The Nether-World's First Birthday

It's been a whole year since The Nether-World burst tip-toed onto the blog scene. When I started The Nether-World I was barely aware of what blogging actually was and wanted to find out more about the phenomenon. After 267 posts here, others on Blairwatch and Politics In The Zeros, I think I now have a fairly good idea. My main motivation was a desire to have an outlet for the anger and frustration I felt (and still feel) over the many injustices in the world where voting, not voting, writing to MPs, demonstrating and signing petitions haven't helped. Of course the problems haven't been solved but ranting about them has certainly been cathartic and it's helped formulate my arguments more coherently. Hopefully I've also helped spread some useful information. One thing I have discovered over the last year is that I enjoy writing and hope to get better at it.

It's been an interesting year. This is still a very small blog but it is currently 45 in the top 200 blogs measured by Technoranki. There are 465 links to The Nether-World from 128 other blogs and it is read regularly in several countries. Since starting the blog, I've attended political conferences and met politicians, contributed to a book, talked on American radio, made friends with other bloggers, been included in Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging in the UK (just), been nominated for a blog award, come under attack from Israel's state sponsored cyber soldiers (and saw them off), helped leak numerous documents that the Government tried to suppress, twice made it onto Tim Worstall's Britblog round-up, been involved in campaigns, reported on several large demonstrations, been invited to contribute to other blogs, had some interesting debates, discovered lots of really good blogs, and generally had a lot of fun. I've gained a far better understanding of political issues and current events than I would have if I'd just sat in front of the TV news stations or restricted myself to one or two newspapers.

Not bad for a first year. I wonder what the next year will bring. Hopefully it will bring more readers, a move to a dedicated host with a decent template and also some better writing. I wonder if I would have started this blog if I'd known how addictive blogging can be but I intend to carry on, so many thanks to all the people who have visited The Nether-World and all those bloggers who have inspired and informed me including those who I often disagree with.

By a neat piece of synchronicity, Justin's Blog Digest landed on my doormat yesterday, so I shall celebrate The Nether-World's first year by reading some of the best output by other bloggers over the last 12 months. How's that for being obsessed?

Tags: Blogging