A scene from 'Close Encounter' by Priapus, in which a gym user finds his physical exertions attract close attention from an unexpected quarter. Or perhaps it's one of those erotic daydreams that the repetitive pumping sometimes brings on (now don't deny it!)
~
According to my Blogger 'hit stats', out of all the mitchmen articles published to date,
According to my Blogger 'hit stats', out of all the mitchmen articles published to date,
those registering the most hits since publication are as shown below.
Table 1 mitchmen Articles With Most Hits Since Publication to end 2020
Posn (last yr) | Title of Post (& link) | Year of Pub'n | 2020 Hits | 2019 Hits |
1 (1) | 2012 | 35489 | 30906 | |
2 (2) | 2010 | 28452 | 26717 | |
3 (3) | 2008 | 27569 | 23837 | |
4 (6) | 2017 | 24101 | 15238 | |
5 (7) | 2018 | 23619 | 14184 | |
6 (4) | 2009 | 19546 | 17666 | |
7 (-) | 2016 | 17450 | 667 | |
8 (5) | 2010 | 17223 | 16033 | |
9 (19) | 2018 | 14966 | 6929 | |
10 (8) | 2009 | 13801 | 12849 | |
11 (9) | 2010 | 12084 | 11071 | |
12 (10) | 2009 | 11253 | 9814 | |
13 (-) | 2018 | 10091 | 7803 | |
14 (13) | 2015 | 9924 | 8202 | |
15 (11) | 2009 | 9536 | 8676 | |
16 (16) | 2009 | 9040 | 7460 | |
17 (12) | 2012 | 8883 | 8410 | |
18 (15) | 2010 | 8467 | 7569 | |
19 (14) | 2012 | 8447 | 8059 | |
20 (17) | 2009 | 8359 | 7240 |
This year Priapus of Milet – 1 retained the No 1 position it gained last year, extending it's lead from 4K to 7K hits. It may have been helped by the mitchmen feature on 'Shooting The Past' in mid year but there's no arguing with the popularity of this conservatively fetish artist who continues to produce stunning new work over at Telemachus12 and Patreon.
Second and third place stayed the same but A-Z of Fetish Artists – Mike Carcel which lost the No 1 position last year has nearly been caught by A-Z of Fetish Artists – Cavelo. Visits to both these posts significantly declined this year, both of them seem to have stopped publishing new work and they are now at threat from behind (if you'll pardon the expression).
The two gate-crashers from last year - The Milking Factory and IFNB – A Fantasy World of Bodybuilder Morphsconsolidated their challenge to the old order in 2020. Although they only rose 2 places (to 4th & 5th) respectively, they made significant inroads into the gap above them. If they make the same progress in 2021 they will leap-frog into 2nd & 3rd places, but it will take them at least another year to catch up with Priapus-1 in the top spot.
Milking Factories – 3 also caused a surprise last year sneaking into 19th place from nowhere. It rose a further 10 places in 2020 and for my money the image in this article (by Cupcakes666) is exceptionally good. No 4 in the Milk Factories series is not far behind in 28th spot and if the phenomenal popularity of these posts continues there may be more surprises next year.
Undoubtedly though, the biggest surprise this year was the arrival of the Etienne - index of articles at mitchmen at No 7, again almost literally from nowhere. It was accompanied by another 'Index' type article, Homoeros Gallery debuting at 13. I discussed the baffling appeal of these articles in the previous article MPP2. I think I 'get it' but I suspect 'Etienne' will struggle in 2021 and emulate My Initiation which had a similar spell of euphoric support but now clocks up more mundane levels and has gradually drifted down to 19th position and likely to be ousted from the top 20 next year. It is the only photogaph-based article in the chart unless you count the photo manips of IFNB.
These two new arrivals edged downwards a number of the other old, established, A-Z of Fetish Art articles which all dropped 2 or 3 places with the notable exception of A-Z of Fetish Artists - Julius which hung on to 16th position although I haven't posted any more reworkings of his images this year.
Also hanging on, much to my delight, was A Christmas Criminal by Mitchell (1-5). It dropped just one place, but did better than the ebbing fortunes of other mid-table articles and is now just shy of 10,000 recorded visits.
This year we lost A-Z of Fetish Artists – Klaus von Brandenburg and A Tribute to Bound Gods from the top 20. Up and coming articles pushing for a place next year are 'The Art of Homoeros - 6 (crucifixion)' at 22, 'A New Life For Our Air Force Boys' at 25 and 'Milking Factory-4' at 28.
I'm progressively revising and extending my oldest A-Z entries but this year I only managed to do Bastille at 182 (-) (latest and previous position). There were also extensions by way of exhibitions to Leo 18 (15) and Zamok 105 (142). Last year's exhibitor Facchini rose to 55 (79) making 5 rises in a row in this chart.
The entry level to the top 20 is now 8359 hits, about a thousand up on last year. It's sobering to reflect that this represents over 2 years worth of BrosFate-3's winning 'New Post' total in 2020.
Currently that article is at No 98 in the all years chart.
Currently that article is at No 98 in the all years chart.
For comparison, my 'Index of Artists' page reached 52757 hits at the end of 2020 (over 20% up from 40807 last time) which would have earned top spot in this ranking if I counted it as a post. It shows the tremendous interest in artists who work in our field.
Years not presently represented in the survey
- 2013 – The top contender is still my 2nd article on Mike Carcel but it slid again to 44 (38),
- 2014 - The Art of Baron 23 (30) overtook Bound & Gagged Magazine - 4 at 27 (22)
- 2019 – Milking Factories-4 rose to 28 (93)
- 2020 - BrosFate - 3 entered chart at 98
Average hit rates
The total cumulative hits method of assessing popularity is obviously biased towards older articles so it's interesting to compare average hits per year since publication - see table below. In this list I have left out 2020 posts which don't even have a full year yet and are covered by a separate table. (If I had included them they would have bagged many of the top 10 spots!)
Table 2 Articles with the Highest Average Hits per year Since Publication
Article | Published | Hits per year | Position (& last year) | 'Total Hits' position |
2018 | 8386 | 1 (1) | 5 | |
2017 | 6230 | 2 (2) | 4 | |
2018 | 5738 | 3 (-) | 9 | |
| Homoeros Gallery | 2018 | 4924 | 4 (-) | 13 |
| Etienne - Index of articles at mitchmen | 2016 | 4204 | 5 (-) | 7 |
2012 | 4075 | 6 (3) | 1 | |
2019 | 3744 | 7 (-) | 28 | |
2018 | 3315 | 8 (4) | 22 | |
| IFNB is most popular new post of 2018 | 2018 | 3131 | 9 (-) | 37 |
2010 | 2707 | 10 (5) | 2 | |
2008 | 2634 | 11 (6) | 3 | |
2018 | 2471 | 12 (-) | 39 | |
2017 | 2353 | 13 (7) | 25 | |
2019 | 2173 | 14 (-) | 92 | |
2018 | 2029 | 15 (-) | 43 | |
2015 | 1974 | 16 (8) | 14 | |
2009 | 1860 | 17 (10) | 6 | |
2010 | 1639 | 18 (12) | 8 | |
2017 | 1591 | 19 (9) | 40 | |
2018 | 1584 | 20 (11) | 66 |
This method tends to benefit popular, newer articles in the short term and this year the newcomers have pretty much swept away 'the usual suspects' which have dominated these charts in the past. That swing has been amplified by the general uplift in visitor numbers in the last 3 or 4 years. Among the new entries I haven't already mentioned are a number of Homoeros and Milking Factory articles and yet another of those baffling items IFNB is most popular new post of 2018 which didn't register at all in it's first year. Like those other puzzlers referenced above, I can only presume that it's the images that make these articles so attractive and also the introduction of the 'Popular Posts' gadget in the sidebar of the blog which includes teasing thumbnails for each entry and tends to extend periods of popularity.
Historically younger articles can disappear just as quickly as they appeared if they do not keep up their high initial hit rates (remember Woodunart?) but the scores of older articles that 'hang on' gradually becomes 'less dilutable' by the passing years. Even so, the ability of our big 3 (Priapus, MCarcel and Cavelo) to sustain a presence in this table is remarkable and those 'middle aged' articles like A Christmas Criminal at 16 and Chirenon's A New Life For Our Air Force Boys at 13 seem to be building a base for a long stay.
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, they don't seem to add up to the overall hits at the blog and I suspect they don't count the activity of people who just browse through the blog roll.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support.