(the text version for the Google Robots to find)
Dear Reader,
First off, I want to personally thank you for taking time out of your day to process the jumble of words I throw together every so often on the Good Badger. I realize that my competition for your time is the Internet (aka everything). The fact that 101 visitors read a 6-month-old post about fat people’s t-shirts over the last 30 days, is the ultimate compliment (even better than a well timed butt compliment). Also, judging from my own web surfing habits, if I experience even 3 consecutive seconds of boredom, I’m jumping onto the next tab and forgetting about the previous subject forever. If your attention span is anything like mine (God I hope not), and you can get all the way through a post, not only am I flattered, I’m impressed. Even with a very modest (although growing) reader base, I sincerely appreciate the effort it takes your eyes to go from left to right, up to down, and the occasional pause for a cat video. I would like to show my appreciation BY GETTING YOU ALL A NEW CAR (key phrase: “like to”).
I also have a favor to ask of you.
To help me get a better sense of what I’m doing wrong, what I’m doing right, what you liked, what you didn’t like, what was interesting, what should be elaborated on, what wasted your time, what wasn’t funny, what wasn’t funny, or what wasn’t funny, just tell me. I read the comments. I take the comments to heart, even the lighthearted ones. An opinion is an ever-evolving, dynamic object, and your feedback helps to mold this shape (both in terms of altering, reinforcing, and/or expanding).
Additionally, your comments add fuel to the Good Badger fire. Many of these posts occupy more time than you will ever know. I need to be at least 35% sure that minimally one person will be effected by a post. If I take a couple of hours to write something, and decide that it doesn’t meet this basic criteria, it won’t see the light of day. Naturally I assume that a comment-less post has failed in this regard. However, without knowing what about the piece made it lackluster, I can’t improve. In other words, a critical comment is preferred to no comment at all.
What I’m trying to say is- not only does your feedback benefit my very fragile psyche, it benefits you, the reader. If I can get a clearer sense of what it is that you derive value from, I will work harder to reproduce such content. On rare occasion when someone tells me they were inspired to dream up a new entrepreneurial idea, start a website of their own, or take some time off to discover what their true life passion is – all because of a post they read on this site, my efforts instantly feel validated. That’s why I write.
So, as long as you’re going to be spending some time here, lets work together in making your time better spent. Tell me what’s on your mind. Say hi. Say “you suck”. If you’d prefer not to say anything, share the post on Facebook, Twitter, or Digg, assuming the content is any good (which has happened once or twice) – someone who ventures here can provide feedback on your behalf.
In conclusion, through our shared efforts we can increase the quality of the Good Badger (remember that anything is bigger than 0).
“There’s no “I” in team, but there is an “I” in win” – Michael Jordan
Sincerely,
the Good Badger
