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Friday 10 May 2013

NBI: One year and a week later

It's been a year since the Newbie Blogger Initiative (NBI) and this has hardly gone unnoticed - many former newbies (like me) or sponsors have written posts to commemorate the event. The first posts where already at the start of May, so I'm a bit late to the party. On the other hand, this means that I can wrap up what other bloggers have written about this subject.

Present state

I have the luxury of being lazy, because others have already done the hard work and counted the numbers. Of 111 blogs, 28 (over 25%) are still active (thanks, Ocho!).* This is not bad, considering that the average blog apparently has the "livespan of a fruitfly", with 60-80% of all new blogs stranding within just one month.

So why was the NBI so successful? It might be all those fantastic guides that experienced 'sponsors' wrote us. It might be the energy that goes around when multiple bloggers are talking en masse about the same subject. Or it might be the welcoming community that gave us newbie bloggers a great head start with the feeling that we were valued members of a group.

Ocho speaks about "my fellow NBI brethren" in his post, and I thought that was actually a cool thing to say. True brethren do of course need a mark to strengthen their relationship, so I crafted us our own badge. It's all yours! Show it off on your blog somewhere, or of course, laugh in my face at my inferior drawing skills. Do with it whatever you like.

I for one loved the NBI and the amazing blogs that emerged with it. I've learned many things and it was good to look back to for a moment. See you around, my fellow brethren. To many years to come!

Click here for a larger image.

Others about NBI's anniversary

Let me know if a post escaped my attention and I'll update the list.

Avatars of Steel: Virtual Party to celebrate the original Newbie Blogger's Initiative
Casual Aggro: The Newbie Blogger Initiative - 1 Year Later
Healing the Masses: Newbie Blogger Initiative Info and Guides
I Have Touched the Sky: NBI: Retrospective
World's End Tavern: Newbie Blogger Initiative: One year later
The Ancient Gaming Noob: New Blogger Initiative a Year Later - Who Survived?

Edit: The badge is there for any NBI participant (newbie or sponsor) to use. Rowan made a cool version for sponsors specifically.

* Others have come up with slightly diferent numbers, depending on the criteria used to define an 'active' blog. Calculations range from 28-40% still active.

16 comments :

  1. Kinda hard that it has been over a year of it already! Time certainly flies!

    Anyway, it was a fun thing to do and I am glad I participated on it in some form. :)

    And don't sell your artistic skill so short! I think that image you did to celebrate one year of NBI is amazing and fits pretty well with the original logo. :)

    ~ Rakuno

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That year went by very quickly indeed! And I think you participated in a quite a healthy way, what's this nonsense about 'in some form'? :P

      I'm glad you like the silly badge, it's all yours now as a participant as well. :)

      Delete
    2. Eh, I just don't think my participation was at the same level as others, that is all. Regardless of that I am very happy to have participated on it. Otherwise I doubt I would have found so many awesome blogs, some who became my favorites *coughs*likeyours*coughs*.

      Oh, I didn't say anything about putting it on my blog since I thought it was something more for the newbies who sprouted from the initiative. I was there more as a sponsor. But since you say it is for all participants I will look for a nice place to put it. :)

      Just need to take care of a few more technical details first...

      ~ Rakuno

      Delete
    3. If you look around, there are many who just did one post regarding the NBI. So I think your 4(!) are really not that bad at all. You're just too much of a perfectionist!

      The badge is just for everyone who participated in the NBI in some sort of way. Rowan made a cool sponsor version over here that I'm sure you can use.

      Delete
    4. Actually, I did only one myself. The other 3 are pretty much passing the word about the event or wrapping it up. Although I admit I am too much of a perfectionist and drive everybody crazy. Including me. ;)

      *nods* Hmmm... Rowan's version is tempting but I think I am going to stick with yours. I just like it. :)

      ~ Rakuno

      Delete
  2. It is nice to see so many people follow up the NBI. It is interesting to see how people feel how it helped them get started. Too bad Syp was too busy this year to do it again. I like the badge and have added it to my site.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I started this blog (my first one), I tried to look for others who wrote about gaming, but had nothing to start at. I could find people writing about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings alright, but not the games. Fast forward two weeks and I found loads with the launch of NBI. It may sound stupid, but it really opened my eyes.

      I tried to leave a comment on your blog btw, but it says "Access denied. This site is protected by the Stop Spammer Registrations Plugin." So it either ended up at your spam, of the tavern has eaten it. Just so you know.

      I'm so glad you like the badge! I made a proper one with border now too (see above).

      Delete
  3. I'm so stealing that badge ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. I thought he looked a little bit mean (the face), or just dragon-like, but I guess the cute claws make up for that.

      Delete
  5. Inferior?! More like Out-ferior! That badge is too awesome for words, and it will adorn my page with pride. Thank you for making it. :)

    (And my numbers are far from perfect, but I never claim perfection. I did have open over 100+ tabs at the same time :P )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My computer (and mind) would probably have died with 100+ tabs open, so I'm very impressed (and grateful :P) that you did all that work. Close enough to perfect to me!

      And I'm super happy you like the silly badge!

      Delete
  6. Linked, loved, and your badge is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great job highlighting our 2012 class. :) and, love the dragon!

    ReplyDelete

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