Semi-Spew In review, 2016

Every year, I look back and check out which posts got the most attention for several reasons: I am, of course, a narcissist; it helps let me know what kind of stuff plays; it illuminates what kind of year it was, and, also then serves as an easy place to find key posts.  2016 has been a rough year on every body, so it kind of makes sense that my top ten list of most viewed posts of 2016 are, well, depressing ones:

1. The one where I outed a former colleague for being a serial sexual harasser.  50% more hits than the 2nd post
2. Which inspired the first one--a short post reacting to a NYT op-ed on sexism in academia, arguing that institutions protect themselves, not the students.
3. My recent post arguing that putting any hope on the Republicans to remove or mitigate Trump is a mistake.
4. A 2015 post that argues that there is sexism in political science.
5. A 2013 post on the political science job market and its implications for potential phd students: Mama, don't let your kids become political scientists.  See the latest report here.
6. A happier post: the best political science books for those interested in military history.  This was a response in a long running conversation with Tom Ricks about the relevance of political science.
7. Even happier still: the page I have created for "Team Steve"--my former students and their pubs--got heaps of hits this year.  I should update it...
8. A post from 2015 reassuring folks that, um, rejection is inherent in our business keeps getting views.  In it, I document the many rejections of articles, books, grant applications that I have had in my career.
9. Reporting reactions to the top post of the year--what progress has been made?  Not much.
10. My attempt at explaining the pattern of Trump cabinet picks.

Just outside of the top ten were oldies but goodies--comparative xenophobia and rules for writing CVs.

In terms of how the blog is viewed: Chrome > Safari >> Firefox >  IE >> Edge > Blackberry?

How did people find my posts:

1. Twitter
2. Direct
3. Google
4. Facebook
5. PSR
6. Reddit
7. Duck of Minerva
8. Saideman.blogspot.com
9. stevesaideman.com
10. WashPo (mostly due to the old story about comparative xenophobia)

Oh, and I wrote about one hundred less posts than the previous year, keeping the downward slide going from my peak in my second year. Often a few tweets satisfies my urge to spew.  I have also been writing less about pop culture and more about US politics.  If HRC had won, I'd have less material to discuss, but perhaps have more energy to do so. Trump has and will certainly give me plenty of stuff to write about, but it can be so hard sometimes to take a step back and think about it.

Anyhow, as always, I am grateful to those who read my stuff and engage me either via comments or on twitter or facebook.  Thanks for linking to the Spew and sharing my half-baked ideas.  Let's hope that 2017 is a better year, with more positive things to post about.