Night Owl Cards

 The blog view counter turned over this morning when I wasn't looking. 4 million served. Long after some declared card blogging dead and that Blogger was hanging us out to dry, NOC is still here, providing card collecting content and assorted ridiculousness. I thank you for still reading. You are the true believers. I'll be back tomorrow with something thoughtful -- like a trade post. (P.S.: We're at 4,000,121)

Twelve years ago today, Night Owl Cards made its debut. Every year I recognize its anniversary. I think it's important to do that because the blog is important to me, and it's important to other people. I know that because of what people tell me and because of the cards I receive. But more on that later. I've been getting nostalgic about the time I started this blog. I don't have access to the blog header I displayed back then, the above header from 2011 is the earliest the Wayback Machine can produce. But anyone who was blogging about cards at that time knows that 2008 was the Golden Age of card blogging. Before 2008, card blogging consisted of The Baseball Card Blog , Stale Gum , Cardboard Junkie , Wax Heaven and only a handful of others. But in 2008, card blogging exploded with new blogs arriving seemingly every week. The week mine debuted, so did the blogs Heartbreaking Cards and I Am Joe Collector ( garveyceyrusselllopes , the ancestor to cards as I see t...

We bloggers often characterize folks who comment or trade but don't have a card blog of their own as "readers." It's an odd description. The bloggers who comment and trade are readers, too. At least I assume they're reading my stuff. But how else am I going to describe the non-blogger? I can't say "non-blogger Art sent me some cards." That sounds weird. And a little accusatory. I can't say, "this dude who I don't know contacted me and wanted to trade me some cards." That's true, but it's also awkward. "Reader" is a little catch-all phrase and it also makes me feel good. This person is reading my stuff even though he doesn't have a blog of his own, even though he is not invested in the online card community. He just wants to read my stuff! If you have a successful blog, you need these kind of "readers." They give your blog the stamp of approval. I am fortunate enough to see quite a few ...