The workload of a person or organization is the amount of work that has to be done by them. Running this site is associated with some workload. I cannot compare myself with Sisyphus. He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down when it nears the top, repeating this action for eternity. At least, I can see the fruits of my labour in content growth and rising number of website visitors. I launched the website on March 1 2014. The first blog entry I posted had the dramatic title "So it begins...". Since then I have posted an anniversary blog post this time every year. The second blog post (2015) had the expectantly title "So it continues...". Here, I discussed the past, present and future for the site. The third blog post (2016) had the prosaic title "And so it goes on and on and on and on and on...". Here, I did some merciless following up on ambitions and promises. The fourth blog post (2017) had the patronizing title "The necessity of content gardening". Here, I stated that a website, with proper content gardening, could live forever. The fifth blog post (2018) had the technical title "Ratchet effect through organic growth”. Here, I speculated how web indexing and algorithms drove traffic to unprecedented levels. The sixth blog post (2019) had the glorifying title "5 years and 100 000 hits". Here, I rattled off statistics lengthwise and crosswise. Today, it's time again for a new blog post. The visitor counter indicates 124 031.
Assessment
The last year was mediocre in the same sense as its original meaning (the earliest known evidence of the word): "Mediocre, a meane betwixt high and low, vehement and slender, too much and too little as we saye." No highs or lows. Muddling through. My day job takes a lot of my focus and energy. More and more, the website has become an outlet from work. I have to be careful. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". But, I'm not typing the same sentence over and over again. At least not yet.
Visitor statistics
From zero to 100 000 visitors in 1 814 days, which is equal to five years. From zero to 10 000 took 264 days. But, after 50 000 something happened. The web indexing and Google algorithms seems to have begin to kick in. The step from 50 000 to 60 000 visitors took only 131 days. The average number of days for another 10 000 visitors has since then been around 130-140.
| Hits | Date | Days | Total |
| 10 000 | 2014-11-20 | 264 | 264 |
| 20 000 | 2015-07-05 | 227 | 491 |
| 30 000 | 2016-03-05 | 244 | 735 |
| 40 000 | 2016-10-21 | 230 | 965 |
| 50 000 | 2017-04-09 | 170 | 1 135 |
| 60 000 | 2017-08-18 | 131 | 1 266 |
| 70 000 | 2018-01-09 | 144 | 1 410 |
| 80 000 | 2018-05-19 | 130 | 1 540 |
| 90 000 | 2018-10-06 | 140 | 1 680 |
| 100 000 | 2019-02-17 | 134 | 1 814 |
| 110 000 | 2019-07-16 | 149 | 1 963 |
| 120 000 | 2020-01-03 | 171 | 2 134 |
Department statistics
Business has been slow at the embassy. I wrote only one new article last year, listed three more artists in the table, made zero new lists and wrote 29 blog entries. But, it will have to suffice.
| Department | 2020-03-01 | 2019-03-01 | 2018-03-01 | 2017-03-01 |
| Articles | 66 | 65 | 62 | 62 |
| Artists | 141 | 138 | 135 | 128 |
| Lists | 42 | 42 | 32 | 27 |
| Miscellaneous | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Blog | 158 | 129 | 99 | 84 |
Most visited pages
The last four years the five web pages below has been the most visited. Naturally, the start page is the most visited page. However, the order of the other pages has shifted over time.
| No | Page | 2020-03-01 | 2019-03-01 | 2018-03-01 | 2017-03-01 |
| 1 | Home | 124 031 | 100 813 | 73 857 | 46 277 |
| 2 | 10 essential gothic country albums | 19 722 | 14 372 | 7 540 | 3 946 |
| 3 | Artists | 16 228 | 13 312 | 9 983 | 5 513 |
| 4 | Sons of Perdition | 11 814 | 9 616 | 7 753 | 4 137 |
| 5 | Articles | 11 051 | 9 340 | 7 155 | 3 518 |
Flaws
The website has been up and running twenty-four seven. No referral spam, no unsolicted registration of users and no incidents. SEGC has a digital certificate to enable HTTPS (SSL/TLS) for websites. Until May 19th 2019 SEGC was a "not secure" site (the symbol circle with an i). The warning symbol refers to the lack of security for the connection to that page. Information sent and received with that page is unprotected and it could potentially be stolen, read, or modified by attackers, hackers, and entities with access to internet infrastructure. Maybe one or two pontential site vistors were scared away. My friend Mikael (self-taught website builder and professional web analysts) made the site https-secure. However, one side effect was that every single "like" that had been clicked over the years disappeared. I had to start over again, just like Sisyphus. The gothic country legacy is crumbling. If you stumble over any obsolete or incorrect information or any dead links don't hesitate to contact me and I will fix it.
Reflections
I haven't received a single e-mail from market or web solutions companies where they claim earnings from the site. Maybe they are giving up on me. The site is non-profit and free of advertisment. This is the way it has been and will always be.
Future
During the last year I started to consider whether I should be doing this much longer. Depletion of stocks, zero regrowth and reaching a saturation point are three explanatory factors. Maybe I would be forgiven for calling it quits? Then I snapped out of these depressing thoughts. The responsibilities that I have towards society are too important to be abandoned. And besides, no-one will take up the fallen mantle. The show must go on. I will go on untiringly within the limits of family, work and other duties.
