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| Priapus of Milet - Shooting The Past |
Regular readers might be shocked that there's not a Mike Carcel image headlining this article,
surely he's not been overtaken in the total hits count since last year?
Well, no he hasn't, but read on and I will explain. (Image Courtesy of Telemachus)
surely he's not been overtaken in the total hits count since last year?
Well, no he hasn't, but read on and I will explain. (Image Courtesy of Telemachus)
According to my Blogger 'hit stats', the mitchmen articles registering the most hits during 2017 were
Table 1 – mitchmen Articles with Most Hits in 2017
The all time top 20 once again saw only small changes in 2017. Unsurprisingly (given it's lead) my Mike Carcel A-Z article kept it's spot at the top. Priapus of Milet-1 in second place closed the gap but not by much. These two articles continued to pull away from the nearest challengers but late-starter, A-Z article on Cavelo is in hot pursuit. He jumped two places to 8th and may well hit 4th place in 2018 at this rate.
2013:- my 2nd article on Mike Carcel which is stuck at No 30 (29),
Unfortunately the oldest A-Z entries, notably letters A-G, were much sketchier and originally had censored images so they are not well represented in these results. I have replaced most of the adulterated pictures now but my plans to revise more of these articles are progressing slowly. Cavelo was done a couple of years ago and has started to overcome the handicap of being one of those early articles.
The articles I post to this blog are very much based on my own interests and fancies but the results of this survey do help me plan future offerings. My readers preferences doesn't always match my own (where are Les, JoeT and Link?). Nevertheless it's gratifying to see such interest in the great artists who often have a fairly low visibility on the web.
Remember, this comparison is only made for entertainment, since I don't really know how accurate Google's stats are, I suspect they don't even count people who just browse through the blog roll. Also the hit numbers on older articles suggest that stats prior to the blog's temporary suspension in 2010 were probably deleted.
Position (& last year) | Article | Published | Hits in 2017 | 'All Time Hits' position |
1 (2 ) | 2012 | 5673 | 2 | |
2 (1) | 2008 | 4844 | 6 | |
3 (3) | 2010 | 3681 | 1 | |
4 (9) | 2015 | 2402 | 26 | |
5 (4) | 2010 | 2354 | 3 | |
6 (5) | 2009 | 2158 | 4 | |
7 (11) | 2012 | 1778 | 10 | |
8 (-) | 2009 | 1597 | 20 | |
9 (-) | 2017 | 1411 | 102 | |
10 (=6 ) | 2010 | 1347 | 7 | |
11 (=6 ) | 2009 | 1267 | 5 | |
12 ( - ) | 2014 | 1258 | 35 | |
13 (15) | 2009 | 1204 | 9 | |
14 ( - ) | 2009 | 1140 | 21 | |
15 ( - ) | 2012 | 1126 | 23 | |
16 ( - ) | 2014 | 1064 | 44 | |
17 (17) | 2010 | 1044 | 17 | |
18 ( - ) | 2012 | 1023 | 15 | |
19 (10) | 2014 | 1014 | 55 | |
20 (13) | 2010 | 1009 | 16 |
I have changed my approach to this annual review this year, counting only hits registered during the current year, rather than their cumulative totals since publication. This gives a more current view of what's popular and is more interesting, I think. The old-style table appears further down this article. The titles in all the tables link to the original posts. Please tell me if you have difficulty with any links
The top article this year is Priapus of Milet-1 and that is the reason why a recent example of his art is displayed above. He's not really a fetish artist in the conventional sense but he often explores sinister physical and psychological subjects in an understated way which is quite classy. My choice of image is one of those sort of fetishy, control situations from his recent story 'Shooting The Past'. A hunky, factory worker is persuaded to pose in 1930's 'heroic worker' style and then to strip for the camera, producing this slightly comical, deliciously submissive relationship. This situation is more erotic for me than the view through the lens would be.
My 2012 articles on Priapus were based on his early stand-alone images but he seems to produce stories now, which are published regularly at Telemachus12 (a site I highly recommend for its stable of top class artists, of which two more, Jotto and Franco also feature in my top 5). The link from that site to mine drives some of the 'hit' figures here and I suspect the same is true of the other top scorers, but I have yet to identify all the sites concerned.
Priapus displaced Cavelo from the top spot (in this list) in 2017 but both artists still registered more hits than last year (as did most of the top ten in a year in which overall site views increased by 14%).
Mike Carcel stayed in a respectable 3rd place.
Mike Carcel stayed in a respectable 3rd place.
As in previous years the list is dominated by my A-Z of Fetish artists and other artist appreciations, so, as you might imagine, I am pleased to see my own 'Christmas Criminal' story at No 4. I must admit I did plug it a lot on my 'front page' but the success of this experiment - use of colour and publication via the blog - is encouraging me to try more .
Two new artists enter the top 10 this year, Sean Platter and The Hun. As I have mentioned in past years, 'demonic' is a frequent search term at mitchmen, Platter's imaginings are clearly very popular. The Hun takes his rightful place alongside the other fetish masters following my renovation of his A-Z article. I should point out that I don't have comprehensive figures for 2016 so some of the (-) rankings here may simply reflect that vacuum, rather than a sudden rise in popularity.
The balance of the top 20 is made up with some interesting 'non-Artist' entries. My new measure of popularity tends to exclude the latest year's articles because they don't get a full year of readability, but 'Milking Factory' gets in at 9. 'Woodenart' last year also got into the chart in his first year but his disappearance now and the comparison with the figures at the top of the table shows the extent of the challenge in sustaining that first flush of popularity!
This blog has a strong retrospective flavour which is very well represented in my top 20 but I'm particularly glad to see the article on the seminal and ground-breaking 'Bound & Gagged' magazine getting the attention it deserves together with several other articles celebrating the glories of what you might call 'the liberation years' from the 60's to the 90's. My first sight of a 'Bound and Gagged' magazine gave me a thrill of excitement comparable with my first encounter with Tom of Finland's work and
the experience I describe in 'My Initiation'. All never to be forgotten.
the experience I describe in 'My Initiation'. All never to be forgotten.
'Retrorope' is a welcome counterbalance to these dusty memories, despite his name he's a worthy and classy representative of the modern way, refreshingly simple and youthful. You might visit his Retrorope blog if you haven't been there recently, there's an interesting set of pics called 'Camp Retrorope' (post dated 9th Aug 2017).
There's no representative from 2011, 2013 or 2016 in this table. The nearest contenders were
2011 A Tribute to Bound Gods @27
2013 Hethong Male Spanking @21
2016 Greasetank - Part 1 @34
My 'Index of Artists' Page scored 8664 hits in 2017, which exceeded all these articles, I'm glad visitors find it useful and hope it will lead newcomers to fantastic art they never saw before.
Total blog visits this year were 393K, up 14% from 2016 (343K).
Total mitchmen blog visits for all years to date are 2.32 million (*see footnote below)
Table 2 below shows the results using the method I have used in the past
Table 2 below shows the results using the method I have used in the past
Table 2 – Articles With Most Hits Since Publication
Posn (last yr) | Title of Post (& link) | Year of Publicn | Total Hits |
1 (1) | 2010 | 21126 | |
2 (2) | 2012 | 18065 | |
3 (3) | 2010 | 12568 | |
4 (5) | 2009 | 10950 | |
5 (4) | 2009 | 10680 | |
6 (8) | 2008 | 10256 | |
7 (6) | 2010 | 7950 | |
8 (7) | 2012 | 6390 | |
9 (9) | 2009 | 6082 | |
10 (14) | 2012 | 6006 | |
11 (10) | 2010 | 5608 | |
12 (12) | 2010 | 5403 | |
13 (13) | 2011 | 5304 | |
14 (11) | 2009 | 5265 | |
15 (15) | 2012 | 5148 | |
16 (18) | 2010 | 4809 | |
17 (19) | 2010 | 4779 | |
18 (16) | 2010 | 4650 | |
19 (17) | 2010 | 4599 | |
20 (27) | 2009 | 4371 |
The all time top 20 once again saw only small changes in 2017. Unsurprisingly (given it's lead) my Mike Carcel A-Z article kept it's spot at the top. Priapus of Milet-1 in second place closed the gap but not by much. These two articles continued to pull away from the nearest challengers but late-starter, A-Z article on Cavelo is in hot pursuit. He jumped two places to 8th and may well hit 4th place in 2018 at this rate.
Further down, A-Z of Fetish Artists – Platter had a another good year rising 4 places to enter the top 10 and is in touching distance of 8th spot. Is this man a new contender for the Fetish Hall of Fame?
The only new entry in the top 20 was A-Z of Fetish Artists – The Hun, which rose 7 places to grab a toehold in the top 20, pushing out 'More Bondage Sightings'
Michael Mitchell and Marc both recovered the places they lost last year
There are still no posts in the list later than 2012, but several are poised just outside it.
The top contenders in these years are
The top contenders in these years are
2013:- my 2nd article on Mike Carcel which is stuck at No 30 (29),
2014:- A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 1) is at 25 (23),
2015:- closest is A Christmas Criminal (ep 1-5) at 26 (72),
2016:- A-Z of Fetish Artists - WoodunArt is at 59 (66).>
For comparison, my 'Index of Artists' page reached 16040 total hits during the year (up from 8664)
which would have earned 3rd spot in this ranking if I counted it as a post.
It shows the continuing level of interest in artists who work in our field.
which would have earned 3rd spot in this ranking if I counted it as a post.
It shows the continuing level of interest in artists who work in our field.
You can see from the list of missing years that the total hits method of assessing popularity is biased towards older articles and so (being a geek!) I worked out the 'total hits per year' since publication to even things out - see table 3 below. In this list, multi-part articles are represented by the highest scoring individual post and I have left out all 2017 posts which did not have a full year and are covered by a separate post.
Article | Published | Hits per year | Position (& last year) | 'Total Hits' position |
2012 | 3167 | 1 (3) | 2 | |
2010 | 2645 | 2 (2) | 1 | |
2015 | 1868 | 3 (5) | 26 | |
2010 | 1632 | 4 (4) | 3 | |
2016 | 1452 | 5 (1) | 59 | |
2009 | 1341 | 6 (9) | 4 | |
2009 | 1192 | 7 (7) | 5 | |
2012 | 1081 | 8 (6) | 8 | |
2008 | 1067 | 9 (-) | 6 | |
2014 | 1045 | 10 (8) | 25 |
As you can see, this method helps redress the balance, but the usual suspects still bag the top spots and no-one is going to shift them any time soon. My own 'Christmas Criminal' and 'Woodenart' retain the afterglow of their 'newly-published' effects in 2016. It will be interesting to see how they fare next year. Tagame is still hanging in but not likely to trouble the leaders.
Unfortunately the oldest A-Z entries, notably letters A-G, were much sketchier and originally had censored images so they are not well represented in these results. I have replaced most of the adulterated pictures now but my plans to revise more of these articles are progressing slowly. Cavelo was done a couple of years ago and has started to overcome the handicap of being one of those early articles.
The articles I post to this blog are very much based on my own interests and fancies but the results of this survey do help me plan future offerings. My readers preferences doesn't always match my own (where are Les, JoeT and Link?). Nevertheless it's gratifying to see such interest in the great artists who often have a fairly low visibility on the web.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support.