Happy Birthday !!!

Iraq Blog Count has been counting blogs for exactly one year to the day !!! To eb (sic) precise, since 14 November 2003 !!! The close of one year and the beginning of another is a good time to review ones plans, ones technique, ones accountability, as it were.

From Iraq Blog Counts first post;

Brewing for quite some time, emigre senses an explosion of noise on the verge of eruption...the blogstorm is reaching Iraq. One at a time, typists begin to whisper at keyboards, screens begin to briefly flare. If you listen you can hear these voices, the anguish, the technical difficulties, and voices of support, of debate, from around the world.

Ah, how optimistic I (we) was (were) in those days. And here we are today, almost 365 days later having counted 85 Iraq Blogs, having grown from one blog counter to 12, having grown from no comments at all to several regular talkback partisan hacks. Having grown from a daily pitter patter to Salamalanchs and Healing Iraq site meter crashes and from spam to penpal requests (oh by the way, email address has changed to iraqblogcount@yahoo.com.au). Such mighty changes have we wrought upon the blogosphere !!! Oh ok, enough with the rhetoric already, heaven knows there's enough of it without bloggers breaking into ardent manic spin. Ah heck, it's what we do best though.

Lonely was emigre, in her counting back then. Oh how she wished that some of Iraq's bloggers might one day build a really cool national directory of their own that she may lay aside her passion for linking and take a rest.

Thankfully (in about July or August) an inspired team of counters and commenters arrived to passionately link and discuss with ferver all things Iraq, all things Iraqi - and other things besides (and emigre was able to sneak away for a bit).

Oh look, remember this;

I do not verify the sources of these blogs. I do not agree with or even endorse the content. I simply count.

Ah yes and so it was, Iraq Blog Counts subheading for so long "emigre does not endorse or verify, emigre only counts".

Perhaps, I don't know, perhaps we ought to take a vote on this. In entering a new year of blogcounting as it were. Should we cast aside our generous and forgiving, our innocent and accepting, link natures? Ought we, to become a little more investigative? A little more, dare I venture, journalistic? Ought we to pause a moment, before linking, before counting, to consider source. How can I put this. Let me just say, that there are a few peppered deserts out there and frankly I would like to move beyond them. Creating fake blogs just to see if some sucker here is gonna count them would not be very nice game now, would it. You know, right at the very beginning I became gripped (for lack of better word) by this very same choice. At the time I suspended cynicism. But now? I think Iraq deserves better. I really do.

What do you think?

Anyway, we need a new description for the header. Any suggestions?