My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.
― Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Well, here I am, and here you are, and we’re about to enter our fourth year together. Obviously, not all of you have been here for the whole ride, though an appreciable number have been and an appreciable fraction of new readers do me the honor of trying to work through the enormous backlog. And it is now truly enormous: 1096 columns, six resource pages, six indexes, three link pages, 30,000+ comments, 600+ subscribers, over 1700 Twitter followers and almost 1.7 million total page views from nearly every country on the globe. And thanks to y’all I’ve been able to do all that without compromise or self-censorship, and have in fact been rewarded with an ever-increasing number of opportunities to spread my message that, as I wrote last year, “most whores really aren’t weird, scary, criminal, stupid, unethical, emotionally disturbed, victimized by men [outside government] …or any of the other dumb stereotypes with which prohibitionists and other moralists constantly libel us.”
Of course, those opportunities do take time out of my schedule, which means less time to generate content. As time has gone by I’ve developed an increasing number of ways to shave work-hours off of my week; the Sunday links columns, the single-question Wednesday Q & A columns, the Friday Cliterati reprints and the regular guest columns are all examples of that, and I’m about to implement two more: my holiday posts will now be more greeting than anything else, and there will be a monthly feature in which I take a look back at my columns for that month three years past. This is necessary in order to keep the (very popular) “From the Archives” feature in the Links columns from growing to unmanageable proportions, and will also help new readers to catch up on essays that are still topical without having to deal with three-year-old news long since superseded. As I explained last week, I also plan to write an e-book this autumn, whose chapters will each be a synthesis of several important columns on particular subjects; that will let new readers catch up painlessly, perhaps attract new readers, and maybe even make a little money.
Well, that’s about it, except for the most important part: a gigantic thank-you kiss to all my readers for visiting, reading, linking, and quoting me. Thanks also for the fan mail, the compliments, the invitations, and the presents, and thanks most of all for your continued support and respect.
so grateful for you, Maggie. Congratulations and happy going! The gain is ours.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! KEEP KICKING ASS!!
(Capslock is cruise control for “COOL”)
Yeeeehaaaa!
Happy Anniversary. And thanks so much for what you are doing.
Congratulations and happy anniversary!
We are all so grateful for you, Maggie. Warmest congratulations.
Congratulations Maggie, I don’t know how long I’ve been reading your columns, but I have told you already that I find this an oasis of sanity among the many mad places of the Internet.
Just a note, I know what you mean by criminal above, but I had a thought about that. I actually think in a society like ours, where so many people end up with the “criminal” label, that the term shouldn’t be used to mean, “thuggish person who violates other people’s rights” but rather “someone the State decides it doesn’t like for some arbitrary reason.” I’ve gotten to the point where I’m suspicious of the “non-criminals” the “upstanding” citizens who get through life without doing anything the State disapproves of. Because it is so easy to become a “criminal,” in fact I’d argue if a prosecutor decides you are a criminal you will magically become one even if you don’t think you violated any laws.
pws wrote,
HEAR! HEAR!
(I think that my edit is what you were getting at?)
I guess it depends on who uses the term, I’ll quote Sir Mick here “every cop is a criminal.” That I can safely agree with, but cops and prosecutors would violently disagree (with actual violence). 🙂
Facepalm!
I didn’t realize that you were pointing out that the word use had effectively been inverted. My bad! 😎
I’d like to add my thanks and congratulations to Maggie on her 3rd blogiversary. (Well, as neologisms go, that is pretty bad.)
Yes Happy Anniversary Maggie – keep up the excellent work you have been doing. Thank you, too, for all the effort you put in to this.
Thank you Maggie. You are the best.
Congratulations! Well done!
Happy Anniversary, Maggie!
I just recently discovered your blog and have enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to work my way back through the 1000+ posts, so I’m very much looking forward to the e-book that will make that process much easier 🙂
I don’t always agree with you (which is perfectly natural), but I always find your site informative about matters with which I have little experience. Congrats, and keep writing.
Happy Anniversary Maggie, and ‘thank you’ for all the hard work and effort you put into your blog.
Congratulations on three years. Your blog is one of a handful that I check daily and always read.
Happy Anniversary! This is my five year blogging anniversary, so it’s another thing we have in common. Best wishes and good luck for the future.
http://aftertheecstasythelaundry.wordpress.com
A random search brought me here about a year ago, and the writing keeps me coming back every day. Along with the rest of the chorus, congratulations on your success.
Congratulations and thanks for your enlightening work. I hope to see many more anniversaries.
Congrats! I’ve been reading you for about two and a half of those years and I have yet to get bored! Here’s to the next three!
Happy Anniversary, Maggie.
No, thank you! Happy Anniversary. You and your work are true originals – no one else like you.
I m more than thankful for your hard work and productivity that helped me so much to widen my view and to precise my thoughts.
Congratulations and here’s to many more!
can we preorder the Ebook?
Wish you hadn’t worn the blond wig in the picture. lol
Congratulations Maggie, keep on keeping on,
Congratulations Maggs, I will be collecting that thank you kiss in person, thank you very much!
Three years. Wow.
Well, it’s been three good years, and even though I’m late, I’d like to add to the congratulations others have already tossed your way.
You know, usually if I wind up this far behind on something, I give it up. You… I ain’t ready to give you up. Onward!