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Who is here around the clock?

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Today is the first anniversary of the Scientific American Blog Network!!!

Over almost eight years of blogging (after a couple of years commenting on other people's blogs and campaign forums, I finally started my own blog in August 2004) this blog has changed styles and directions a number of times. I started with straight-out politics, then focused on political psychology, then jumped into heavy-duty science blogging, then moved gradually into more of a media analysis direction. Since the blog moved here, I am busy with the network, and busy promoting others, but try to find time to at least occasionally write about news in circadian biology, or some thoughts on the new media ecosystem.

Four years ago, Ed Yong started a tradition, picked up by many science bloggers, to ask readers who they are and why they keep coming back. He just did it again recently. So we thought it would be interesting to ask you the same questions (#1 and 2), as well as question #3, later added to the tradition by Drugmonkey, and a fourth question devised specifically about this blog.


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I did this back in 2008, 2009 and 2010, then skipped 2011 as we were just about to launch. I assume, as my topics shifted over the years, that my readers shifted as well - old ones leaving, new ones coming in. I am now interested to know who reads me here, at SciAm.

Commenting here is really easy (and will become even easier by the end of the year). "Registration" is a misnomer, it's just a login on a separate page from the blog post. When you click on "Register" you are taken to a page where you give us a name/nym, an email address and a password. Pseudonyms are welcome. Then you come back (there is no confirmation email you need to wait for, etc), click on "Log In" and enter the same name/nym and password and are ready to comment. Please do - here are the questions:

1) Tell me about you. Who are you? Do you have a background in science? If so, what draws you here as opposed to meatier, more academic fare? And if not, what brought you here and why have you stayed? Let loose with those comments.

2) Tell someone else about this blog and in particular, try and choose someone who’s not a scientist but who you think might be interested in the type of stuff found in this blog. Ever had family members or groups of friends who’ve been giving you strange, pitying looks when you try to wax scientific on them? Send ‘em here and let’s see what they say.

3) Where did you come from? I'm interested in whether you found us, or regularly follow us, through Twitter, Facebook and/or other beyond-RSS mechanisms that you may use to corral your information stream.

4) What is it specifically about A Blog Around The Clock that you like? Do you come for science, for media analysis, for community events, or just to say Hi because you come her through sheer inertia, being my reader for many years already? Also: Hi, Mom!