Arsenal or ANR then it’s just going to seem really bizarre. I haven’t heard from Leopold for a little while now. He’s probably exploring or stalking Jennifer Jason Leigh. Or Judge Reinhold.
Back in the day as well I used to have more time to make funny… well I thought they were funny, most of them, a few then, ok there’s at least a couple… funny pictures which you can find by looking at the ‘fun’ part of the other section. For some reason this one is my favourite. There were also a couple of articles where I spoofed James Lawton who seemed to have a very big bee in his bonnet with Arsenal for a long time. He’s calmed down a bit now. When the first one was published I had just saved the Independent’s webpage with all the contact details on it. Then people clicked on the Newsnow headline and read the article. A day afterwards I got an email from the Sport’s ed of the paper asking me to remove the ©Independent Newspapers at the bottom because his email had been inundated with Arsenal fans complaining most vigorously about the ‘Lawton’ article. More than one person complained specifically about the phrase ‘Arsenal’s players are menstruating all over football at the moment and something has to be done about it.’
heh. Most of all though what has grown out of a curiosity about blogging and a passion for Arsenal is a real community, both online and in the real world. Arsebloggers meet up before games, after games and they all share a genuine love of Arsenal with a genuine love of booze and talking shite. When I went to Madrid it was via another Arseblogger that I got the ticket. Friendships have been made that now go beyond the ‘just some bloke I talk to online at work’ stage. Not just for me but for the people who read the forums and the arses.
Arseblog is theraputic. A lot has happened in 4 years, like I mentioned above. Without going into specifics some bad stuff has happened in my life as well, the same way it does to everybody, and even though there have been mornings when I just could not be arsed getting up early and writing before I go to work I always do it because there have been times when it has been a welcome distraction. I feel like I owe it for the times it’s kept me (relatively) sane.
At the end of the day it is what it was 4 years ago. An Irish Arsenal fan in Barcelona writing about the team he loves. Maybe it’s not N5 authentic but then the internet has allowed Arsenal fans from all over the world to follow the team more closely and to have their say. Some years ago I was a subscriber to the Arsenal Mailing List (Hi Mick W!) and that was really the only way of venting your spleen or praising the boys or just waffling about Arsenal to other fans. Now there are websites and forums all over the place. Some good, some bad, but you can say the same about footballers. For me what makes Arseblog so enjoyable is the feedback, the comments, the emails (even though I try I don’t always get time to answer all of them – so if you have ever emailed me and not gotten an answer I am sorry. I love you though!), the discussion, the banter. It’s like being with your mates down the pub and spouting crap. And you can swear all you want too, just like in real life.
So, I would like to say thank you to all of you who read every day, who contribute and who have helped to make Arseblog what it is today. A four year old blog. Sorry there’s no review of the stories today but I think we can live without the depression for 24 hours. If you’re really desperate click on Newsnow and fill your Arses.
Raise your glases, down the hatch. Here’s to another 4 years and don’t forget to make your wish. If we all go for that 4th Champions League spot maybe we can make it happen. Can’t hurt, can it?!
